The Love of God

Representative Text

1 The love of God is greater far
than tongue or pen can ever tell;
it goes beyond the highest star,
and reaches to the lowest hell.
The wand'ring child is reconciled
by God's beloved Son.
The aching soul again made whole,
and priceless pardon won.

Refrain:
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
the saints’ and angels’ song.

2 When ancient time shall pass away,
and human thrones and kingdoms fall;
when those who here refuse to pray
on rocks and hills and mountains call;
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
all measureless and strong;
grace will resound the whole earth round—
the saints’ and angels’ song. [Refrain]

3 Could we with ink the ocean fill,
and were the skies of parchment made;
were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill,
and ev’ryone a scribe by trade;
to write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry;
nor could the scroll contain the whole,
though stretched from sky to sky. [Refrain]

Source: Voices Together #162

Author: Frederick M. Lehman

Frederick Martin Lehman, 1868-1953 Born: August 7, 1868, Mecklenburg, Schwerin, Germany. Died: February 20, 1953, Pasadena, California. Buried: Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. Lehman emigrated to America with his family at age four, settling in Iowa, where he lived most of childhood. He came to Christ at age 11, as he relates: One glad morning about eleven o’clock while walking up the country lane, skirted by a wild crab-apple grove on the right and an osage fence, with an old white-elm gate in a gap at the left, suddenly Heaven let a cornucopia of glory descend on the eleven-year old lad. The wild crab-apple grove assumed a heavenly glow and the osage fence an unearthly lustre. That old white-elm gate with… Go to person page >

Notes

The first two stanzas are Lehman's own work. The third, by his own account, he heard in a camp meeting sermon. They were apparently lines "found written by a demented man on the wall of his narrow room in the asylum where he died"; those words are a translation of an Aramaic poem, "Haddamut", written ca. 1050 by Rabbi Meir of Worms, Germany. From the Qur'an (31st Sura) from the early 7th century there are these lines:

If all the trees on earth were pens,
and the ocean were ink,
replenished by seven more oceans,
the writing of God's wonderful signs and creations
would not be exhausted;
surely God is All-Mighty, All-Wise.

--based on The Hymn, vol. 64, no. 3, p. 42, in an article on Mennonite hymnody by Ken Nafziger, Professor of Music at Eastern Mennonite University and 101 More Hymn Stories by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985

Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #3989
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Instances

Instances (1 - 25 of 25)

Ambassador Hymnal #201

Baptist Hymnal 2008 #111

Bible Truth Hymns #29

Church Gospel Songs and Hymns #530

Clarion Call #225

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Hymns of Faith #286

Praise for the Lord (Expanded Edition) #646

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Praise! Our Songs and Hymns #290

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Rejoice Hymns #108

Sacred Selections for the Church #267

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Sing Joyfully #305

Audio

Small Church Music #162

Page Scan

Soul-stirring Songs and Hymns (Rev. ed.) #188

Text

The Celebration Hymnal #157

The Christian Life Hymnal #276

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #3989

The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration #67

TextPage Scan

The New National Baptist Hymnal (21st Century Edition) #284

TextAudio

Timeless Truths #987

Text

Together in Song #151

TextPage Scan

Voices Together #162

Worship His Majesty #96

TextPage Scan

Yes, Lord! #47

Text

生命聖詩 - Hymns of Life, 1986 #41

찬송과 예배 = Chansong gwa yebae = Come, Let Us Worship #86

Include 49 pre-1979 instances
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