668 Chap. '44. An Expofitien upon the Book, of J o, B. Verf.2.. Where the workersof iniquitymay hide tkemfclves.. What it is tobe a worker of inipay, was opened at the 8th werfe of this chapter,and thitherirefer the reader. Only ingene- ral know, Workers ofiniquity are more then ordinary (inners, they are cunning at the committing, and cunning at the hiding of fin: Some are but bunglers at fin, theycannot fin with fuch an hellifh skill asothers do, and when they have finned, . theyhave not the art of hiding it ; but others are (as we fay) their crafts-mailers both wayes, and they are properlycalled workersof iniquity. Yet (faith Eühu) the very workersof iniquity,. they that make it their pr:ofe{fón,,their fludy, and their bufinefs to doevil, and to hide the evil they have done, towork mifchief in the dark,and to keep their works in the dark, eventhey cannot be hid inany darknefs: And when the Text faith, there is no darknefs, &c. wherein the workersof iniquity may hide themfelves ; the meaningof it is, they (landnaked, and in the open light before the eyes of God. For thoughElihuBoth not fayfromwhat they cannotbidethem felves, yet we may take it twowayes ; they cannot hide them- felves, £r(i, from the fight of God_; he will difcern them. The Prophet faith of God (Ifa. 4. a .) Thouart a God thathideil- thyfelf, (it is the word of the. Text inanother confiruedon) that dis as Iconceive, it maybe expounded, Thou art aninv f &le God, od hides himfelfnaturally,or in his ownnature,for that is invifi- ble:likewifeGod fomtimeshidethhimfelf voluntarily,as fomtimes he manifefleth or fheweth himfelf voluntarily; but he is a God alwayeshid as tohis nature, becaufe he is invifible and fohe is called a (god that hideth himfelf, in oppofition to Idols or falfe gods, who are obvious to the eyes of men; Idcls have eyes and fee not, but rhemfelves are feenby every eye. Jehovah the true God feeth, but hath no eye, neither canany eye fee him ; Thus he is a God hiding himfelf in the fpirituality of his own being, which grofs Idolscannot : the following wordsin that Text inthe Prophet feen to make out this fence, (verf i 6:) They hall he aJhamedand confoundedallof them, (that is, all Idol-makers, and Idol- worfhippers, (hall be afhamed and confounded) they fhall hgo to confufion,to ether, that are mailers ofldols. Now, as God idethhimfelf both there wayes, fomtimes voluntarily, or in his will,; he relotres to hide himfelf from his people, as David corn- pda,
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