F.W. Faber
SOULS of men, why will ye scatter
Like a crowd of frightened sheep?
Foolish hearts, why will ye wander
From a love so true and deep?
2
Was there ever kindest shepherd
Half so gentle, half so sweet,
As the Saviour who would have us
Come and gather round His feet?
3
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.
4
There is welcome for the sinner,
And more graces for the good;
There is mercy with the Saviour
There is healing in His blood.
5
There is plentiful redemption
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members
In the sorrows of the Head.
6
For the love of God is broader
Than the measures of man’s mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.
7
But we make His love too narrow
By false limits of our own;
And we magnify its strictness
With a zeal He will not own.
8
If our love were but more simple
We should take Him at His Word:
And our lives would be all sunshine
In the sweetness of our Lord.