Showing How Graciously God Invites Us To Repentance, And How Necessary It Is That It Should Not Be Delayed. _Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth._—LUKE 15:10. God, who is of infinite mercy, in order that he might the better soften our hard and stony hearts, and turn them from the world, ourselves, and the devil, unto himself (Acts 26:18), has, in his Word, variously represented and set before our eyes man’s conversion and repentance. 2. Among other ways of impressing it on our minds, the two parables of the _Lost Sheep_ and of the _Prodigal Son_ (Luke, chap. 15), are exceedingly affecting, and are so abundant in divine consolation, that it is scarcely possible seriously to think upon them without tears. Therein our Saviour describes three different hearts. Of these the first is, the impenitent heart of a sinner; the second, the contrite heart of a penitent; the third, the heart of God, full of mercy and paternal affection. 3. The _first_ he describes under the similitude of a degenerate son, wastefully spending his substance and inheritance, and at last reduced to such necessity, as to wish to fill his belly with the husks which the swine did eat. By this figure all mankind in their natural state are shadowed forth; who, as so many degenerate sons, have squandered away the heavenly inheritance by continual riot and wickedness. That is, they have lost their original righteousness, holiness, innocency, and the beautiful image of God, in which they were at first created (Eph. 4:24), and are now by their own fault become the bond-slaves of sin, of the devil, and of death. And to complete their ruin, finding no relief, rest, or comfort, in any human performances and laws (which answer to the husks in the parable) they must of necessity perish with endless famine and misery, unless they speedily have recourse unto the grace of their Heavenly Father.