[Sidenote: [The .2^de. Met{ur}.]]
[Sidenote: The sweet-tongued Homer sings of the sun’s pure light.
Yet the sun’s beams cannot pierce into the inner bowels of the
earth, nor into the depths of the sea.]
++HOmer wiþ þe hony mouþe. þat is to seyn. homer
wiþ þe swete dites syngeþ þat þe sonne is cleer by
pure lyȝt. naþeles ȝit ne may it nat by þe inferme lyȝt
of hys bemes breke{n} or p{er}ce{n} þe inwarde entrailes of 4428
þe erþe. or ellys of þe see.
[Sidenote: But God, the world’s maker, beholding from on high, has
his vision impeded neither by earth nor cloud.]
¶ so ne seeþ nat god makere
of þe grete worlde to hym þat lokeþ alle þinges from on
heye ne wiþstandiþ nat no þinges by heuynesses of erþe.
ne þe nyȝt ne wiþstondeþ nat to hy{m} by þe blake 4432
cloudes.
[Sidenote: At a glance he sees all events, present, past, and
future.]
¶ þilke god seeþ i{n} o strook of þouȝt alle
þinges þat ben or weren or schullen come.
[Sidenote: God, then, that alone sees all things, may indeed be
called the true Sun.]
¶ and þilke
god for he lokeþ {and} seeþ alle þinges al oon. þou maist [[pg 154]]
seyn þat he is þe verray sonne. 4436
[Linenotes:
4425 _mouþe_--Mowth
4428 _percen_--MS. p{er}te{n}, C. p{er}cen
_inwarde_--inward
4430 _worlde_--world
_on heye_--an hegh
4431 _nat_--omitted
4434 _schullen come_--shollen comyn
4435 _al oon_--alone]
[Headnote:
GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE AND MAN’S FREE WILL.]