John Trapp on Jeremiah 13:23

Ver. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin?] Proverbial ſpeeches arguing a very great difficulty, if not an utter impoſſibility. Aethiopem abluo ut candidum reddam, ſaid Diogenes, when he reproved an ill man to no purpoſe: I do but waſh a blackmore. And the like ſaid Nazianzen concerning Julian the Apoſtate. It is ſaid that the Negro's paint the devil white, as being a colour contrary to their own, and which they leſſe well affect. Will the Ethiopian change his skin? ſo the Hebrew hath it.

Or the leopard his ſpots] Sin is in us as the ſpots of a Leopard, not by accident, but by nature, which no art can cure, no water waſh off: becauſe they are not in the skin but in the fleſh and bones, in the ſinews and in the moſt inner parts. Where then is mans free-will to good, &c?

Then may ye alſo do good that are accuſtomed to do evil] Cuſtome in ſin takes away the ſenſe of it, and becomes a ſecond nature: which though expeld with a fork as it were, will yet return again. It looks for continual entertainment where it hath once gotten a haunt, as humours fall toward their old iſſue. Can[illegible: 1 letter]s qui ſemel didicerit edere corium, nunquam deſiſtet, ſaith Lucian: an evil cuſtome is not eaſie left. Nothing ſo weak as water: yet let much water (ſo ſin, Satan, and cuſtome) be joyned together, and nothing ſtronger. It was not for nothing therefore that the Cretians, when they would curſe their enemies, with moſt bitter execrations, they wiſhed that they might take delight in ſome or other evil cuſtome; modeſtoque voti genere efficaciſſimum ultionis genus reperiunt, ſaith the Hiſtorian: by a modeſt kind of with,V[illegible: 1 letter]l. M[illegible: 1 letter]x. they ſufficiently avenged themſelves.