It is not necessary to suppose that all the accusers had been guilty of the precise sin which they laid to the charge of this woman : there was now enough of their past iniquities pre- sented to their view to produce the desired effect, of constrain- ing them to proclaim their own shame, and to suspend the persecution which they had so wickedly commenced. Thus was our Lord relieved from every difficulty ; and his enemies " fell into the pit which they had digged" for him.]
It remains for us now to notice,
II. In what manner he dismissed the woman —
We hear of no triumph that he expressed over his disconcerted adversaries : he merely asks where they were ; and finding that they had withdrawn, and no longer chose to appear in the quality of accusers, he dismisses the woman,
1. With condescending kindness —
[" Woman, hath no man condemned thee ? neither do I condemn thee : go thy way :" It is not my office to exercise the power of the civil magistrate ; nor is it my wish to de- nounce the judgments of God against thee. " I came not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through me might be saved d." Go, improve the time that is now unexpectedly allotted thee : be thankful that thou art not now sent into the presence of thy God with all thy sins upon thee : let the " space which is given thee for repentance," be well employed : lose not an hour in seeking forgiveness with thy God. Go to thy chamber, and pour out thy soul before him : and remember, that the mercy which thou art expe- riencing at my hands in relation to thy body, is an emblem of what I am ready to bestow upon thy soul. " I came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost :" nor shall the vilest of the human race be condemned before me in the great and awful day, provided he penitently confess his sins, and humbly seek acceptance through me : " Though his sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as woole."]
2. With an authoritative admonition —
[Greatly as our Lord delighted in mercy, he would not so exercise it as to give the least countenance to sin. Whilst therefore he dismisses her, he adds a solemn admonition, " Go, and sin no more." Think not lightly of thy sins, because I have expressed such tenderness towards thee ; neither imagine that they will not be' punished hereafter, if thou
d John iii. 17. e lsai. i. 18. and Prov. xxviii. 13.