JUSTICE.
Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker.—Job, iv. 17.
Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment and in plenty of justice.—Job, xxxvii. 23.
Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne.—Psalm lxxxix. 14.
To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.—Proverbs, xxi. 3.
Whoso upon himself will take the skill
True justice unto people to divide,
Has need have mighty hands for to fulfil
That which he doth with righteous doom decide,
And for to maister wrong and puissant pride;
For vain it is to deem of things aright,
And make wrong doers justice to deride,
Unless it be performed with dreadless might;
For power is the right hand of justice truly hight.
Spenser.
A just man cannot fear,
Not, though the malice of traducing tongues,
The open vastness of a tyrant’s ear,
The senseless rigour of the wrested laws,
Or the red eyes of strain’d authority,
Should, in a point meet all to take his life,
His innocence is armour ’gainst all these.
Ben Jonson.
The words of Heaven, on whom it will, it will;
On whom it will not, so; yet still ’tis just.
Shakspere.
His life is parallel’d
Even with the stroke and line of his great justice;
He doth with holy abstinence subdue
That in himself, which he spurs on his power
To qualify in others; where he meal’d
With that which he corrects, than where he tyrannous;
But this being so, he’s just.
Shakspere.
Heaven’s king
Keeps register of every thing,
And nothing may we use in vain;
Ev’n beasts must be with justice slain.
Marvell.
Well, then, my soul, joy in the midst of pain;
Thy Christ, that conquered hell, shall from above
With greater triumph yet return again
And conquer His own justice with His love.
Commanding earth and seas to render those
Unto His bliss for whom he paid His woes.
Wotton.
So sure the fall of greatness raised on crimes!
So fixed the justice of all-conscious Heaven!
When haughty guilt exalts with impious joy,
Mistake shall blast, or accident destroy;
Weak man, with erring rage, may throw the dart,
But Heaven shall guide it to the guilty heart.
Dr. Johnson.
Say, how can man be justified by God?
Thy vaults eternity would echo. How?
But from the cross, responding grace replies
To this high question. Faith in Christ is life
And Love and Righteousness. Completely fit
To each vast claim of violated law.
R. Montgomery.
The Sun of Justice may withdraw his beams
Awhile from earthly ken, and sit concealed
In dark recess pavilioned round with clouds:
Yet let not guilt presumptuous rear her crest,
Nor virtue droop despondent: soon these clouds,
Seeming eclipse, will brighten into day,
And in majestic splendour He will rise,
With healing and with terror on His wings.
George Bally.
Peace to the just man’s memory,—let it grow
Greener with years, and blossom through the flight
Of ages; let the mimic canvas show
His calm benevolent features; let the light
Stream on his deeds of love, that shunned the sight
Of all but heaven, and, in the book of fame,
The glorious record of his virtues write,
And hold it up to men, and bid them claim
A palm like his, and catch from him the hallowed flame.
W. C. Bryant.