ty. Ev xgatsi siva, is to be in place of power,' is to be able to dispose of what it relates to. senses we shall see that the devil is said to have the power of death."

and xgutos exe, And in both gatos to Davaty,

Now there is not any notion under which the devil is more known unto, or spoken of among the Jews, than this of his having the power of death: his common appellation among them is, 78, the angel of death.' And they call him Samael also. So the Targum of Jonathan, na nani xn17 Jab band, Gen. iii. 6. And the woman saw Samael the angel of death.' And Maimon. More Nebu. lib. ii. cap. 30. tells us from the Midrash, that Samael rode upon the serpent when he deceived Eve; that is, used him as his instrument in that work. And most of them acknowledge Satan to be principally intended in the temptation of Eve, though Aben Ezra denies it in his comment on the words, and disputes against it. And he adds, that by Samael, the angel of death, they understand Satan, which he proves from the words of their wise men, who say in some places, that Satan would have hindered Abraham from sacrificing Isaac; and in others, that Samael would have done it, which proves that it is one and the same who by both names is intended. And hence they usually call him,

the wicked Samael, the prince ,,סמאל הרשע ראש כל השטים סמאל גרים מותא לכל עלמא,of all the devils ; and say of him

Samael brought death upon all the world.' So that by this Samael, or angel of death, it is evident that they intend him who is termed diaboxes, as the prince and ruler of the rest. So also they speak expressly in Baba Bathra, distinc. Hashatephir.

Rabbi • .אר" שמעון הוא שטן הוא מלאך המות הוא יצר הרע

Simeon said the same is Satan, and the angel of death, and the evil figment;' that is the cause and author of it. And they call him the angel of death on many accounts, the consideration whereof may give us some light into the reason of the expression here used by the apostle. The first is that before mentioned, namely that by his means death entered and came upon all the world. His temptation was the first occasion of death and for that reason is he termed by our Saviour, AVBgWTOXTOVOS A' agxns, John viii. 44. A murderer from the beginning. And herein he had the power of death, prevailing to render all mankind obnoxious to the sentence and stroke of it. Secondly, Because he is employed in great and signal judgments to inflict death on men. He is the head of those, evil angels,' who slew the Egyptians, Psal. lxxviii. 49. So in Psal. xci. 5. those words, Thou shalt not fear, from the arrow that flieth by day,' are rendered by the Targum, 7722

from the : arrow of the angel of דמלאך מותא דשרי ביממא

death which he shooteth by day.' And in the next verse those

words,

Tw app, from the destruction that wast

מסיעת שודין דמחבלין כטיחרא eth at noon day, they render

'from the troop of devils that walk at noon-day; the psalmist treating of great and sudden destructions, which they affirm to be all wrought by Satan: and thence the Hellenists also render the latter place by δαιμονιον μεσημβρινον, • the devil at noonday; wherein they are followed by the Vulgar Latin, Arabic and Ethiopic translations. And this the apostle seems to allude unto, 1 Cor. x. 10. where he says, that those who "murmured in the wilderness were destroyed ύπο του ολοθρευτον, by the destroyer;" ayyeλos oλolgeurns, that the destroy

ing angel,' or the angel of death; as in this epistle he terms him xogav, chap. xi. 28. And it may be this is he who is called 22, Job xviii. 13. the first-born of death,' or he that hath right unto the administration of it. They term him also, that is, oxolgens, the waster' or destroyer: and T, from TW, to waste or destroy, as also 1728; which, as John tells us, is the Hebrew name of the angel of the bottomless pit, Rev. ix. 11. as his Greek name is aw, that is, n, and oneguts. Thirdly, The later Jews suppose that this angel of death takes away the life of every man, even of those who die a natural death. And hereby, as they express the old faith of the church, that death is penal, and that it came upon all for sin through the temptation of Satan, so also they discover the bondage that they themselves are in for fear of death all their days. For when a man is ready to die, they say the angel of death appears to him in a terrible manner, with a sword drawn in his hand. From thence drops I know not what poison into him, whereon he dies. Hence they wofully howl, lament, and rend their garments upon the death of their friends. And they have composed a prayer for themselves against this terror. Because also of this their being slain by the angel of death, they hope and pray that their death may be an expiation for all their sins. Here lies the sting of death, mentioned by the apostle, 1 Cor. xv. 55. Hence they have a long story in their Midrash, or mystical exposition of the Pentateuch, on the last section of Deuteronomy, about Samacl's coming to take away the life of Moses, whom he repelled and drove away with the rod that had the Shem amphorash written in it. And the like story they have in a book about the Acts of Moses, which Aben Ezra rejects on Exod. iv. 20. This hand of Satan in death, manifesting it to be penal, is that which keeps them in bondage and fear all their days. Fourthly, They suppose that this angel of death hath power over men even after death. One horrible penalty they fancy in particular that he inflicts on them, which is set down by Elias in his Tishbi in apn van, out of the Midrash of Rabbi Isaac the son of Parnar; for when a man, as they say, departs out

the angel of בא מלאך המות ויושב על קברו,of this world

death comes and sits upon his grave. And he brings with him a chain, partly of iron, partly of fire, and making the soul to return into the body, he breaks the bones, and torments variously both body and soul for a season. This is their purgatory, and the best of their hopes are, that their punishment after this life shall not be eternal. And this various interest of Satan in

the power of death, both keeps them in dismal bondage all their days, and puts them upon the invention of several ways for their deliverance. Thus one of their solemn prayers on the day of expiation, is to be delivered from 12pm 12, or this punishment of the devil in their graves;' to which purpose also they offer a cock unto him for his pacification. And their prayer to this purpose in their Berachoth is this, "

והצילנו מגזירות דעות ומדלות מעיות מכל מיני פועניות ומדינה That it may please tlice (good' :,,של גהנם ומהבוט של קבר

Lord) to deliver us from evil decrees or laws, from poverty, from contempt, from all kind of punishments, from the judg ment of hell, and from beating in the grave,' by the angel of death. And this supposition is in like manner admitted by the Mahometans, who have also this prayer, Deus noster libera nos ab angelo interrogante tormento sepulchri, et a via mala. And many such lewd imaginations are they now given up unto, proceeding from their ignorance of the righteousness of God. But yet from these apprehensions of theirs, we may see what the apostle intended in this expression, calling the devil him that had the power of death.

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Kai awaλλažn t8f8, iros, Et liberaret ipsos, hos, quotquot, quiand free those who. Aα, is to dismiss, discunque, charge, free; and in the use of the word unto the accusative case of the person, the genitive of the thing is added or understood. Aλλærlw os 1878, · I free thee from this.' Taung awakZažily or ons oplarias; Aristoph. to deliver thee from this eyesore. And sometimes the genitive case of the thing is expressed where the accusative of the person is omitted. Απαλλατίειν 9.68, that is τινα, 'to free or deliver one from fear,' as here the accusative case of the person is expressed, and the genitive of the thing omitted. Aλλağ 8T8s, that is, poße or bavare, i to deliver them,' that is, from death, or from fear because of death.

Evoyer pour dessins: evoxes is obnoxius, obstrictus, reus, damnas. He that is legally obnoxious, subject, liable to any thing, that is, law, crime, judge, judgment, punishment, in all which respects the word is used. He that is under the power of any law, is woxes to you, subject to its authority' and penalty. See Matt. v. 21, 22. xxvi. 66. Mark iii. 29. 1 Cor. xi. 27. James ii. 10. Now the da, servitude or bondage' here mention

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ed is penal, and therefore are men said to be wx, obnoxious' unto it.

VER. 14, 15.-For as much then as (or, seeing therefore that) the children are (were in common) partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise (after the same manner) took part (did partake) of the same; that through (by) death he might destroy (make void the authority of) him that had the power of death, that is the devil. And deliver (free, discharge) them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

In the former verses, as was shewed, the apostle declared the necessity that there was on the part of God, intending to bring many sons unto glory, to constitute such an union between them and the Captain of their salvation, as that it might be just for him to suffer in their stead. In these he proceeds to manifest in particular what that nature is, in the common participation whereof their union designed did consist, wherein they were all of one; and what were the especial reasons why the Lord Christ was made partaker of that nature. This coherence of these verses Chrysostom briefly gives us, Ειτα δειξας την αδελφότητα, και την αιτίαν τίθησι της οικονομίας, Having shewed the brotherhood' that was between Christ and the children, he lays down the causes of that dispensation;' and what they are, we shall find here expressed.

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There are sundry things which the apostle supposeth in these words, as known unto, and granted by the Hebrews. As, first, that the devil had the power of death. Secondly, That on this account men were filled with fear of it, and led a life full of anxiety and trouble, by reason of that fear. Thirdly, That a deliverance from this condition was to be effected by the Messiah. Fourthly, That the way whereby he was to do this, was by his suffering. All which, as they are contained in the first promise, so that they were allowed of by the Hebrews of old, we have fully proved elsewhere. And by all these doth the apostle yield a reason of his former concession, that the Messiah was for a little while made lower than the angels, the causes and ends whereof he here declares. There are in the words, First, A supposition of a two-fold state and condition of the children to be brought unto glory.

1st, Natural, or their natural state and condition. They were all of them in common partakers of flesh and blood: For as much then as the children were partakers of flesh and blood."

2dly, Moral, their moral state and condition. They were obnoxious unto death, as it is penal for sin, and in great bon-,

dage through fear of it: "Them who, through fear of death, were all their life-time subject unto bondage."

Secondly, There is a double inference with respect unto this supposition, on the part of Christ, the Captain of salvation.

1st, As to their natural condition, that he did partake of it, he was so to do: "He himself also did partake of the same." 2dly, As to their moral condition, he freed them from it: "and deliver them.”

Thirdly, The means whereby he did this, or this was to be done, evidencing the necessity of his participation with them in their condition of nature, that he might relieve them from their condition of trouble. He did it by death: " that by death.”

Fourthly, The immediate effect of his death, tending unto their deliverance and freedom, and that is the destruction of the devil, as to his power over and interest in death as penal, whereof their deliverance is an infallible consequent : " and destroy him," &c.

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In the first place, the apostle expresseth, as by way of supposition, the natural condition of the children, that is the children whom God designed to bring unto glory: those who were given unto Christ, they were in common partakers of flesh and blood. I shall not stay to remove the conceit of some, who yet are not a few, among the Romanists, who refer those words unto the participation of the flesh and blood of Christ in the sacrament, whereunto also, as we observed, the Ethiopic version gives countenance. For not only is there not any thing in the expression that inclines unto such an imagination, but also it enervates the whole design of the apostle's discourse and argument, as from the former consideration of it doth appear. Flesh and blood are, by a usual synecdoche, put for the whole human nature; not as though by blood the soul was intended, because the life is said to be in it, as not acting without it; but this expression is used, because it is not human nature as absolutely considered, but as mortal, passible, subject unto infirmities and death itself, that is intended. And it is no more than if he had said, the children were men subject unto death. For he gives his reason herein, why the Lord Christ was made a man subject unto death. That he and the children should be of one nature, he had shewed before. For as much then as this was the condition of the children, that they were all partakers of human nature, liable to sufferings, sorrow and death, he was so also. And this is thus expressed, to set forth the love and condescension of Jesus Christ, as will afterward appear.

The second thing in these words, is the moral condition of the children; and there are sundry things, partly intimated, partly expressed in the description that is here given us of it; as, 1st, Their state absolutely considered-they were subject to