This hymn was written in 1917 by a German-born Christian named Frederick M. Lehman. He was working in a packing factory for lemons and oranges. During breaks, he sat down on empty lemon crates and jotted down the words of this hymn with a stubby pencil. The third stanza comes from the pen of an eleventh-century Jewish poet in Germany named Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai.
Lyrics and Music: Frederick M. Lehman
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 guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.
Refrain:
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.
When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race-
The saints’ and angels’ song.
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man 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.
This was the camp theme song of a recent church camp which I attended.
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