John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 8:7

Verſ. 7. For hee knoweth not that which ſhall bee] Mans miſery is the greater, becauſe hee cannot fore-ſee to prevent it; but hee is ſuddenly ſurprized and hit, many times on the blinde ſide, as wee ſay.

Neſcia mens hominum fati ſortiſque futurae.

Men are in the dark in regard of future events. God onely knows them, and is thereby oft in Iſaiah diſtinguiſhed from the dung-hill-deities of the Heathens. In his mercy to his people hee gave them Prophets to tell How long: and when theſe failed, the Church heavily bewails it, Pſal. 74.9. Howbeit a prudent man fore-ſeeth an evil, and hideth himſelf,Amb. de Offic. l. 1. cap. 38. Prov. 22.3. See the Note there. By the ſtrength of his mind, ſaith Ambroſe, hee preſageth what will follow, and can define what in ſuch or ſuch a caſe hee ought to do. Sometimes hee turns over two or three things in his mind together, of which conjecturing, that either all may come to paſs jointly, or this or that ſeverally, or whether they fall out jointly or ſeverally, hee can by his underſtanding ſo order his actions, as that they ſhall bee profitable to him.