John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 7:24

Verſ. 24. That which is far off and exceeding deep] Not the Minions of the Muſes, Mentemque habere queis bonam, & eſſe corculis datum eſt: Douſa. For though they ſhould eviſcerate themſelves, like Spiders, crack their ſconces, or ſtudy themſelves to death, yet can they not underſtand all myſteries, 1 Cor. 13.2 and all knowledge in natural things, how much leſs in ſupernatural? whereas weak-ſighted, and ſand-blind perſons, the more they ſtrain their eyes to diſcern a thing perfectly, the leſs they ſee of it, as Vives hath obſerved. L. Vives in Aug. de civ. dei. l. 2. c. [illegible: 1 letter] It is utterly impoſſible for a meer Naturaliſt that cannot tell the form, the quinteſſence; that cannot enter into the depth of the flower, or the graſs hee treads on, to have the wit to enter into the deep things of God, the myſtery of Chriſt which was hid from Angels till the diſcovery, and ſince that they are ſtill Students in it.Epheſ. 4. David, though hee ſaw further than his Antients, Pſal. 119.99. yet hee was ſtill to ſeek of that which might bee known, verſ. 96. Even as thoſe great diſcoverers of the New-found-lands in America, at their return were wont to confeſs, that there was ſtill a Plus ultra, ſomething more beyond yet. Not onely in innumerable other things am I very ignorant (ſaith Auſtin) but alſo in the very Scriptures, multo plura neſcio quam ſcio, Aug. Epiſt. I am ignorant of many more things by odds, than I yet underſtand. This preſent life is like the Vale of Sciaeſsa, near unto the Town called Patrae; of which Solinus ſaith, that it is famous for nothing but for its darkſomeneſs, as being continually overcaſt with the ſhadows of nine hills that do environ it,Polyhiſt. c. 12. ſo that the Sun can hardly caſt a beam of light into it. Properemus ad coeleſtem Academiam, Let us haſten to the Univerſity of Heaven, where the leaſt childe knows a thouſand times more than the deepeſt Doctor upon earth.