224 SIXTH SERMON said, " I have sworn and will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments ;" it follows a little after, " Accept, I beseech thee, the free-will offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgments," Psa. cxix. 106. 108. David was confident that God would not only accept his covenant, but teach him how to keep it, and that made him the more confident to bind himself by it. In the original, the words are only thus ; " Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols ?" which therefore some would have to be the words of God spoken unto Ephraim. But there is nothing more usual in scripture than an ellipsis of the verb, and we find this very verb (milted, and yet necessary to be supplied, Isa. v. 9. and in this place the Chaldee paraphrast, and from him the best interpreters, with our translators, have supplied it. Thus, " Ephraim shall say :" and so it is God's confirmation of the promise which penitent Ephraim had made, and his undertaking for him, that he should indeed be enabled to perform his covenant. " What have I to do any more with idols ?" It is an interrogation not on'y importing a negative, I will not any more have to do with them, but also a vehe- ment detestation of them, and indignation against them, as that of David to Abishai, 2 Sam. xvi. 10. and that of Elisha to Jehoram, '2 Kings iii. 13. and that of the devil to Christ, Matt. viii 29. G6 With idols." The original word signifieth like- wise sorrows and grief of mind, a fit word to express their sin and repentance. What have we to do with these idols and sorrows any more ? They can produce no good, they can hear no prayers, they can work no deliverance, they can bring nothing but evil and anguish to us, and therefore we will not follow or
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