JUSTICE. AN ODE. BY JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. I. HILD of the dust! to yonder skies Or is the effulgence of the Light, For beings born of Time? II. That angel form, in light enshrin'd, IS JUSTICE, still to heaven confin'd,— This Angel, of celestial birth, Her faint resemblance, here on earth 1 Has sent, mankind to guide Yet though obscur'd her brightest beams, For Mortals to abide. III. When the first Father of our Race Against his God rebell'd, Was banished from his Maker's face, From Paradise expell'd; For guilt unbounded to atone, What bound could punishment have known, Had Justice dealt the blow? Sure, to infernal regions hurl'd, His doom had been a flaming world Of never ending woe! IV. But Mercy, from the throne of God, And quenched the flaming brand: And Mercy pardons Man." V. When, issuing from the savage Wild, Of each his own, the parting hedge The sacred vow enjoins. While Mercy, with benignant face, Bids man his fellow man embrace, And Heart with Heart entwines. VI. To both united is the trust Of human Laws consign'd; One teaches mortals to be just; The other, to be kind; Yet shall not Justice always wear Th' unerring Rule of Right. VII. To Justice, dearer far the part |