able to
satisfy those persons who profess themselves unconvinced by what was
offered concerning St. Mark's last twelve verses, I am not so simple as
to expect. But I trust that I shall have with me all candid readers who
are capable of weighing evidence impartially, and understanding the
nature of logical proof, when it is fully drawn out before them,--which
indeed is the very qualification that I require of them.

And first, the case of the _pericope de adultera_ requires to be placed
before the reader in its true bearings. For those who have hitherto
discussed it are observed to have ignored certain preliminary
considerations which, once clearly apprehended, are all but decisive of
the point at issue. There is a fundamental obstacle, I mean, in the way
of any attempt to dislodge this portion of the sacred narrative from the
context in which it stands, which they seem to have overlooked. I
proceed to explain.

Sufficient prominence has never yet been given to the fact that in the
present discussion the burden of proof rests entirely with those who
challenge the genuineness of the Pericope under review. In other words,
the question before us is not by any means,--Shall these Twelve Verses
be admitted--or, Must they be refused admission--into the Sacred Text?
That point has been settled long, long ago. St. John's Twelve verses are
in possession. Let those eject them who can. They are known to have
occupied their present position for full seventeen hundred years. There
never was a time--as far as is known--- when they were not _where_,--and
to all intents and purposes _what_--they now are. Is it not evident,
that no merely ordinary method of proof,--no merely common
argument,--will avail to dislodge Twelve such Verses as these?

'Twelve such Verses,' I say. For it is the extent of the subject-matter
which makes the case so formidable. We have here to do with no dubious
clause, concerning which ancient testimony is divided; no seeming gloss,
which is suspected to have overstepped its proper limits, and to have
crept in as from the margin; no importation from another Gospel; no
verse of Scripture which has lost its way; no weak amplification of the
Evangelical meaning; no tasteless appendix, which encumbers the
narrative and almost condemns itself. Nothing of the sort. If it were
some inconsiderable portion of Scripture which it was proposed to get
rid of by shewing that it is disallowed by a vast amount of ancient
evide