O love of God, how strong and true!
Eternal and yet ev­er new;
Uncomprehended and un­bought,
Beyond all know­ledge and all thought.

O love of God, how deep and great!
Far deep­er than man’s deep­est hate;
Self-fed, self-kin­dled, like the light,
Changeless, eter­nal, in­fi­nite.

O heav’n­ly love, how pre­cious still,
In days of wear­i­ness and ill!
In nights of pain and help­less­ness,
To heal, to com­fort, and to bless.

O wide emb­rac­ing, won­drous love,
We read Thee in the sky above,
We read Thee in the earth be­low,
In seas that swell, and streams that flow.

We read Thee in the flow­ers, the trees,
The fresh­ness of the frag­rant breeze,
The song of birds up­on the wing,
The joy of sum­mer and of spring.

We read Thee best in Him who came
To bear for us the cross of shame;
Sent by the Fa­ther from on high,
Our life to live, our death to die.

We read Thee in the man­ger-bed,
On which His in­fan­cy was laid;
And Na­za­reth that love re­veals,
Nestling amid its lone­ly hills.

We read Thee in the tears once shed,
Over doomed Sa­lem’s guil­ty head,
In the cold tomb of Be­tha­ny,
Ana blood-drops of Geth­se­ma­ne.

We read Thy pow­er to bless and save,
E’en in the dark­ness of the grave;
Still more in re­sur­rec­tion light,
We read the full­ness of Thy might.

O love of God, our shield and stay
Through all the per­ils of our way;
Eternal love, in Thee we rest,
Forever safe, for­ev­er blest!