The cutting off a person from fellowship with the community to which he belongs, by way of punishment for some sin committed. The Jews, Selden informs us, reckon up thirty-six crimes, to which they pretend this punishment is due. The rabbins reckon three kinds of excision; one, which destroys only the body; another, which destroys the soul only; and a third which destroys both body and soul. The first kind of excision they pretend is untimely death; the second is an utter extinction of the soul; and the third a compound of the two former: thus making the soul mortal or immortal, says Selden, according to the degree of misbehaviour and wickedness of the people.
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