But if this too fails to persuade them, let them tell us themselves whether there is any wisdom in the creatures or not. If not, how is it that the Apostle complains, 'For since, in the Wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God'? Or how is it, if there is no wisdom, that a 'multitude of wise men' is found in Scripture? For 'a wise man fears and turns away from evil'; and 'by wisdom a house is built'; and the Preacher says, 'A man's wisdom makes his face shine'; and he rebukes the headstrong this way: 'Do not say, Why were the former days better than these? For you do not ask about this in wisdom.' But if, as the Son of Sirach says, 'He poured her out on all His works; she is with all flesh according to His gift, and He has given her to those who love Him,'⁠a and this outpouring is a mark not of the Essence of the true and Only-begotten Wisdom, but of the wisdom that is imaged in the world, how is it unbelievable that the All-creating and true Wisdom Itself, whose impression is the wisdom and knowledge poured out in the world, should say, as I have already explained, as if of Itself, 'The Lord created me for His works'? For the wisdom in the world is not creative, but is what is created in the works, according to which 'the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.' If people have this within them, they will acknowledge the true Wisdom of God, and will know that they are truly made in God's Image. Consider a king's son, when his father wished to build a city: he might have his own name stamped on each of the works as they rose, both to assure them that the works would last, because his name appeared on everything, and to make them remember him and his father from the name; and when he had finished the city and was asked how it was made, he would answer, 'It is made securely, for according to my father's will I am imaged in each work, for my name was placed in the works.' But in saying this he does not mean that his own essence is created, but the impression of himself by means of his name. In the same way, to apply the illustration, the true Wisdom answers those who admire the wisdom in the creatures, 'The Lord created me for the works,' for My impression is in them, and I have condescended in this way for the making of all things.