John Trapp on Job 35:11

Verſe 11. Who teacheth us more then the beaſts of the earth?] This many wretched people never conſider; and are therefore heavily, but worthily, vexed by oppreſſours, ut vexatio det intellectum, that ſmart may make wit; and that they may not bellow as beaſts do, when they feel pain: but flie to God by well-prepared prayer, not ſo much for eaſe, as for the uſe of what they ſuffer. Now, bleſſed is the man whom God chaſteneth, and withal teacheth him out of his Law: that he may give him reſt from the dayes of adverſity, Pſal. 94.12, 13. Hereunto, not only Reaſon is required, (the Mercy here mentioned, and celebrated) but Religion alſo; which is the true Philoſophers ſtone that makes golden afflictions, 1 Pet. 1.7. and as Moſes his hand, turneth a Serpent into a Rod. The truth is, Religion is the higheſt reaſon, (neither is any thing more irrational than irreligion, 2 Theſſ. 3.2) and this alſo God alone teacheth. For, Cathedram habet in coelo qui corda docet, ſaith Auſtin. And again, Quando Chriſtus Magiſter, quàm citò diſcitur quod docetur? It is God above, who teacheth the heart: and this if he once undertake, it is ſoon diſpatcht. All this, if ſinful men would well weight, and be thankful for, as they ought, God would ſurely help them, and not ſuffer them ſo to be held under.

And maketh us wiſer than the fowles of heaven] Sapientificat. Some Birds are very ſilly,Plin. l. 10. c. 1. as the Struthiocamelus, that having thruſt his head into a thicket, and ſeeing no body, thinketh that therefore none ſeeth him, and ſo maketh himſelf a prey. Doves ſit in their dove-cotes, and ſee their neſts deſtroyed, their young ones taken away and killed before their eyes: neither ever do they offer to reſcue, or revenge. Mention is made by Writers, of a certain nameleſſe little Bird, which for fear leſt the Heavens ſhould fall upon her,Cael. Rhod. puts alwayes, when ſhe ſleepeth, one foot upon her head: How much better the Bird Onocrotalus? of whom it is reported, that out of expectation of the Hawk to grapple with her, ſhe ſleepeth with her beak exalted, as if ſhe would contend with her adverſary. Something there is that the wiſeſt may learn from the fowles of the air, to whom therefore they are ſent and ſet to ſchoole, Mat. 6.26. Jer. 8.7. yet generally God hath put more underſtanding into men: ſo that as he ſhould not do like them by preying upon others, ſo he ſhould not cry unto God only in diſtreſſe, as the young Raves do when hunger-bit: but pray alwayes, and in every thing give thanks; for which purpoſe it is, that God hath given us reaſon, ſpeech, and much matter and meanes, far above the unreaſonable Creatures. Vae igitur ſtupiditati hominum in calamitatibus torpentium.