Proverbs 8 · The Lantern

Doth not wisdom cry aloud, and prudence put forth her voice?

Standing in the top of the highest places by the way, in the midst of the paths,

Beside the gates of the city, in the very doors she speaketh, saying:

O ye men, to you I call, and my voice is to the sons of men.

O little ones understand subtlety, and ye unwise, take notice.

Hear, for I will speak of great things: and my lips shall be opened to preach right things.

My mouth shall meditate truth, and my lips shall hate wickedness.

All my words are just, there is nothing wicked, nor perverse in them.

They are right to them that understand, and just to them that find knowledge.

Receive my instruction, and not money: choose knowledge rather than gold.

For wisdom is better than all the most precious things: and whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to it.

I, wisdom, dwell in counsel, and am present in learned thoughts.

The fear of the Lord hateth evil; I hate arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue.

Counsel and equity is mine, prudence is mine, strength is mine.

By me kings reign, and lawgivers decree just things.

By me princes rule, and the mighty decree justice.

I love them that love me: and they that in the morning early watch for me, shall find me.

With me are riches and glory, glorious riches and justice.

For my fruit is better than gold and the precious stone, and my blossoms than choice silver.

I walk in the way of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment,

That I may enrich them that love me, and may fill their treasures.

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning.

And now I shall again recite the words which I have spoken in proof of this point. When Scripture says, "The Lord rained fire from the Lord out of heaven," the prophetic word indicates that there were two in number: One upon the earth, who, it says, descended to behold the cry of Sodom; Another in heaven, who also is Lord of the Lord on earth, as He is Father and God; the cause…

The Lord is God's true and natural Son, and he is known to be not just eternal but one who exists concurrently with the eternity of the Father.

"The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways." The ways of the Lord are his works, by contemplating which man comes to faith or knowledge. For his invisible attributes are clearly seen, understood by the things that are made, from the creation of the world. His ways are the very illuminations by which he shows himself to angelic spirits and to human minds.

I was set up from eternity, and of old, before the earth was made.

Since the heretics, reading the next verse, take a perverse view of that also, because it is written, "He founded me before the world," namely, that this is said of the Godhead of the Word and not of his incarnate presence, it is necessary, explaining this verse also, to show their error.It is written, "The Lord in Wisdom founded the earth; if then by wisdom the earth is founde…

[Solomon] says, "He laid down both the cause and foundation of creation." Also it is written, "He created all things in himself, and he is before all things." And the Lord says as well, "I am the beginning of the creation of God." Indeed, desiring to be the foundation of the church, he submitted to becoming human so that the church might be constituted firmly in him.

The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived, neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out.

The mountains, with their huge bulk, had not as yet been established: before the hills, I was brought forth:

Let us consider [that] our Savior is a "reflection of glory." The reflection of glory has not been begotten just once and no longer begotten. But just as the light is an agent of reflection, in such a way the reflection of the glory of God is begotten. Our Savior is the wisdom of God. But the wisdom is the reflection of everlasting light.

But now, lest the terms 'creation' and 'establishing' should be an obstacle to belief in the divine birth, these words follow, "Before He made the earth, before He made firm the mountains, before all the hills He begat Me." Thus He is begotten before the earth, Who is established before the ages; and not only before the earth, but also before the mountains and hills.

Whether he is eternally begotten or not, I do not yet say, until I have looked into the statement, "Before all the hills he begets me" more accurately. But I cannot see the necessity of their conclusion. For if, as they say, everything that is to come to an end had also a beginning, then surely that which has no end had no beginning.

He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world.

When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law, and compass, he enclosed the depths:

Learn also that the Father was with him, and he with the Father, when all things were being made. Wisdom says, "When he was preparing the heavens I was with him, when he was making the fountains of waters." And in the Old Testament the Father … showed that the Son was to be worshiped with himself as the maker of all things.

This Wisdom uttered made the sky, The sky and light and all besides; All by the Word's almighty power Were fashioned, for the Word was God.

For in the beginning when He created the world and all that therein is, and when He was establishing things, wisdom worked with Him, even as Solomon saith, "The Lord by His wisdom laid the foundations of the earth, and He constructed the heavens by His understanding; and by His knowledge were the depths broken up, and the clouds distilled water." And again wisdom saith, "When H…

When he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters:

When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when he balanced the foundations of the earth;

I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times;

We can therefore imagine no moment whatever when that power was not engaged in acts of well-doing. Whence it follows that there always existed [in God's wisdom] objects for this well-doing, namely, God's works or creatures, and that God, in the power of his providence, was always dispensing his blessings among them by doing them good in accordance with their condition and deser…

We have that general seemliness; for God made the beauty of this world. We have it also in its parts; for when God made the light, and marked off the day from the night, when he made heaven, and separated land and seas, when he set the sun and moon and stars to shine upon the earth, he approved of them all one by one.

"And I delighted every day," etc. Saying "playing," he means rejoicing. Therefore, he was playing before the Father every day, because, as the prophet says, "From the beginning, from the days of eternity" (Mic. 5), he was rejoicing to be one with the Father.

Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men.

Now, therefore, ye children, hear me: blessed are they that keep my ways.

Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.

Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors.

He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.

But he that shall sin against me shall hurt his own soul. All that hate me love death.

Proverbs8