THERE’S A WIDENESS

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 too 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