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Ecc_8:7 For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
Ver. 7. For he knoweth not that which shall be.] Man’s misery is the greater because he cannot foresee to prevent it; but he is suddenly surprised and hit many times on the blind side, as we say.
“ Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futurae. ”
Men are in the dark in regard to future events. God only knows them, and is thereby oft in Isaiah distinguished from the dunghill deities of the heathens. In his mercy to his people he gave them prophets to tell how long, and when these failed the Church heavily bewails it. {Psa_74:9} Howbeit a prudent man "foreseeth an evil, and hideth himself." {Pro_22:3} {See Trapp on "Pro_22:3"} By the strength of his mind, saith Ambrose, {a} he presageth what will follow, and can define what in such or such a case he ought to do. Sometimes he 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, he can by his understanding so order his actions as that they shall be profitable to him.
{a} Amb. De Offic., lib. i. cap. 38.