Shall Wisdom Cry Aloud?

Shall Wis­dom cry aloud

And not her speech be heard?

The voice of God’s eter­nal Word

Deserves it no re­gard?

“I was His chief de­light

His ev­er­last­ing Son

Before the first of all His works

Creation

was be­gun.

“Before the fly­ing clouds

Before the so­lid land

Before the fields

be­fore the floods

I dwelt at His right hand.

“When He ad­orned the skies

And built them

I was there

To or­der where the sun should rise

And mar­shal ev­ery star.

“When He poured out the sea

And spread the flow­ing deep

I gave the flood a firm de­cree

In its own bounds to keep.

“Upon the emp­ty air

The earth was bal­anced well:

With joy I saw the man­sion where

The sons of men should dwell.

“My bu­sy thoughts at first

On their sal­va­tion ran

Ere sin was born

or Ad­am’s dust

Was fa­shioned to a man.

Then come

re­ceive My grace

Ye child­ren

and be wise;

Happy the man that keeps My ways;

The man that shuns them dies.