' 1 Cor. i. 80; Isa. liv. 17, xlv. 24, 25; Jer. xxiii. 6; Eom. v. 1, viii. 1; Col. ii. 10.
2 Ezek. xi. 1 9 ; John iii. 5 ; Rom. viii. 1 ; John xvi. 8-1 1 ; Ps. xxxviii. 5, 7 ; Prov. xiii. 5, G ; Isa. i. 5, 6, Ixiv. 6 ; Ezek. xvi. 4, 5, xxiv. G ; Hos. viii. 8 ; Zech. xiii. 1 ; Rom. iii. 1 3 ; 2 Pet. ii. 22.
116 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
sum of the whole intendment of the Holy Ghost in these two verses seeming to be comprised in the last words of the fifth, and they being a suitable bottom unto the ensuing discourse, comprising, as they stand in relation to the verses foregoing, the whole of my aim, with the way or method wherein it may conveniently be delivered, I shall a little insist upon them : " Upon all the glory shall be a defence."
The words are a gospel promise expressed in law terms, or a new testament mercy in old testament clothes: the subject of it is "All the glory;"' and the thing promised is "A defence over it," or upon it. By " The glory," some take the people themselves to be intended, who are the glory of God, Isa. xlvi. 13, in whom he will be glorified, and who are said to be made glorious, chap. iv. 2. But the pillar of fire and the cloud lead us another way. As the protection here promised must answer the protection given by them of old, so the glory here mentioned must answer that which was the glory of that people, when they had their preservation and direction from these signs of the presence of God in the midst of them. It is very true, the sign of God's presence among them itself, and the protection received thereby, is sometimes called his "glory," Ezek. x. 4, 18; but here it is plainly differenced from it, that being afterward called a " defence." That which most frequently was called the "glory" in the ancient dis- pensation of God to his people was the ark. When this was taken by the Philistines, the wife of Phinehas calls her son I-chabod, and says, "The glory is departed from Israel," 1 Sam. iv. 21, 22; which the Holy Ghost mentions again, Ps. Ixxviii. 61, " And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand." The tabernacle, or the tent wherein it was placed, is mentioned, verse 60, "He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among them;" and the people to whom it was given, verse 62, " He gave his people over also unto the sword ;" — that ark being the glory and strength which went into captivity when he forsook the tabernacle, and gave his people to the sword. That this ark, the " glory" of old, was a type of Jesus Christ (besides the end and aim of its institution, with its use and place of its abode), appears from the mercy-seat or plate of gold that was laid upon it; which Jesus Christ is expressly said to be, Rom. iii. 25, 26, compared with Heb. ix. 5. It is he who is the "glory" here mentioned, not considered absolutely and in his own person, but as he is made "beauty and glory" unto his people, as he is made unto them righteousness and holiness, accord- ing to the tenor of the promises insisted on before. And this is in- deed all the glory of the elect of God,^ even the presence of Christ with them, as their justification and sanctification, theii* righteousness and holiness.
The matter of the promise made in reference to this "glory" and
' It.a. xlv. 25.
l] observations on the controversy. 1 ] 7
them upon whom it doth abide is, that there "shall be a defence upon it." The word translated here "A defence" comes from a root that is but once read in Scripture, Deut. xxxiii. 12, where it is rendered to cover : " The Lord shall cover him all the day long/' So it properly signifies. From a covering to a protection or a defence is an easy metaphor, a covering being given for that end and purpose. And this is the native signification of the word " protego," " to defend by covering;" as Abimelech called Abraham "the covering of Sarah's eyes," or a protection to her, Gen. xx. 16. The allusion also of a shade, which in Scripture is so often taken for a defence,^ ariseth from hence. This word itself is used twice more, and in both places signifies a bride-chamber, Ps. xix. 5, Joel ii. 16, from the peace, covert, and protection of such a place. The name of the mercy-seat is also of the same root with this. In this place it is, by common consent, rendered " A defence" or })rotection, being so used either by allusion to that refreshment that the Lord Christ, the great bride- groom, gives to his bride in his banqueting-house,^ or rather in pur- suit of the former similitude of the cloud that was over the taber- nacle and the ark, which represented the glory of that people. Thus, this "defence" or covering is said to be "upon" or above the "glory," as the cloud was over the tabernacle, and as the mercy-seat lay upon the ark. Add only this much to what hath been spoken (which is also affirmed in the beginning of the verse), namely, that this defence is "created," or is an immediate product of the mighty power of God, not requiring unto it the least concurrence of creature power, and the whole will manifest the intendment of the Lord everlastingly to safe- guard the spiritual glories of his saints in Christ.