t is not all. On close and careful inspection, the
mysterious texture of the narrative, no less than its 'edifying and
eminently Christian' character, vindicates for the _Pericope de
adultera_ a right to its place in the Gospel. Let me endeavour to
explain what seems to be its spiritual significancy: in other words, to
interpret the transaction.

The Scribes and Pharisees bring a woman to our Saviour on a charge of
adultery. The sin prevailed to such an extent among the Jews that the
Divine enactments concerning one so accused had long since fallen into
practical oblivion. On the present occasion our Lord is observed to
revive His own ancient ordinance after a hitherto unheard of fashion.
The trial by the bitter water, or water of conviction[580], was a
species of ordeal, intended for the vindication of innocence, the
conviction of guilt. But according to the traditional belief the test
proved inefficacious, unless the husband was himself innocent of the
crime whereof he accused his wife.

Let the provisions of the law, contained in Num. v. 16 to 24, be now
considered. The accused Woman having been brought near, and set before
the Lord, the priest took 'holy water in an earthen vessel,' and put 'of
the dust of the floor of the tabernacle into the water.' Then, with the
bitter water that causeth the curse in his hand, he charged the woman by
an oath. Next, he wrote the curses in a book and blotted them out with
the bitter water; causing the woman to drink the bitter water that
causeth the curse. Whereupon if she were guilty, she fell under a
terrible penalty,--her body testifying visibly to her sin. If she was
innocent, nothing followed.

And now, who sees not that the Holy One dealt with His hypocritical
assailants, as if they had been the accused parties? Into the presence
of incarnate Jehovah verily they had been brought: and perhaps when He
stooped down and wrote upon the ground, it was a bitter sentence against
the adulterer and adulteress which He wrote. We have but to assume some
connexion between the curse which He thus traced 'in the dust of the
floor of the tabernacle' and the words which He uttered with His lips,
and He may with truth be declared to have 'taken of the dust and put in
on the water,' and 'caused them to drink of the bitter water which
causeth the curse.' For when, by His Holy Spirit, our great High Priest
in His human flesh addressed these adulterers,--what did He but present
them with living