There's a Wideness in God's Mercy

There's a wideness in God's mercy
Like the wideness of the sea
There's a kindness in God's justice
Which is more than liberty

There is no place where earth's sorrows
Are more felt than up in heaven
There is no place where earth's failings
Have such kindly judgment given

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

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

If our love were but more simple
We should take Him at His word
And our lives would be all gladness
In the joy of Christ our Lord