¶ •• prayse of wysdome proceadyng forth of the mouth of God. Of her wo••ike•• & place where she ceasteth.
CAPI. XXIIII.
Wysdome shall prayse her selfe / and be [unspec A] honoured in God / and reioyse in the middest of his people: In the cōgrgaeciōs of the Hyeste shall she open her mouthe / and triumphe i the beholdyng of his power: In the myddeste of her people shall she be exal∣ted, and wondred at in the holy fulnesse. In the multitude of the chosen she shalbe com∣mended / and amonge such as be blessed she shalbe praysed, and shal say: I am come out of the mouth of the Hyest, first borne before al creatures. I caused the light that fayleth not to aryse in the heauē, and couered al the earth as a cloude. My dwellyng is aboue in the heyth / and my seate is in the piler of the cloude. I my selfe alone haue gōne rounde aboute the compasse of heauen, and pearsed the grounde of the depe: I haue walcked in the floudes of the see / and haue stande in all landes: my domynion is in euery people and in euery naciō / and with my power haue I troden downe y• hertes of al, both hye & low.
In all these thynges also I sought rest, [unspec B] and a dwellynge in some enherytaunce. So the creator: of al thiges gaue me a cōmaun dement: and he that made me, appointed me a tabernacle / and sayde vnto me: Let thy dwelling be i Iacob, and thyne inheritaūce in Israel, and rote thy selfe amonge my cho¦sen. * 1.1 I was created frō the begynning and before the worlde, and shal not leaue of vn∣to the world to come. * 1.2 In the holy habyta∣ciō haue I serued before him / and so was I stablyshed in Siō. * 1.3 In the holy cytie reited I in lyke maner: and in Ierusalem was my power, I roke rote in an honorable people / euen in the porcyon of the Lorde and in hys herytage / & kept me in the fulnes of y• sayn∣ctes. I am set vp an hye lyke a Ceder vpon Libanus, and as a Cipers tre vpon y• moūt Hermō. I am exalted like a palmetre in Ca des, & as a rose plante in Iericho: As a faire Oliue tre in the felde, & am exalted like as a plāteyne tre by y• water syde. I haue geuē a smel in the stretes, as y• Cinamon & Balme, y• hath so good a sauoue: yee a swete odoure haue I geuen as it were Myrre of the beest.
I haue made my dwellynges to smell as [unspec C] it were of rosm Galbanum, of Clowes, and Incence / and as Lybanus when it is not hewen downe, & myne odoure is as the pure Balme. As the Terebinte haue I stretched out my braūches, and my braūches are the braunches of honour and louing fauour. ✚ ‡ 1.4 As the vyne haue I brought forth frute of a sweter sauoure / & my floures are the frute of honour and ryches. I am the mother of bewtye / of loue / of feare / of knowledge and of holy hope. ‡ 1.5 In me is all grace of life and trueth. In me is al hope of lyfe and vertue. O come vnto me all ye that be desyrous of me, and fyll your selues with my frutes: for my spryte is sweter then hony / and so is my inheritaunce more then the hony combe: the remembraūce of me endureth for euermore. They that eate me / shall haue the more ho••¦ger: and they that dryncke me, shall thyrst y• more. Who so herkeneth vnto me / shall not come to cōfusyon: & they that worcke in me, shall not offende. They that make me to be knowen, shall haue euerlastynge lyfe. ⊢
All these thinges are the boke of lyfe, the couenaunt of the Hiest / and the knowledge of the trueth. ‡ 1.6 Moses cōmaunded the lawe in the preceptes of righteousnes for an heri¦tage vnto the house of Iacob, and commit∣ted y• promyses vnto Israel. * 1.7 (Out of Da∣uid h{is} seruaūt he ordened to raise vp a most myghte kyng / sytting in the seat of honour for euermore). * 1.8 Thys fylleth wt wysdome lyke as the floude of Physon / and as the floude of Tygris / when the new frutes are a growynge
Thys bryngeth a plenteous vnderstan∣ding [unspec D] lyke Euphrates: & filleth it vp, as Ior* 1.9 dane in the tyme of haruest. Thys maketh nourture to breake forth as the light, & as y• water Gyhon in the haruest. The fyrst hath not knowne her perfectly / nomore shall the last seke out y• groūd of her. For her thought is fuller then the see, and her councel is pro¦founder then the greate depe.
I wysdome haue cast out floudes. I am as a great waterbroke oute of y• riuer I am as the ryuer Dorix, and as a water condyte am I come out of the garden of pleasure. I sayde: I wyll water the garden of my yong plantes, and fyll the frute of wy byrth. So my waterbroke became exceadynge greate, and my riuer approached vnto the see. For I make doctryne to be vnto all men as syght