an ecclesiastical penalty or censure, whereby such persons as are guilty of any notorious crime or offence, are separated from the communion of the church, and deprived of all spiritual advantages.

Excommunication among the Jews, according to Elias, a German rabbin, was distinguished into three kinds: 1. Niddui, which was a separation of but a few days; 2. Cherem, a separation attended with excrement and malediction; and, 3. Shamatha, which was the last and greatest excommunication. But Selden says, that niddui and shamatha are the same thing; and therefore that there were but two kinds of excommunication among the Jews, viz. the greater and the lesser. They made also another distinction in excommunication, into total or universal, by which a man was excommunicated with regard to all men; and partial, by which a man was excommunicated in one city, and with regard to certain persons, and not others.

It is observable, that not only the judges had the power of excommunicating, but that each particular person in conversation might excommunicate another, and himself likewise; and this excommunication, if well grounded, was of force: nay, if a man dreamed that he was excommunicated by himself or by another, he was considered as an excommunicated person, because this dream was supposed to be sent from God.

As to the effects of the Jewish excommunication, the lesser excluded the excommunicated person from the society of men; that is, he was not to come nearer them than four cubits, neither he, his wife, children, or domestics, according to Buxtorf. The greater absolutely sequestered the person from the conversation of others; and sometimes he was shut up in a small chamber or prison, where he lived alone. Baronius and Beza pretend, that the greater excommunication excluded men from the use of sacred things. Selden, on the contrary, affirms that they were allowed to be present in the temple, and partake of the public worship. Buxtorf, who is of the same opinion, adds, that whereas others came into the temple at the right hand, and went out at the left, the excommunicated were obliged both to go in and out at the left.

Excommunication, among the modern Jews, is attended with the most terrible consequences. The excommunicated person is refused all human assistance; if there be a corpse in his house, or a child to be circumcised, none must help him. He is cursed by the book of the law, by the curse of Joshua against Jericho, by that of Elisha against the children, by heaven and earth, and God is besought that a whirlwind may dash him to pieces. He is pelted with stones if he appear in the streets: and if he obtains absolution, it is upon the most mortifying conditions; for he is publicly tied to Excommunication to a post and whipped, after which he lays himself down at the door of the synagogue, and all those who go out pass over him. This was the very case of the famous Jew Acosta.

In the ancient Christian church, the power of excommunication, as well as other acts of ecclesiastical discipline, was lodged in the hands of the clergy, who distinguished it into the greater and lesser. The lesser excommunication, simply called apbosis, separation or suspension, consisted in excluding men from the participation of the eucharist, and the prayers of the faithful. But they were not expelled the church; for they had the privilege of being present at the reading of the Scriptures, the sermons, and the prayers of the catechumens and penitents. This excommunication was inflicted for lesser crimes; such as neglecting to attend the service of the church, misbehaviour in it, and the like.

The greater excommunication, called panteles apbosis, total separation and anathema, consisted in an absolute and entire exclusion from the church and the participation of all its rites. When any person was thus excommunicated, notice was given of it by circular letters to the most eminent churches all over the world, that they might all confirm this act of discipline, by refusing to admit the delinquent to their communion. The consequences of this latter excommunication were very terrible. The excommunicated person was avoided in civil commerce and outward conversation. No one was to receive him into his house, nor eat at the same table with him; and when dead, he was denied the solemn rites of burial. It has been a question, whether the ancient church used to add execution to her censures. Grotius thinks this was done, though very seldom, as in the case of Julian the apostate, for whose destruction, he says, the ancient Christians absolutely prayed to God. St Chrysostom was utterly against this practice, affirming that we ought not to pray against the sinner, but against his opinions or actions.

The Roman pontifical takes notice of three kinds of excommunication. 1. The minor, incurred by those who have any correspondence with an excommunicated person. 2. The major, which falls upon those who disobey the commands of the holy see, or refuse to submit to certain points of discipline; in consequence of which they are excluded from the church militant and triumphant, and delivered over to the devil and his angels. 3. Anathema, which is properly that pronounced by the pope against heretical princes and countries. In former ages, these papal fulminations were most terrible things; but at present, they are formidable to none but a few petty states of Italy.

the Greek church, cuts off the offender from all communion with the 318 fathers of the first council of Nice, and with the saints; configns him over to the devil, and the traitor Judas; and condemns his body to remain after death as hard as a flint or piece of flaxel, unless he humbles himself and makes atonement for his sins by a sincere repentance. The form abounds with dreadful imprecations; and the Greeks assert, that if a person dies excommunicated, the devil enters into the lifeless corpse; and therefore, in order to prevent it, the relations of the deceased cut his body in pieces, and boil them in wine. It is a custom for the patriarch of Jerusalem annually to excommunicate the pope and the church of Rome; on which occasion, together with a great deal of idle ceremony, he drives a nail into the ground with a hammer, as a mark of malediction.

The form of excommunication in the church of England anciently ran thus: "By the authority of God the Father Almighty, the Son and Holy Ghost, and of Mary the blest mother of God, we excommunicate, anathematize, and sequester from the pale of holy mother church, &c." The causes of excommunication in England are, contempt of the bishop's court, hereby, neglect of public worship and the sacraments, incontinency, adultery, simony, &c. It is described to be twofold. The less is an ecclesiastical censure, excluding the party from the participation of the sacraments; the greater proceeds farther, and excludes him not only from these, but from the company of all Christians. But, if the judge of any spiritual court excommunicates a man for a cause of which he hath not the legal cognizance, the party may have an action against him at common law, and he is also liable to be indicted at the suit of the king.

Heavy as the penalty of excommunication is, considered in a serious light, there are, notwithstanding, many obstinate or profigate men, who would despise the brutum fulmen of mere ecclesiastical censures, especially when pronounced by a petty surrogate in the country, for railing or contumelious words, for non-payment of fees or costs, or other trivial cause. The common law, therefore, compassionately steps in to their aid, and kindly lends a supporting hand to an otherwise tottering authority. Imitating herein the policy of the ancient Britons, among whom, according to Cæsar, whoever were interdicted by the druids from their sacrifices, "In numero impiorum ac sceleratorum habentur: ab his omnes decedunt, aditione corum fermae nemique defugiant, ne quid ex contagione incommodi accipiant: neque illis potentibus jus redditori, neque honos illus communicatur." And so with us, by the common law, an excommunicated person is disabled to do any act that is required to be done by one that is probus et legalis homo. He cannot serve upon juries; cannot be a witness in any court; and, which is the worst of all, cannot bring an action, either real or personal, to recover lands or money due to him. Nor is this the whole; for if, within 40 days after the sentence has been published in the church, the offender does not submit and abide by the sentence of the spiritual court, the bishop may certify such contempt to the king in chancery. Upon which there issues out a writ to the sheriff of the county, called from the bishop's certificate a significavit; or from its effect, a writ de excommunicato capitendo; and the sheriff shall thenceupon take the offender and imprison him in the county jail, till he is reconciled to the church, and such reconciliation certified by the bishop; upon which another writ de excommunicato deliberando, issues out of chancery to deliver and release him.