Poems of religion and society.: With notices of his life and character by John Davis and T. H. Benton.

JUSTICE.
V.
When, issuing from the savage wild,
Man forms the social tie,
Justice severe, and Mercy mild,
To bind the compact vie;
Of each his own, the parting hedge
Stern Justice takes the solemn pledge;
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 consigned;
One teaches mortals to be just;
The other, to be kind;
Yet shall not Justice always wear
The garb of punishment, or bear
The avenging sword to smite:
Nor Mercy's ever gladdening eye
Permit the ruffian to defy
Th' unerring rule of right.
VII.
To Justice, dearer far the part
To tune the plansive voice;
Of Virtue to delight the heart,
And bid the good rejoice.
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