[2] As the Lord led Ezekiel from one place to another, and the further he went the greater abominations he discerned (Ezek. viii.), from the door of the court to the door of the gate of the Lord's house, and from thence to the inner court; so the Spirit of the Lord leads the sinner from one part of his house to another, from one room--one faculty of his soul to another, and still discovers greater, more and more abominations,--leads from the profaneness of his ordinary conversation to the sins of his religious duties, from the sins of his life to the sins of his heart, from the streams of sin in his actions to the spring of sin which bubbles up continually in every part of his soul. He brings to mind the sins that he has forgotten, makes him "possess the sins of his youth;" and now the "bag" (Job. xiv. 17) is opened, and the sinner sees what he is to reckon for, he cries out as the prophet's servant, "How shall we do?" and as David (Ps. xxxviii. 4). He comes not to the assizes as formerly, to see others tried and condemned; he sees himself now at the bar, himself arraigned and indicted; he cannot but plead guilty. He is clearly cast in law, and bears the sentence of condemnation as though the Lord did by name pronounce sentence of condemnation against him.--_Clarkson,_ 1621-1686. THE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD. v. 1-7. _Now will I sing, &c._ +I. The privileges conferred on the Jewish nation+ (ver. 2, 3). It would be vain and useless to attempt, as some have done, to find in the privileges of the Jews an exact counterpart to the various items here specified concerning this "vineyard." For example, Jerome regards the fencing of the vineyard as symbolical of the protection of the Jews by the angels; the gathering out of the stones, the removal of the idols; the tower, the temple erected in Jerusalem; the wine-press, the altar.[1] To seek thus for minute analogies is at once to destroy the oratorical force and the simplicity of the parable. Rather let us lay hold of its leading truths. The prophet desired to remind the Jews that they had received extraordinary privileges from God; consequently he employed figures calculated to impress his hearers with that truth; and he does not fail to specify every particular which those acquainted with a vineyard would expect, if it were one from which a copious supply of choice fruit might be reasonably expected. 1. _The choice which God made of the Jews as a nation_ was the first and fundamental privilege which He conferred upon them. 2. Having chosen them, God revealed Himself to them as clearly as was then possible through the symbolism of _the Mosaic Law._ Through its statutes and ceremonies were shadowed forth the great truths of His holiness, His mercy, His sanctifying grace, and the Sacrifice which in the fulness of time was to be offered for the sin of the world (Rom. iii. 1, 2). 3.