I consider it an equal mistake, to let the guilty go unpunished, and to exceed the proper limits of punishment.  I accordingly passed upon this man the sentence I considered it incumbent on me to pass—excommunication from the Church.  The sufferer I exhorted not to avenge herself; but to leave to God the redressing of her wrongs.  Thus if my admonitions had possessed any weight, I should then have been obeyed, for the language I employed was far more likely to ensure credit, than any letter to enforce compliance.