Wo unto thee, O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean?] We see from this, that though the thing was difficult, yet it was not impossible, for these Ethiopians to change their skin, for these leopards to change their spots. It was only their obstinate refusal of the grace of God that rendered it impossible. Man cannot change himself; but he may pray to God to do it, and come to him through Christ, that he may do it. To enable him to pray and believe, the power is still at hand. If he will not use it, he must perish.

Jer. 13:1-11 It was usual with the prophets to teach by signs. And we have the explanation, Jer. 13:9-11. The people of Israel had been to God as this girdle. He caused them to cleave to him by the law he gav them, the prophets he sent among them, and the favours he showed them They had by their idolatries and sins buried themselves in foreig earth, mingled among the nations, and were so corrupted that they wer good for nothing. If we are proud of learning, power, and outwar privileges, it is just with God to wither them. The minds of men shoul be awakened to a sense of their guilt and danger; yet nothing will be effectual without the influences of the Spirit.

Jer. 13:12-17 As the bottle was fitted to hold the wine, so the sins of the people made them vessels of wrath, fitted for the judgments of God with which they should be filled till they caused each other' destruction. The prophet exhorts them to give glory to God, by confessing their sins, humbling themselves in repentance, and returnin to his service. Otherwise they would be carried into other countries in all the darkness of idolatry and wickedness. All misery, witnessed of foreseen, will affect a feeling mind, but the pious heart must mour most over the afflictions of the Lord's flock.

Jer. 13:18-27 Here is a message sent to king Jehoiakim, and his queen Their sorrows would be great indeed. Do they ask, Wherefore come thes things upon us? Let them know, it is for their obstinacy in sin. We cannot alter the natural colour of the skin; and so is it morall impossible to reclaim and reform these people. Sin is the blackness of the soul; it is the discolouring of it; we were shapen in it, so tha we cannot get clear of it by any power of our own. But Almighty grac is able to change the Ethiopian's skin. Neither natural depravity, no strong habits of sin, form an obstacle to the working of God, the new-creating Spirit. The Lord asks of Jerusalem, whether she is determined not be made clean. If any poor slave of sin feels that he could as soon change his nature as master his headstrong lusts, let his not despair; for things impossible to men are possible with God. Let u then seek help from Him who is mighty to save __________________________________________________________________

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