Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.
Ver. 12. What the ancients of Israel do in the dark?] Idolatry is a deed of darkness. The Athenians had their Eleusinia, the Romans the rites of their Bona Dea, and the Egyptians their Osiridis Pamylia, all done in the dark. The Popish temples are many of them dark, and some so stuffed with presents and memories that they are thereby made much the darker.
For they say, The Lord seeth us not.] Atheism is the source of all sinfulness. These fools, being in the dark, thought that God could not see what they did there.
The Lord hath forsaken the earth.] Hath cast off all care of us, and therefore we must see to ourselves, look us out some other deities. See Jeremiah 18:15. What a base speech is that of Pliny, a Irridendum vero curam agere rerum humanarum, illud quicquid est, Summum! It is no way likely that God taketh care what becometh of man's matters. Os durum! Harsh mouth!
a Lib. ii. cap. 7.