SPOILS

TAKEN FROM

THE TOWER OF LONDON,

WITHOUT

SIEGE, VIOLENCE, BLOODSHED, CONQUEST, OR LOSS TO THE OWNERS.

IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND.

MOREOVER I HAVE GIVEN THEE ONE PORTION ABOVE THY BRETHREN.

GEN. XLVIII. .22

SPOILS, &c.

From a certain Loyalist in the burning bush, to the son of David, alias Mr. Davidson, No. 7, Postern Row, secured by a wall, though in view of the ditch, living near the Tower.

DEAR SIR,

I WISH grace, mercy,

grace, mercy, and peace to be for ever with thee through Jesus Christ, our most blessed God and Saviour. In my way home after you was so kind as to accompany me in viewing the many curiosities in the Tower, I fell to considering and spiritualizing the various things that I had seen; seen; and upon reflection my roving fancy took her flight, and at her return many things were exhibited on the threshold; the conclusion I made is, that your situation is somewhat singular, and your privileges such as few can boast of.

You live in daily prospect of the high tower, Psal. xviii. 2; which the royal psalmist, though highly favoured of God, was not always indulged with. When we are fixed on the high tower the world appears as the drop of a bucket, or the small

dust of a balance, lighter than vanity and less than nothing. You know the promise is that the saint shall dwell on high, that his place of defence shall be the munition of rocks, that bread shall be given him and his water shall be sure, that he shall see the King in his beauty, and behold the land that far off.

is

very

The royal armory is within a bowshot of your person, "whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men," Cant. iv. 4. Many a good soldier of Jesus Christ, when engaged in the fight of faith, has felt his need of the helmet of hope, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of help, the shield of faith, the girdle of truth, and the sword of the Spirit, who never could say, as you can, that they lived all the year round close to and in full view of the royal armory.

Nor have you any thing to fear from the horse armory. The horses, their armour, their formidable riders, and their weapons of war, strike no terror; they are all fixed, and confined in perpetual imprisonment; there is no apprehension of any danger from them; all the terror they have caused in the land of the living is now over. What would thousands of Christians have given to have seen the Saracens in the same manner confined when they appeared so terrible: as it is written, "And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having

breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone; and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed." Thus the Tower presents some things in effigy which John saw in vision; and the iron breastplates on the Saracens troop horses were lively emblems of the seared consciences of that troop of locusts who spread the doctrines of the Turkish alcoran; and of the trading swarm of popish priests, who get money for themselves, and souls for the devil, by selling bulls and pardons.

Many a young Christian who has had Christ in him the hope of glory, has been afraid at first to launch out into the world in a public profession, saying, with the sluggard, "There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets," Prov. xxii. 13; whereas you can go every day and see not only the lions, but wolves, bears, tigers, and leopards, all confined in their dens; yea, you can lay on your bed and hear their terrible roar, but not one of them can come nigh thy dwelling. Highly favoured Daniel, only for calliug upon his God, was cast in among them; but as he cleaved close to the lion of the tribe of Judah, the others could do him no mischief. O what a day will that be, when the lion of the bottomless pit shall be as closely cooped as those are in the Tower. The angel will come down at the time appointed, and bring his chain in his hand, lay hold of that old