from thence, and they left off to build the city," or, as the Psalmist says, he scattered these proud ones in the imagination of their hearts.

The ensign staff upon the Tower reminded me of the rod that came out of the stem of Jesse. And this rod of Jesse is to stand for an ensign of the people; "To it shall the Gentiles seek and his rest shall be glorious." This staff reminded me of union; before the standard the troops are ranged and mustered; and in defence of the imperial colours they all unite as the heart of one man; to the royal standard rebels are commanded to repair, as soon as a proclamation of the royal favour is proclaimed; emblematical this of saints uniting in one faith, hope, and spirit, and of lost sinners coming over to him who received gifts for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them.

The flag or banner may serve to remind us of the banner of everlasting love which is displayed over the head of a young recruit when in the rendezvous or banqueting house, Song ii. 4; to let him know that he must engage in the fight of faith as soon as the royal bounty is spent.

The mint and the balance, by which coin is tried and adjusted, brought to my mind the many counterfeit religions which pass as current in our days; some are said to be impressed and bear an image that God will despise, Psalm lxxiii. 20; others to receive the mark of the beast, Rev. xiii. 17; others a countenance that witnesseth

against them, Isaiah iii. 9; others wear a whore's forehead, Jer. iii. 3; but there are some who bear the image of the heavenly Adam, Rom. viii. 29. Only these will pass for sterling in the great day; all must be put into the balance and tried; God will take no man's word; many commend their own candid spirit, but God will try them in the balances of the sanctuary: "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirits." "Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; to be laid in the balance together they are altogether lighter than vanity," Psal. lxii. 9. In short, all that have not Christ in them the hope of glory, will have Tekel written on them, "weighed in the balances and found wanting."

The Spanish armory, that contains the instruments of torture and cruelty, the iron collar, the iron thumbscrews, the formidable toothpick, and their strange weapons that were taken from the formidable armada, brought to my thoughts the views that the children of Israel had when they saw the troops, troop-horses, war-chariots, arms, and armour, of Pharaoh and his host, on the shore of the Arabian gulf, after the king's predicted success and momentary triumph was ended: "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them;" but God blew with his wind, and they sank like lead in the mighty waters, Exod. xv. 9, 10. One blast of the

breath of God's nostrils got the victory; and it was but a puff from the same almighty conqueror that blasted this expensive, deep-laid, and wellcontrived expedition. The pope's blessing and cross-keys were no security against his power, who rides on the heavens for our help, and in his excellency upon the skies; nor is it likely they should, seeing it is predicted, that the pope himself shall be destroyed by a blast from the same quarter; "Whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."

The tower gates being kept shut until opened by a porter, serves to shew the way by which sinners enter the gates of Zion; it is by the king's leave these gates are open to any; if he issues out a command to the contrary, there is no entrance. The King of Zion does more; he not only grants, but gives orders; without his voice there is no admission; to him the porter openeth, and to none else; without a royal grant there is no entering the strait gate or getting within the inner walls of Zion; the hypocrite may grope for them, or go round about Zion, count her towers, mark her bulwarks, and consider her palaces, and that is all; while the inhabitants of the citadel can triumph and say, "This God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death," Psalm xlviii. 14.

The warders or guardians of the tower, who wear the king's livery, shew and explain the cu

riosities, detect idle and ill disposed persons attempting to enter, exhibited to my mind the duty of a gospel minister when clad with the righteousness of Christ, with the garment of salvation, and with the Spirit of sanctification, whose business it is, to shew and explain the royal armory, and the peculiar treasures of the great King; to make all men see what is the hope of our calling, and to reveal and make known the fellowship of the mystery, things which have been hid for many ages past, but are now brought to light in a glorious manner by the gospel. It is the duty of gospel ministers to take up strollers, who are backsliding and wandering from their resting place, or out of the way of understanding; to take them up with a royal warrant, bring them to the bar of conscience, appeal to truth against their conduct, and try them by the laws of Zion; the ancient watchmen served the spouse so; The watchmen that go about the city found me." She strolled until she had lost sight of her royal consort, provoked him to jealousy by her conduct, insomuch as she sought him but found him not, she called him but he gave her no answer. She was gone back to her first husband the law, had got the old vail on her face again; therefore the watchmen found her, they smote her with the staff of authority, they wounded her with the sword of the Spirit; the keepers of the wall took away her vail from her, Song v. 6, 7; and brought her back with a blushing face, covered with shame

Rom. vii. 3, 4; and

and confusion, to her much slighted Lord, from whom, without any provocation, she had treacherously eloped. These warders take up idle pilfering persons; so ministers are to detect hypocrites, who under a mask of religion, and by making a false shew and an outcry about holiness, deceive the simple and live by sacrilege, by robbing the church of God, countenancing and strengthening the hands of evil doers. The apostle had no small trouble with these; "For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies; now them that are such we command, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread," 2 Thess. iii. 11, 12.

ye

The prophet Ezekiel, that watchman of Israel, had no small trials from sacrilegious ladies; "Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them, and say, Thus saith the Lord God, wo to the women that sew pillows to all armholes. Will pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley, and for pieces of bread to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies? With lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked," Ezek. xiii. 17-22. The work of these upholsterers, was making pillows for the armholes, that is, bolstering up hypocrites, loose professors, and idle persons; for which wicked