Frederick William Faber: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

There's a Wideness in God's Mercy

Frederick William Faber

“There's a Wideness in God's Mercy” as printed in The Army and Navy Hymnal (1920).

Frederick William Faber: Collected Lyrics Text 4 1920 · historical text
Public domainHymnSacred song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Army and Navy Hymnal, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

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There's a wide-ness in God's mer-cy,

Like the wide-ness of the sea;

There's a kind-ness in his jus-tice,

Which is more than lib-er-ty

If our love were but more sim-ple,

We should take him at his word;

And our lives would be all sunshine

In the sweet-ness of our Lord

For the love of God is broad -er

Than the meas-ure of man's mind;

And the heart of the E - ter - nal

Is most won - der-fu-ly kind

A-men

Credits

Written by Frederick William Faber

Words by Frederick William Faber. Historical text published in The Army and Navy Hymnal (1920); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Army and Navy Hymnal (1920), “There's a Wideness in God's Mercy”

The 1920 published edition is in the public domain in the United States (pre-1931 publication). Entries whose credited author died more than 70 years ago are also in the public domain in life-plus-70 jurisdictions; traditional and anonymous entries are public domain. Pages whose scan quality is below the proofread threshold are held for review.

How to read this historical text and its source

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Retrieved 2026-10-26. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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