There's a wideness in God's mercy
like the wideness of the sea;
there's a kindness in His justice
which is more than liberty.

There is plentiful redemption
in the blood that has been shed;
there is joy for all the members
in the sorrows of the Head.

There is grace enough for thousands
of new worlds as great as this;
there is room for fresh creations
in that upper home of bliss.

For the love of God is broader
than the measures of man's mind;
and the heart of the Eternal
is most wonderfully kind.

But we make His love to narrow
by false limits of our own;
and we magnify His strictness
with a zeal He will not own.

If our love were but more simple,
we should take Him at His word;
and our lives would be illumined
by the presence of our Lord.


Frederick William Faber (1814-63) alt.