[Sidenote: If we would follow Plato in giving things their right names, let us say that God is _eternal_ and the world _perpetual_.] {and} for þi yif we willen putte worþi name[s] to þinges 5052 {and} folwen plato. lat vs seyn þa{n} soþely þat god is et{er}ne. {and} þat þe worlde is p{er}petuel. [Sidenote: His knowledge, surpassing the progression of time, is ever present, containing the infinite space of past and future times, and embraces in his clear insight all things, as if they were now transacting.] þan syn þat euery iugeme{n}t knoweþ {and} comp{re}hendiþ by hys owen nature þinges þat ben subiect vnto hym. þere is soþely 5056 al-wey to god an et{er}ne {and} p{re}sentarie estat. {and} þe science of hym þat ouer-passeþ alle temp{or}el moe[ue]m{en}t [[pg 174]] dwelliþ in þe symplicite of hys p{re}sence {and} embraceþ {and} considereþ alle þe infinit spaces of tymes 5060 p{re}teritȝ {and} fut{ur}es {and} lokeþ in þis symple knowynge alle þinges of p{re}t{er}it ryȝt as þei weren ydoon p{re}sently ryȝt now [Sidenote: Prescience is, then, a foreknowledge, not of what is to come, but of the present and _never-failing now_ (in which God sees all things as if immovably present).] [Sidenote: [* fol. 39 _b_.]] ¶ yif þou wolt þan þenke {and} avise{n} þe p{re}science by whiche it knoweþ al[le] þi{n}ges *þou ne 5064 shalt nat demen it as p{re}science of þinges to comen. [Linenotes: 5032 _lyke_--lyk 5034 [_the_]--from C. 5039 _somde[l]_--somdel 5040 _fulfille_--fullfyllen 5041 _litel_--from C., MS. lykly 5042 _whiche_--which _lytele_--from C., MS. lykly 5046 _ben_ (1)--yben [_þat_]--from C. 5047 _swiche_--swych 5048 [_it_]--from C. 5051 _myȝt[e]_--myhte 5052 _willen putte_--wollen putten _name[s]_--names 5053 _soþely_--sothly 5054 _worlde_--world 5055 _owen_--owne 5056 _soþely_--sothly 5057 _al-wey_--al-weys 5058 _alle_--al _moe[ue]ment_--moeueme{n}t 5063 _þenke_--thinken _avisen_--auyse 5064 _whiche_--which _al[le]_--alle] [Headnote: DEFINITION OF PRESCIENCE.] but þou shalt deme{n} [it] more ryȝtfully þat it is science of presence or of instaunce þat neuer ne fayleþ. [Sidenote: Therefore _foreknowledge_ is not so applicable a term as _providence_--for God looks down upon all things from the summit of the universe.] for whiche it nis nat ycleped p{ro}uidence but it sholde raþer 5068 be cleped purueaunce þat is establissed ful fer fro ryȝt lowe þinges. {and} byholdeþ from a-fer alle þinges ryȝt as it were fro þe heye heyȝte of þinges. [Sidenote: Do you think that God imposes a necessity on things by beholding them? It is not so in human affairs.]