I prefer to invite the reader's attention, next to the actual texture of the _pericope de adultera_, by which name (as already explained) the last verse of St.
John vii.

together with verses 1-11 of ch.viii.are familiarly designated.

Although external testimony supplies the sole proof of genuineness, it is nevertheless reasonable to inquire what the verses in question may have to say for themselves.

Do they carry on their front the tokens of that baseness of origin which their impugners so confidently seek to fasten upon them?
Or do they, on the contrary, unmistakably bear the impress of Truth?
The first thing which strikes me in them is that the actual narrative concerning 'the woman taken in adultery' is entirely contained in the last nine of these verses: being preceded by two short paragraphs of an entirely different character and complexion.

Let these be first produced and studied: 'and every man went to his own house: but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.' 'And again, very early in the morning, He presented Himself in the Temple; and all the people came unto Him: and He sat down and taught them.' Now as every one must see, the former of these two paragraphs is unmistakably not the beginning but the end of a narrative.