Angelic Wisdom about Divine Providence | Page 3

the same things are
recalled and placed with both in view" (n. 193 (1)).
THE TRANSLATION
This volume has been translated afresh from the Latin; it is not a
revision of any earlier edition. Greater readableness has been striven for.
In the past, it is generally recognized, Latin sentence structure and word
order were clung to unnecessarily. "The defects in previous translations
of Swedenborg have arisen mainly from too close an adherence to
cognate words and to the Latin order of words and phrases." So wrote
the Rev. John C. Ager in 1899 in his translator's note in the Library
Edition of Divine Providence. Why, indeed, should English not be
allowed its own sentence structure and word order? In addition, in this
translation, long sentences, readily followed in an inflected language
like Latin, have been broken up into short ones. English also uses fewer
particles of logical relation than are at home in Latin. There is more
paragraphing, aiding the eye, which both British and American
translators have been doing for some years. Latin has neither a definite
article nor an indefinite article, and a translator into English must
decide when to use either or neither. The definite article, the present
translator thinks, has been overused, perhaps in a dogmatic tendency to
be as precise as can be. When, for instance, one is admitted into "truths
of faith" he is certainly not admitted into "the truths of faith," as though
he could comprehend them all. The very title of the book changes the
impression which it makes as the definite article is inserted or omitted
in it. "The divine providence" seems to single out a theological concept;
"divine providence" seems more likely to lead the thought to God's
actual care.
Swedenborg has his carefully chosen terms, of course, like "proprium,"
which are best kept, although in the present translation that term is
sometimes rendered by an explanatory word and one which, in the
particular context, is an equivalent. The verb "appropriate" presents a
difficulty, but has been kept, partly because of the noun "proprium."
One could translate rather wordily "make"--something good or

evil--"one's own." The English word now means "take exclusive
possession of," which one can hardly do of good or evil. Assimilation is
the thought and the act, and with that in mind the verb "appropriate"
and the noun "appropriation" can be retained. The unusual locution
"affection of truth" or "of good," which Mr. Ager abandoned,
translating "for truth" and "for good," has been returned to. Much is
implied in that phrase which is not to be found in the other wording,
namely, that we are affected by truth and by good, and that there is an
influx of these into the human spirit. Similarly meaningful is another
unusual way of speaking in English, of a person's being "in" faith or
"in" charity, where we say that he has faith or exercises charity. The
thought is that faith and charity, truth and goodness beckon to us, to be
welcomed and entered into.
Latin sometimes has a number of words for an idea or an entity, and the
English has not, but when English has the richer vocabulary, why not
avail oneself of the variety possible? The Latin word "finis," for
example, used in so many connections, can be rendered by one word in
one connection and by another in another connection. The "goal" or the
"object" of providence is plainer than the "end" of providence. The
"close" of life is common speech. "Meritorious" has been kept in our
translations, for in a restricted field of traditional theology it does mean
that virtue, for example, earns a reward. To most readers the word will
be misleading, for they will understand it in its usual meaning, that
some act is well-deserving. The former is Swedenborg's meaning,
which is that an act is done to earn merit, or is considered to have
earned merit. We translate variously according to context to make that
meaning clear (nn. 321(11), 326(8), 90).
As it is what Swedenborg has written that is to be translated, the
Scripture passages which he quotes are translated without an effort to
follow the Authorized Version, which he did not know. This is also
done when he refers to the book which stands last in our Bibles; the
name he knew it by, the Apocalypse, is retained.
THE SUBJECT INDEX
The rewording in this translation would have necessitated revision of

the index long used in editions of Divine Providence, which goes back
to an index in French done by M. Le Boys des Guays. The opportunity
was seized to compile a subject instead of a word index. It is based on
an analysis of the contents of the book, and can serve as a reading guide.
It does not usually quote the text,