Hymn of the Week: July 12, 2021

Hymn of the Week: There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
Glory to God: 435

Text Frederick William Faber 1854
Music Dutch Melody arr. Julius Röntgen 1906

There's a Wideness in God's Mercy

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
like the wideness of the sea.
There’s a kindness in God’s justice,
which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth’s sorrows
are more felt than up in heaven.
There is no place where earth’s failings
have such kindly judgment given.

For the love of God is broader
than the measures of the mind.
And the heart of the Eternal
is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more faithful,
we would gladly trust God’s Word,
and our lives reflect thanksgiving
for the goodness of our Lord.

Frederick Faber (1814-1863), born in Yorkshire, England, was one of a number of English clergy who converted from the Anglican Church to Roman Catholicism in the Romantic era of hymnody in the 19th century.

Faber was born an Anglican and reared a strict Calvinist. After attending Oxford, he took orders as an Anglican priest and began his ministry as a rector. Influenced by his friend John Henry Newman (1801-1890) who converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism in 1845, Faber also converted to Catholicism that same year.

Both Newman and Faber were influenced by the rituals and traditions of Rome. Faber formed a community in Birmingham called “Brothers of the Will of God.” Newman joined the Oratory, an order of secular priests established in 1564 by St. Philip Neri in Rome, and Faber eventually followed him there. Hymnologist Albert Bailey noted, “Father Faber was the moving and guiding spirit [of the Oratory] as long as he lived, a great preacher and a man of charming personality.”

Drawing inspiration from the hymns of John Newton, William Cowper, and the Wesleys during his Anglican youth, he recognized that Roman Catholics lacked a tradition of more recent metrical hymnody in English. He took it upon himself to remedy this. By the time he died, he had contributed 150 hymns, all composed after his conversion to Roman Catholicism.

British hymnologist J. Richard Watson notes that “Faber’s emotionalism, and his uninhibited use of . . . imagery, demonstrate his love of a sentiment that comes close to sentimentality.

“But his sentiment, however excessive it may seem, touches a tender spot: Faber is cheering on the soul, recognizing the troubles of life, and holding out the promise of a final homecoming.”

The ultimate theme of this hymn is based on the premise and paradox that a sovereign God, unlike earthly rulers, demonstrates welcome, kindness, grace, and mercy. All we need to do is have a simple faith that “rest[s] upon God’s word.

There's a Wideness in God's Mercy performed by The Riverside Choir | May 3, 2020