[Headnote: PROVIDENCE SEES ALL THINGS.] [Sidenote: A rational being possesses, then, the liberty of choosing and rejecting.] ¶ wher-fore in alle þinges þ{a}t resou{n} is. i{n} hem also is 4400 libertee of willyng {and} of nillynge. [Sidenote: This liberty is not equal in all beings.] ¶ But I ne ordeyne nat. as who seiþ. I ne graunte nat þat þis lib{er}tee be euene like in alle þinges. [Sidenote: In heavenly substances, as spirits, &c., judgment is clear, and the will is incorruptible, and has a ready and efficacious power of doing things which are desired.] forwhi in þe souereyns deuynes substau{n}ces. [Sidenote: [* fol. 34 _b_.]] þat is to *seyn in spiritȝ ¶ Iugement is 4404 more clere {and} wil nat be corumped. {and} haþ myȝt [[pg 153]] redy to speden þinges þat ben desired. [Sidenote: The souls of men must needs be more free when employed in the contemplation of the Divine Mind, and less so when they enter into a body, and still less free when enclosed and confined in earthly members; but the most extreme servitude is when they are given over to vice and wholly fallen from their proper reason.] ¶ But þe soules of men moten nedes ben more free whan þei loken hem in þe speculac{i}ou{n} or lokynge of þe deuyne þouȝt. {and} 4408 lasse free whan þei sliden in to þe bodies. {and} ȝit lasse free whan þei ben gadred to-gidre {and} co{m}p{re}hendid in erþely membris. but þe last[e] seruage is whan þat þei ben ȝeue{n} to vices. {and} han yfalle fro þe possessiou{n} of 4412 hire p{ro}pre resou{n} [Sidenote: For at once they are enveloped by the cloud of ignorance and are troubled by pernicious desires, by yielding to which they aid and increase that slavery which they brought upon themselves, and thus even under the liberty proper to them, they remain captives.] ¶ For after þat þei han cast aweye hir eyen fro þe lyȝt of þe souereyn soþefastnesse to lowe þinges {and} dirke ¶ Anon þei dirken by þe cloude of ignoraunce {and} ben troubled by felonous talentȝ. to þe 4416 whiche talentȝ whan þei app{ro}chen {and} assenten. þei hepen {and} encresen þe seruage whiche þei han ioigned to hem self. and in þis manere þei ben caitifs fro hire p{ro}pre libertee. [Sidenote: Yet the eye of Providence, beholding all things from eternity, sees all this and disposes according to their merit all things as they are predestinated.] þe whiche þinges naþeles þe lokynge of 4420 þe deuyne purueaunce seeþ þ{a}t alle þinges byholdeþ {and} seeþ fro et{er}ne. and ordeyneþ hem eueryche i{n} her merites. as þei ben p{ro}destinat. [Sidenote: He, as Homer says of the sun, _sees and hears all things_.]