existence, the communicated spiritual power in the origination and the completion of the world as God designed it to be. This wisdom the poet here personifies; he does not speak of the personal Logos, but the further progress of the revelation points to her actual personification in the Logos. And since to her the poet attributes an existence preceding the creation of the world, he thereby declares her to be eternal, for to be before the world is to be before time. For if he places her at the head of the creatures, as the first of them, so therewith he does not seek to make her a creature of this world having its commencement in time; he connects her origination with the origination of the creature only on this account, because that _à priori_ refers and tends to the latter; the power which was before heaven and earth were, and which operated at the creation of the earth and of the heavens, cannot certainly fall under the category of the creatures around and above us." Wordsworth, in accordance with the principle of interpretation set forth in the note at the beginning of chapter vii. says, "We should be taking a very low, unworthy, and inadequate view of the present and following magnificent and sublime chapters. . . . If we did not behold Him who is essential wisdom, the co-eternal Son of God, and recognise here a representation of His attributes and prerogative." The arguments in favour of this view are thus summed up by Fausset: "Wisdom is here personal Wisdom--the Son of God. For many personal predicates are attributed to Him: thus, _subsistence by or with God,_ in verse 30; just as John i. 1 saith, 'The Word was with God,' which cannot be said of a mere attribute. Moreover, the mode of subsistence imparted is _generation_, verse 22, 24, 25 (see CRITICAL NOTES). In verse 22 God is said to have _possessed_ or _acquired_ wisdom, not by _creation_ (Psa. civ. 24), nor by adoption, as Deut. xxxii. 6, Psa. lxxiv. 2, but by _generation._ The same verb is used by Eve of her firstborn (Gen. iv. 1). Moreover, other attributes are assigned to Wisdom, as if she were not an attribute but a person--'counsel,' 'strength,' etc. Also, she has the feelings of a person (verse 17): 'I love them that love me.' She does the acts of a person. She enables kings to rule, and invests them with authority (verses 15, 16). She takes part in creation, as one brought up, or _nursed_, in the bosom of the Father, as the only-begotten of His love (John i. 18). She cries aloud as a person (verses 1-4), and her 'lips' and 'mouth' are mentioned (verses 6, 7). She is the _delight_ of the Father, and she in turn delights in men (verses 30, 31), answering to the rapturous delight into which the Father breaks forth concerning Messiah (Isa. xliii. 1; Matt. iii. 17, xvii. 5; Eph. i. 6). She builds a house, prepares a feast, and sends forth her maidens to invite the guests (ch. ix. 1-3). All which admirably applies to