SERMON III. Mercy recommended in Imitation of our Saviour's Example. St. JOHN viii. II. Jefus faid unto her, Neither do I condemn thee. Go, and fin no more. T HIS was the kind reproof, which our bleffed Saviour gave to the woman taken in adultery, who was brought to him by the infnaring Scribes and Pharifees.—In confidering which words, I fhall endeavour to fhew, first, The fubtlety and partiality of those crafty men to their own fex, as well as fect; Secondly, The wisdom and clemency of our divine Mafter towards the unhappy criminal; and lastly, That mercy is above facrifice, which I hope will be an encouragement to us, to imitate the bright example which the GOD of love hath fet before us. FIRST, I am to fhew the fubtlety and partiality of the Scribes and Pharifees, in bringing this unhappy criminal to our Saviour. In the preceding part of this chapter we have the accufation of the Scribes and Pharifees for the proof of her crime. And it was written in their law, that the testimony of two men is true; and fo heinous a crime it was, that from the early ages of the world, it was an iniquity to be punished by the judges, and according to the Mofaic law, the offenders were to be put to death. Of this the self-righteous, defigning Pharifees would have availed themselves, with respect to this wretched woman. But our bleffed Saviour, who feeth not as man feeth, took no farther notice, than by stooping down and writing upon the ground, as though he heard them not.And when, by their continued importunities, they in a manner compelled him to speak, he only faid unto them, He that is without fin among ft you, let him firft caft a stone at her. So these merciless and crafty men were caught in their own net*. For we read, that being convicted This difcourfe was reluctantly published in the first edition. The Author does not think herself obliged by her text, to enlarge on the high offence of the unhappy criminal, which cannot . convicted by their own confciences, they went out one by one, leaving the poor delinquent to the mercy of her judge. But what must her accusers feel, at having their fecret guilt thus openly detected by omnifcient wif dom? That criterion, confcience, like the Angel that stood across Balaam's way with a flaming fword, to retard his impious progress, now put it out of their power to reply; or further to accufe. The rigour of the Jewish law, could now no longer be urged to our bleffed Redeemer; who had more than once declared, He came not at that time to judge the world, but to fave it. That he would not be umpire in human causes, is evident from his refusing to be arbitrator betwixt the brothers, and deciding on the lawfulness of paying tribute unto Cæfar. And therefore our Saviour could not with propriety have affumed that power in this affair, that in great humility cannot be defended; but is led by it, to plead for the imitation of that MERCY which may fometimes be properly exerted where the LAW condemns. The immaculate foul of our bleffed Redeemer, could not fhew this lenity to the finner, from any view of encouraging the fin; but to give us an example of charity for the one, and yet, at the fame time, defire the extirpation of the other. Far, very far, was it from him, to wish to defeat the efficacy of the Mosaic law, but to enforce it by a milder difpenfation, than an eye for an eye; or a tooth for a tooth. Shall we refufe to write after fo defirable, and bright a copy? he he had declined in others :-which feemed to imply, he thought it belonged more to the civil magistrate than himself. The Pharifees repeating the law of Mofes, and fo peremptorily demanding our Lord's reply, But what fayeft thou? was not, he well knew, in reverence to his judgment, but put, as many other questions had been by thefe double hypocrites, only to tempt, and accuse their divine Mafter. The Pharifees pretended fanctity of manners, regarded externals only, and did not extend to the rectitude of the heart. Had they attended to that merciful admonition Condemn not, here they would not have been condemned. But to extort sentence against their sect, they had brought a wretched, weak woman to that bar of justice, which they themselves were forced to fly from; and that for a crime in which the must have had an accomplice at leaft, and perhaps a feducer in that accomplice, who had bafely proftituted his fuperior abilities to beguile her with fubtlety, and had inlifted into his service all the black catalogue of libertine arguments to leffen the horror of the guilt, and then ferpent-like had taken a cruel advantage of those weaker powers of mind and person, which he ought to have protected. Whether this monster monfter was fingle or married, or how far his guilt was heightened, fcripture does not inform us; but putting the most favourable conftruction upon it, heinous it must be, and yet fuch was the vile partiality of these men in favour of their own fex, that no mention is made of the man's ever being brought to his trial. It would have been incompatible with the divine wisdom and goodness to have condemned the woman, the weaker veffel, and to have freed the man, who was made the stronger: but in human courts of justice it is too often seen, that by the falJacy of evidence, or the fuppreffing of it altogether, by that all-pleading fee, the magic power of gold, the moft criminal perfon comes off triumphant, while the less guilty are covered with ignominy and reproach. And it is well known too in how many inftances the laws are lenient to their makers. -Here indeed the most penetrating capacity can only fay, As we hear, we judge. cannot discover the enveloped fecrets of the heart. But it is well for us, that there is an omniscient judge, who fitteth above the clouds, that can. He it was, who upon this occafion manifefted. both his wifdom and his goodness.-His goodness in not condemning It |