Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
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B20551
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A discourse concerning excommunication. By THomas Comber DD. Precentor of York.
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Comber, Thomas, 1645-1699.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing C5459
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99,055
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127
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old English Version uses the word Excommunicated in both places Which Decree was actually put in execution and the Penalty inflicted upon the poor blind Man whom our Saviour had restored to sight John ix 34. They cast him out that is they excommunicated him and when Jesus heard of it ver 35. He receives him into the number of those that believed in him declaring to him that he was the Son of God And a little before our Saviour's Passion he foretels his Disciples that the Jews would Cast them out of their Synagogues John xvi 2. where Vatablus again in the Margin hath Excommunicabunt vos they will excommunicate you of which he had also warned them before and armed them against the fear of this Censure by assuring them They should be blessed by God when they were thus ill treated by Men saying Blessed are you when Men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their Company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the Son of Mans sake Luke vi 22. Which is a plain description of Excommunication For this Separation is plainly Niddui (f) Niddui est remotio ab aliorum congressu tam Sacro quam politico domestico ad quatuor passus Instit ep Hebr. pag. 55. the lesser sort of Excommunication by which they excluded the Offenders from any near converse with them either in Civil or Sacred Actions the Person thus separated being not to come within four Paces of any other Jew either in any Religious or Common place as Buxtorfius doth inform us So that these were not quite excluded from the Temple but only made to come in at a Gate peculiar to themselves and to worship at a distance and separated from the rest of the Jews which Gate was called the Gate of Mourners said to be built by Solomon and this I suppose was the reason why the Publican who may well be thought to be under this Sentence of Separation is said to worship standing afar off Luke xviii 13. But the whole Rite is fully described by R. Juda in the Book of Musar When Solomon built the House of the Sanctuary he built two Gates one for the Rejoycers and the other for the Mourners and the Excommunicate If any came in by this Gate with his upper lip vailed they knew he was a Mourner and said to him He that dwelleth in this House chear and comfort thee If his upper lip were not covered they knew him to be under Niddui and said unto him He that dwells in this House put it into thy heart to hear the words of thy Brethren that they may receive thee (g) R. Juda lib. Musar fol. 95. col 1. Which Custom may well be thought very ancient if we observe how early the Primitive Christians placed their Penitents in this manner at the Church door and how they there begged the Prayers of the Faithful who went near and worshipped But to return to the place of S. Luke Dr. Hammond thinks that reproaching them and casting out their name as evil is a description of Cherem the higher kind of Excommunication wherein they did proclaim the Person Accursed and devoted him to suffer the highest and heaviest Judgment as a most vile and desperately wicked Man Which severe sort of proceeding Grotius thinks was not used towards the Christians till some time after our Saviour's Resurrection So that the Learned Selden need not wonder why Christ and his Apostles did appear in the Jewish Temple and Synagogues since he supposes them excommunicated For first we have no Evidence that they were actually under this Censure while mention is made of their coming to the Temple nor is it likely they would have lost the opportunity of doing good to so many as met in those places for any such unjust Sentence if it had been executed on them by malicious Men since they had an express Commission from Heaven to Convert the Jews and in order to that it was necessary they should meet in the Publick Assemblies yea though the Jewish Rulers threatned them never so severely it is plain they omitted not their Duty And lastly if it were only Niddui or the Separation which was inflicted on them it seems they might come to the Religious Assemblies notwithstanding that Sentence though Drusius thinks that Niddui only excluded from the Synagogue and not from the Temple and its Service (h) Drusij Praeâ—erit lib. 4. in Johan ix 22. But in this Case of our Saviour and his Apostles I rather think that the Jewish Rulers were not content with so gentle a Penalty as this Separation for the Leaders of this new Society and rather fought to suppress them by Imprisonment Scourging and Death it self For it seems evident to me that there was such a Punishment then in use as Excluding Men from Sacred as well as Civil Commerce signified by that word Casting them out of their Synagogue Which though Mr. Selden labours to expound only of Exclusion from Civil Commerce meerly designing to make this a Penalty belonging to the Civil Magistrate yet there are many Evidences that it must be expounded of interdicting Men from Religious Assemblies also For the prime notion of a Synagogue is a place set apart principally for Acts of Religion and because there was but One Temple in all Judaea for the most Solemn Worship to which all the Nation did resort at some set times in the year as well within the Borders of Canaan as without it was very necessary for those in the remoter parts of Canaan and especially for those of the dispersion to have some places appropriate to Religion for their ordinary Duties at less Solemn Times Such were those Schools of the Prophets in the Old Testament 1 Sam. x. 5. and Chap. xix 23. And those called Synagogues in the New which in our Saviour's time were undoubtedly Schools for Learning the Law and Houses of Prayer or Proseucha's Hence that of our Saviour who notes that the Pharisees loved to stand praying in the Synagogues Matth. vi 5. and there also the Law was expounded as is clear from many places of the New Testament Matth. iv 23. Luke iv 16. Acts xiii 15. especially every Sabbath Day Acts xv 21. Wherefore Philo calls these Synagogues The Houses of Prayer in every City (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo legat ad Cajum and saith They were Schools of Wisdom and Fortitude of Modesty and Righteousness of Piety of Holiness and of all Vertue Nor is any thing more frequent in the Talmud and those that expound it than to mention Prayers made in the Synagogues (k) Glos in Baeb Beracoth fol. 2. col 1. So Maimonides tells us Whereever there are Ten of Israel live together there they must huild a House of Prayer to meet in at the hours for Prayer and this House is called a Synagogue (l) Maimon Tephil cap. ii And he saith it is forbidden for Men to pass by a