The Divine and Human Element in Conversion
Jeremiah 13:23
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may you also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.


There is produced in a telescope an image of a star. There is produced in the soul an image of God. When does the image of the star start up in the chamber of the telescope? Only when the lenses are clear and rightly adjusted, and when the axis of vision in the tube is brought into exact coincidence with the line of the rays of light from the star. When does the image of God, or the inner sense of peace and pardon, spring up in the human soul? Only when the faculties of the soul are rightly adjusted in relation to each other, and the will brought into coincidence with God's will. How much is man's work, and how much is the work of the light? Man adjusts the lenses and the tube; the light does the rest. Man may, in the exercise of his freedom, as upheld by Divine power, adjust his faculties to spiritual light, and when adjusted in a certain way God flashes through them.

(Joseph Cook.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

WEB: Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.




The Difficulty of Repentance
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