fhould defame or reflect upon a wife Man or Doctor, tho' dead. 2. Who fhould reproach a publick Officer of any of our Courts. 3. Who fhould call a Free-man, a Slave or Vaffal. 4. Who fummon'd to the Courts, did not appear at the Time prefix'd. 5. Who should condemn any one Precept of the Tribes or the Lam. 6. Who did not ftand to the Determination or Sentence of the Sanhedrin, he was Excommunicated till fuch times as he fubmitted. Who kept any thing whereby he might endamage his Neighbour, as for inftance, a biting Dog, broken Ladder or Style, was to be Excommunicated till he repair'd the Prefent, and took care to prevent all future Damage. 8. Who fold his Ground to an Heathen, except he took care that no Damage fhould upon that Account befal his Neighbour. 9. Who fhould appear as Evidence against one of our Nation in the Courts of other Nations; and fo the Perfon accused fhould be forced to pay any Fine or Mulet contrary to the Cuftoms of our Nation, fuch an one was Excommunicated till he refunded the Fine imposed on the other. io. He who kill'd the Sacrifices, but set not apart what was due to the Priefts, was Excommunicated till he took care the Priests were fatisfied for the Wrong done them. 11. Who fhould neglect to obferve a Holy-Day when in Captivity, tho' fuch a Day was not obferved in the Place where he fojourn'd. 12. Who should work on the Eve of the Paffover. 13. Who pronounced the Name of God with Marks of Contempt, or with an Oath. 14. Or

fhould

should give others an occafion of taking God's Name in vain, or ufing it without a profound Respect. 15. Who fhould perfwade the common People to eat the Sacrifice in a Place which was not Sacred. 16. Who fhould compute the Years and Months, otherwifethan the Law commanded. 17. Who fhould make the Blind to stumble and fall. 18. Who fhould hinder the People from obferving any one Precept of the Law. 19. Who fhould offer, or bring to be offer'd as a Sacrifice what had been torn by Beafts. 20. The Sacrificer, who had not try'd his Knife before. a wife Man. 21. The Scholar who carry'd himself rudely and obftinately towards his Mafter. 22. An Elder of a loft Reputation. 23. Who fhould Excommunicate another without juft Caufe. 24. He, who fhould lie with his Wife after he had divorced her. These are the principal Crimes for which any one was Excommunicated. In the next Place I shall fhew who were invested with the Power of Excommunicating.

This Power was chiefly lodg'd in the foremention'd Courts of Judicature, for the Private Men in fome Cafes might Excommunicate, and were oblig'd to do fo under pain of being Excommunicated themselves, as when they heard any one ufe the Name of God without a juft Refpect; yet this Power was especially to be exercifed by the Priests, and the Sanhedrin. There were fome Perfons eminent for Learning, Authority, or Defcent, who were either not at all lyable to this Cenfure, or at leaft we are told, That great

Cau

Caution was to be used in paffing this Cenfure upon them, and Sentence was to be pronounced by the Great Sanhedrin. Such were the Prince, and the Father of the Great Sanbedrin, as alfo the more eminent Elders, Lawyers and Doctors, nor was it ufual to Excommunicate the Candidates, or forbid them Priviledge of fitting in the Courts, but upon very mature Deliberation: He who was Excommunicated for abufing an Elder, Doctor or Lawyer, was only prohibited their Company; but he who was Excommunicated for any other of the foremention'd Crimes, was prohibited the Company of all Mankind, except his own Family, and even that too in fome Cafes, as will appear by and by. Thefe may fatisne you what are the Crimes, and who the Perfons, for which, and against whom Excommunication was pronounced. I fhall in the next Place give the Form and Ceremonies ufed at the pronouncing of this Cenfure.

t

When any was convicted of the Crimes before-mention'd, then the Sentence was pronounced thus, Let N. B. be Excommunicated. For though the Perfon was prefent, yet the. Cuftom was to pronounce the sentence not in the Second, but Third Perfon. Not, Be thou Excommunicated, but leteN. B. be Ex-. communicated, and if the Perfon's Name was not known, the Form run thus, let that Man be Excommunicated. Sometimes the Ceremony was perform'd with great Solemnity, as with Trumpets; for we read that Ezra, Zerubbabel and Fofhua the Son of Jozedech,the High Prieft, call'd together all the Congre

gation into the Temple of the Lord, then came in Three Hundred Priefts and Three Hum dred inferior Candidates, who had Three Hundred Books of the Law, and Three Hundred Trumpets in their Hands, these blew the Trumpets, the Levites finging in the mean time, then they Excommunicated the › Chut bean by the Mysterious Name of our God, by the Decalogue and the Supreme Court of Heaven. Hence all their Goods became unholy, and it was equally unlawful to eat Flefh, as to eat Hogs Flefh. This Form differ'd according as the Perfons Excommunicated were of a Private or Publick Capacity, as the Cenfure was against a single Man, or a whole Tribe or a whole City.

ter.

There were two Species or rather Degrees of Excommunication, the Lefs and the GreaThe lefs Excommunication declared fuch a Perfon, fuch a 7 ribe, or fuch a City, to be depriv'd of the Company of fuch Men, fuch a City, Province, or the whole Nation, according to the Nature of the Crime, and the Quality of the Perfon. And after Sentence was pronounced, none of those from whofe Society he was excluded, durft come within four Cubits of him, except his Wife and Children; by this as a publick Mark of Infamy he was diftinguifh'd from all the Faithful, till he repented and fo was publickly reftor'd: By this Means he was excluded from all Feafts, nor could he eat or drink with any Neighbour, nor make up One of the Ten, which according to the Cuftom of our Nation, was reputed a great Difgrace.

And

And in fome Cafes it was not lawful for him who met the Perfon Excommunicated to falute him: It depended upon the Pleasure of the Court, and the Nature of the Crinte to limit or extend the Bounds of Excommunication; for he, who was prohibited the Society of fome Perfons or Cities, that is, who was Excommunicated in refpect of fuch Perfons or Cities, might live in other Cities without any Moleftation, and the Inhabitants of thofe Cities might freely converfe with him, fo that the fame Perfon by fome was accounted Excommunicate, by others not, according to the Quality of the Perfon pronouncing, and the Nature of the Sentence pronounced: Thus we read in the Babylonish Gemara, He, who was Excommunicate with Relation to the Mafter, was reputed fuch alfo with Relation to the Scholar, but not the contrary; for tho' the Scholar might not converfe with him, the Mafter might, and fo he who was declar'd Excommunicate with Refpect to his own City, was declar'd fuch with Respect to all others. But the contrary did not always hold; and he who was Excommunicate with Relation to the Prince, was look'd upon as fuch with Relation to the whole Church or the Jewish Nation; but the contrary was not always true: So that Excommunication was either in part, or with Relation to all in general; he who lay under the former, as we read in the Gemara of Jerusalem, tho' he suffer'd not all the Inconveniencies of the latter, yet this Custom prevail'd, that all Men fhould fhun his Company, that by this means he might

be