0109b SONG OF THE WEEK: MERCY TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGMENT

MERCY TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGMENT

Giles Fletcher the Younger (1588-1623)

Edited by Ken E. Read 2007

 

Judgment and Mercy stood before God

Each before the Throne

Judgment with ten thousand times ten thousand witnesses

Mercy stood alone

What to do with sinful man

The topic of their argument

 

Judgment spoke first, of vengeance spoke,

Of broken covenants

Of sin and death and wrathful punishments

Versus innocence of holy perfection,

Your hand did not make him for this purpose

Your plan did not include a fall

You made the man. You weigh without mistaking

The Maker of the man, or the manner of his making.

So raise your arm and blot the sin

That stains the very heavens

And wipe the whole earth clean again

With those whose lives will be worthy.

 

So Mercy said:

“He is but dust: how can he stand?

 “If all must pay that which all cannot pay,

Oh! first begin with me, and Mercy herself slay!

Oh! let not Judgment’s iron sceptre break

a heart already broken, or a man so far enslaved!

 

“Must all go by desert? Is nothing free?

Ah! if but the ones who only worthy be

Then none should ever see Thee!

No, none should Thee ever see!

 

“What man has done The Man can clear

Since God of him has grown so dear.

Did his foes slay him? He shall slay his foe:

Has he lost all? He all again shall win.

Is sin his master? He shall master sin.

 

“He is a path if any be misled.

He is a robe if any naked be.

If any chance to hunger, He is bread.

If any be a bondman, He is free.

If any be but weak, how strong is He!

To dead men life He is, to sick men health.

To blind men sight, to the needy wealth.

A pleasure without loss, a treasure without stealth.”

 

And so she spoke, that Mercy queen,

‘Til heaven’s mighty thunder stilled.

And God’s unwary arm grew mild

and melted into tears to offer

pardon and pity to the fallen souls of earth.

 

And Sacred Vengeance was set down,

While angel armies all devowed

their rightful rage, to Mercy bowed

and broke their weapons at her feet.

And God became an infant child

Who would become their Victim and their Feast.

 

Thus did Mercy mighty Justice persuade;

And thus did history turn forever

on the hinge of Bethlehem at the fulcrum of Golgotha.

So a new song arose to fill the sky

from the empty, silent, angel-aweing grave,

While Mercy smiled and led the song

of how she gently over Judgment triumphed.