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?

Was there ever kin­der shep­herd
Half so gen­tle, half so sweet,
As the Sav­ior who would have us
Come and ga­ther round His feet?

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.

There is no place where earth’s sor­rows
Are more felt than up in Heav’n;
There is no place where earth’s fail­ings
Have such kind­ly judg­ment giv’n.

There is plen­ti­ful re­demp­tion
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the mem­bers
In the sor­rows of the Head.

For the love of God is broad­er
Than the mea­sure of man’s mind.
And the heart of the Eter­nal
Is most won­der­ful­ly kind.

Pining souls! come near­er Je­sus,
And oh! come not doubt­ing thus,
But with faith that trusts more brave­ly
His huge ten­der­ness for us.

If our love were but more sim­ple,
We should take Him at His word;
And our lives would all be sun­shine
In the sweet­ness of our Lord.