The confusion comes from the fancy that justice means _vengeance upon sin_, and not _the doing of what is right_.

Justice can be at no strife with mercy, for not to do what is just would be most unmerciful.
Mercy first sums up the arguments Justice has been employing against her, in the following stanza: He was but dust; why feared he not to fall?
And being fallen how can he hope to live?
Cannot the hand destroy him that made all?
Could he not take away as well as give?
Should man deprave, and should not God deprive?
Was it not all the world's deceiving spirit (That, bladdered up with pride of his own merit, Fell in his rise) that him of heaven did disinherit?
To these she then proceeds to make reply: He was but dust: how could he stand before him?
And being fallen, why should he fear to die?
Cannot the hand that made him first, restore him?
Depraved of sin, should he deprived lie Of grace?
Can he not find infirmity That gave him strength ?--Unworthy the forsaking He is, whoever weighs (without mistaking) Or maker of the man or manner of his making.[89] Who shall thy temple incense any more, Or to thy altar crown the sacrifice, Or strew with idle flowers the hallowed floor?
Or what should prayer deck with herbs and spice, _why._ Her vials breathing orisons of price, If all must pay that which all cannot pay?
O first begin with me, and Mercy slay, And thy thrice honoured Son, that now beneath doth stray.
But if or he or I may live and speak, And heaven can joy to see a sinner weep, Oh! let not Justice' iron sceptre break A heart already broke, that low doth creep, And with prone humbless her feet's dust doth sweep.
Must all go by desert?
Is nothing free?
Ah! if but those that only worthy be, None should thee ever see! none should thee ever see! What hath man done that man shall not undo Since God to him is grown so near akin?
Did his foe slay him?
He shall slay his foe.
Hath he lost all?
He all again shall win.
Is sin his master?
He shall master sin.
Too hardy soul, with sin the field to try! The only way to conquer was to fly; But thus long death hath lived, and now death's self shall die.
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, and to the needy wealth; A pleasure without loss, a treasure without stealth.
Who can forget--never to be forgot-- The time that all the world in slumber lies, When like the stars the singing angels shot To earth, and heaven awaked all his eyes To see another sun at midnight rise?
On earth was never sight of peril fame; _pareil: equal._ For God before man like himself did frame, But God himself now like a mortal man became.
* * * * * The angels carolled loud their song of peace; The cursed oracles were stricken dumb; To see their Shepherd the poor shepherds press; To see their King, the kingly Sophies come; And them to guide unto his master's home, A star comes dancing up the orient, That springs for joy over the strawy tent, Where gold, to make their prince a crown, they all present.
No doubt there are here touches of execrable taste, such as the punning trick with _man_ and _manners_, suggesting a false antithesis; or the opposition of the words _deprave_ and _deprive_; but we have in them only an instance of how the meretricious may co-exist with the lovely.

The passage is fine and powerful, notwithstanding its faults and obscurities.
Here is another yet more beautiful: So down the silver streams of Eridan,[90] On either side banked with a lily wall, Whiter than both, rides the triumphant swan, And sings his dirge, and prophesies his fall, Diving into his watery funeral! But Eridan to Cedron must submit His flowery shore; nor can he envy it, If, when Apollo sings, his swans do silent sit.[91] That heavenly voice I more delight to hear Than gentle airs to breathe; or swelling waves Against the sounding rocks their bosoms tear;[92] Or whistling reeds that rutty[93] Jordan laves, And with their verdure his white head embraves; _adorns._ To chide the winds; or hiving bees that fly About the laughing blossoms[94] of sallowy,[95] Rocking asleep the idle grooms[96] that lazy lie.
And yet how can I hear thee singing go, When men, incensed with hate, thy death foreset?
Or else, why do I hear thee sighing so, When thou, inflamed with love, their life dost get,[97] That love and hate, and sighs and songs are met?
But thus, and only thus, thy love did crave To send thee singing for us to thy grave, While we sought thee to kill, and thou sought'st us to save.
When I remember Christ our burden bears, I look for glory, but find misery; I look for joy, but find a sea of tears; I look that we should live, and find him die; I look for angels' songs, and hear him cry: Thus what I look, I cannot find so well; Or rather, what I find I cannot tell, These banks so narrow are, those streams so highly swell.
We would gladly eliminate the few common-place allusions; but we must take them with the rest of the passage.

Besides far higher merits, it is to my ear most melodious.
One more passage of two stanzas from Giles Fletcher, concerning the glories of heaven: I quote them for the sake of earth, not of heaven.
Gaze but upon the house where man embowers: With flowers and rushes paved is his way; Where all the creatures are his servitours: The winds do sweep his chambers every day, And clouds do wash his rooms; the ceiling gay, Starred aloft, the gilded knobs embrave: If such a house God to another gave, How shine those glittering courts he for himself will have! And if a sullen cloud, as sad as night, In which the sun may seem embodied, Depured of all his dross, we see so white, Burning in melted gold his watery head, Or round with ivory edges silvered; What lustre super-excellent will he Lighten on those that shall his sunshine see In that all-glorious court in which all glories be! These brothers were intense admirers of Spenser.

To be like him Phineas must write an allegory; and such an allegory! Of all the strange poems in existence, surely this is the strangest.