that wisdom which embraces all that can be devised. In thee ignorance hath no place; thou knowest all things, and canst not err nor be deceived, because thou seest all things most perfectly and distinctly. All things past, present, and to come, all things possible and imaginable, all things which are and which are not, are present, O my God, to thee, and are set in thy sacred presence.
2. Thou art the original type and stamp of all things. By thy purity and subtlety thou penetratest all things; and being inwardly present in them, thou fitly disposest them all. But though thou touchest and penetratest from end to end, and from highest to lowest, and enterest most deeply into all things, yet thou dost not in the least confound or mix thyself up with any. Not the least possible speck defiles thee, but thou restest ever the same in thy purity, brightness, and beauty.
3. Thou art the author and maker, the pattern and idea, the measure and limit of all things. Nor art thou the architect only of the things, seen and unseen, that are, and have received from thee their being, and the form which thou hast imprinted upon them, but of those also which are not, yet by the band of thy almighty power may be made, of an infinitely far greater number than those which have been made already.
4. Oh, how admirable the wisdom that embraces all eternity at once, and contains within itself the whole of immensity, that draws to itself all infinity, in which alone all things possess a kind of eternal being, and eternal life, which, lastly, is without beginning and without end, and is in every respect immutable!
5. With the greatest rejoicing, I bless thee, O Lord, for the depth of thy wisdom, by which thou art the searcher of hearts. I would not, though I could, ever so little obscure or lessen thy wisdom, if thou mightest thus be made ignorant of my wickedness and my crimes. Nay, I would rather myself be destroyed and annihilated, than have thy wisdom become an iota less than it is.
Pour forth, O most wise Lord, I beseech thee, into my soul, one ray from the inexhaustible source of thy light, that I may be able perfectly to understand the beauty of virtue and the ugliness of sin, that I may avoid the one and pursue the other, and love more and more whatever tends to thy everlasting glory and honour. Amen.
