Wisdom is the source of all right and noble conduct, the principle that in all things ought to regulate men’s lives. Casting behind him the grim facts of Hellenistic courts, and perhaps of high society in Jerusalem also, one wise man, seeing in vision the world as it should be, put these glowing, optimistic words into the mouth of Wisdom: _By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth_ (Pr. 8^{15, 16}). But all these praises are slight compared with the thoughts inspired by the supreme conviction that Wisdom itself is derived from God and dwells in His Presence: “The Wisdom that illumines the lives of the good is a reflection of the full-orbed wisdom of God.”[75] It is the ineffable counsel of the Almighty, the power by which He created heaven and earth (Pr. 3^{19f}), the principle through which the universe is still sustained. In face of this belief praise rose into exultation, and Wisdom was reverently but enthusiastically conceived as that which had been ordained of God from eternity to be His counsellor in the work of Creation and His daily delight: _Jehovah formed me first of His creation, Before all his works of old. In the earliest ages was I fashioned, Even from the beginning, before the earth. When there were no depths was I brought forth, When there were no fountains brimming with water. Before the mountains were sunk in their bases, Before the hills was I brought forth; Or ever He had made the earth and the fields, Or the first clods of the world. When He established the heavens I was there, When he drew the circle over the abyss; When He made firm the skies above, And set fast the fountains of the deep; When He gave the sea its bounds, And fixed the foundations of the earth, Then was I with Him as a foster-child, And daily was I His delight, As I played continually before His eyes, Played o’er all the habitable world. So now, my children, hearken unto me, Receive my instruction and be wise; For happy is the man that heareth me, Happy are those that keep my ways, Watching daily at my gates, And waiting at my gate-posts. For he that findeth me findeth life, And winneth favour from Jehovah; But he that misseth me wrongeth himself: All that hate me love death._ (Pr. 8^{22-36}).[76] In similar language Ben Sirach imagines Wisdom proclaiming her glory in the very presence of God Himself: