7935. 'And it shall be, when your children say to you' means the inward perception of truth that belongs to conscience. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as perception, dealt with above in 7913; and from the meaning of 'children' or 'sons' as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 573, 1147, 2623, 3373, 4257. The reason why the inward perception that belongs to conscience is meant is that reference is being made to the state from then on, or the future state, of members of the spiritual Church who have been delivered by the Lord. In that state the truth must be lodged firmly in their minds that the Lord alone should receive the credit for their salvation. The perception of this truth belongs to conscience, because members of the spiritual Church do not have the gift of perception such as those of the celestial Church have; instead they have conscience. Conscience existing with them is born and formed from the truths of the Church in which they were born. They have learned those truths in childhood and after it, and have endorsed them in life, thereby making them truths of faith. Acting in accordance with those truths is doing so in accordance with conscience, and acting contrary to them is doing so contrary to conscience. They are lodged in the interior memory as though written into it and ultimately come to be like those things which have been imprinted in earliest childhood and after that appear to be fully known and so to speak inborn. They appear to be like a person's ability to speak, think, recollect, and reflect on various things, and like his physical ability to walk, make gestures, and use facial expressions, and like many other abilities which he is not born with but acquires through habitual practice. When the truths of faith have been imprinted in that way too, which happens in the interior man, they likewise become fully known; and ultimately, when they have become as if inborn, they impel the person to think, will, and act in conformity with them. This driving force in his life is called conscience. It is the life of the spiritual man, and that life should be evaluated according to how far genuine truths of faith are the source of his thoughts and how far forms of the genuine good of charity are the source of his actions, and also to what extent they take the lead. From the whole train of thought too it is evident that the words at this point mean the inward perception that belongs to conscience.
