Souls of men, why will ye scatter

1) 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?

2) Was there ever kindest shepherd
Half so gentle, half so sweet,
As the Saviour who would have us
Come and gather round his feet?

3) 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.

4) There is welcome for the sinner,
And more graces for the good;
There is mercy with the Saviour;
There is healing in his blood.

5) But we make his love too narrow
By false limits of our own;
And we lose the tender shepherd
In the judge upon the throne.

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