John Trapp on Proverbs 30:3

Verſ. 3. I neither learned wiſdome] As he had it nor by nature,Nemo naſcitur artifex. ſo neither had he attained unto it by any pains or skill of his own. There is a ſpirit indeed in man (a reaſonable ſoul and a faculty of reaſoning) But the inſpiration of the Almighty giveth underſtanding, Job 32.8. Not that Agur neglected the means of knowledge, or put off the ſtudy of it (as Salomons fool, Prov. 24.7.) from a conceit of the impoſſibility of reaching to it. Neither yet was hee of their mind of whom Auſtine makes mention, that they caſt off the care of knowledge, becauſe knowledge puffeth up; and ſo would bee ignorant that they might be humble, and want knowledge that they might want pride. This was to doe as the Philoſopher that pluckt out his eyes, to avoyd the danger of uncleanneſs.In Apolog. Sed nihil aliud egit quàm quod fatuitatem ſuam urbi manifeſtam fecit, ſaith Tertullian, wherein he proclaimed his own folly to all the country. But holy Agur here aſſures us, that fleſh and bloud never revealed theſe high things that follow unto him, but as Paul was an Apoſtle, ſo was he a Prophet not of men, neither by man, but by Jeſus Chriſt and God the Father, Gal. 1.1. even the Father of light, Jam. 1.17. In Natures School nothing is to be learned concerning Ithiel and Ʋcal. Confeſſ. lib. 3. Saint Auguſtine though much taken with Cicero's Hortenſius, yet becauſe hee found not the name of Chriſt in it, hee could not ſo heartily affect it. The Philoſophers much magnifie the mind of man as full of Divine light and perſpicacy; when the truth tells us that it is Meus oblita Dei, vitiorumque oblita caeno.

There is nothing great in the earth but man, nothing in man but his mind: Si conſque ſcandis, caelum tranſcendis (ſaid Fav[illegible: 1 letter]rinus the Philoſopher) if you get up thither, you aſcend beyond heaven. But Agur had not ſo learned Chriſt. He talks of natural blindneſs and other evils born with him. Erras ſi tecum vitia naſci putes; ſupervenere, ingeſta ſunt. You are out Agur (ſaith Seneca) if you talk on that manner: blindneſs is not natural to you, but adventitious.Quia ſibi quiſque virtutem acquirit, [illegible: 3 letters]inem è ſapientibus unquam de ea gratias Deo egiſſe. Lib. 3. de nat. Deor. Deorum quidem munus eſt quod vivimus, &c. Sen. Agur bewails his loſs in Adam: This Natures eye never ſaw, and therefore heart never rued. Thoſe that were born in hell, knew none other heaven, as the Proverb is. Agur tells us here, that he never learned true wiſdom from any man, but muſt thank God for that meaſure thereof that hee had attained to. On the contrary, Tully tells us, that inaſmuch as every man acquires to himſelf that vertue that he hath, no wiſe man ever yet gave God thanks for it. And Seneca ſaith, It is of the gods that wee live, but of our ſelves that wee live well and honeſtly. How different are the Saints in Scripture from the worlds wiſards?

Nor have the knowledge of the holy] That is, of the Angels; as Dan. 4.13, 17. & 8.13. whom Jacob ſaw aſcending and deſcending (Gen. 28.12. compared with the next verſe of this Chapter, and with John 1.51.) Moſes made them looking intently into the Mercy Seat. Exod. 25.18, 19. Peter ſets them forth as ſtooping down to look wiſhtly and earneſtly into the Myſtery of Chriſt, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. 1 Pet. 1.12. which was hid from them till the diſcovery, and ever ſince, that they are great ſtudents in it, Epheſ. 3.10. But how ſhould Agur or any man elſe due cannot tell the form and the quinteſſence of things, that cannot enter into the depth of the Flower, or the Graſs he treads on, that cannot underſtand the nature and properties of ſo ſmall a Creature as an Ant or Bee, (Pliny tells of one that ſpent eight and fifty years in learning out the nature of the Bee, Lib. 11. cap. 9. and yet had not fully attained unto it) How is it poſſible, I ſay, that the wiſeſt Naturaliſt ſhould have the wit to enter into the deep things of God? Eye hath not ſeen, nor ear heard, &c. 1 Cor. 2.9.