It puzzles me sometimes that people of our time talk a lot about justice, thinking, I guess, that they will be on the good side when that is handed out. But Shakespeare’s Portia in The Merchant of Venice reminds us that “in the course of justice none of us / Should see salvation.” And Jesus warns us that when we judge, “with what measure ye measure, so shall it be measured out to you.” So in the prayer Jesus commands us to pray, we beg the Father to “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
“I tremble when I consider that God is just,” said Thomas Jefferson, thinking of the evil of slavery, an evil he knew of and participated in, though with an uneasy conscience. We should all tremble. Yet the sweet and kindly Father Faber, the author of our Hymn of the Week, brings us the good news, not that the Father will shrug our sins away, but that His very justice has a kindness in it “which is more than liberty.” The poet really does mean that adverb more: he is not just saying that God in His kindness will release us from the penalties due to our sins. He is saying — and I won’t here get into the issue of ascribing feelings to God, poetically or by analogy with ours — that “there is no place where earth’s sorrows / Are more felt than up in heaven.” The worst of those sorrows are occasioned by our failings. As sorry as the best of us may be when we repent, we cannot come near the boundless breadth of God’s grace — just as the Prodigal Son in the parable can hardly begin to understand that as sorrowful as he was for his folly, his father felt the sorrow all the more. And what kindness is there in the father’s saying to the elder boy, “It was right that we should feast and be merry!” There’s justice indeed: it was the right and just thing to do! We cannot grasp it; our hands are too small, our hearts are too narrow.
So then, if we give God our all, is that enough? Not so, says Father Faber. God has made me, and he has made the world I dwell in; for these things I owe him all that I am. But what can I give Jesus for having remade me? Where sin abounded, says Saint Paul, grace abounded all the more. I owe him more than everything, then. Well — but how to repay a gift that is more than all? And here we enter the mystery of grace itself, which does not reckon the cost. If you have a grateful mind — the more you feel you owe, the more grateful you are, the more you are moved by love — the more do you pay, so that true gratitude owes nothing. The debt is canceled, because divine love, by its nature, knows no bounds.
So then, attend to the words in this apparently simple poem, sung beautifully by the Choir of Belfast Cathedral. Faber doesn’t toss them in because they sound pious. He means exactly what he says. And listen to the lovely melody, “Cross of Jesus”: appropriate for the hymn, because the arms of that Cross are wider than all the universe.
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 heaven; There is no place where earth's failings Have such kindly judgment given. There is grace enough for thousands Of new worlds as great as this; There is room for fresh creations In that upper home of bliss. For the love of God is broader Than the measures of man's mind; And the heart of the Eternal Is most wonderfully kind. But we make our love too narrow By false limits of our own; And we magnify his strictness With a zeal he will not own. There is plentiful redemption In the Blood that has been shed; There is joy for all the members In the sorrows of the Head. 'Tis not all we owe to Jesus; It is something more than all; Greater good because of evil, Larger mercy through the fall. If our love were but more simple, We should take him at his word; And our lives would be all sunshine In the sweetness of our Lord.
Word & Song by Anthony Esolen is an online magazine devoted to reclaiming the good, the beautiful, and the true. We publish six essays each week, on words, classic hymns, poems, films, and popular songs, as well a weekly podcast for paid subscribers, alternately Poetry Aloud or Anthony Esolen Speaks. Paid subscribers also receive audio-enhanced posts and on-demand access to our full archive, and may add their comments to our posts and discussions. To support this project, please join us as a free or paid subscriber.
Because I had another zoom scheduled the evening of your talk about The Merchant of Venice, I only got to hear the first part. I plan to listen to the rest; thank you for recording it! During my one year in Catholic high school in 9th grade, dear Sr. Louise had us commit to memory Portia's speech. I have loved this song, but had never heard all the verses! Thank you so much for these insights! Question: Is there any family relation between the Fabers who arrange piano music and Frederick Faber? I am blessed as an almost 70-year-old to be able to take the piano lessons I have always wanted.
The thing that strikes me after a close reading is that Verse 3 seems to be about possible life on other planets! With some googling I found that Fr. Faber did in fact contemplate this possibility elsewhere in his writings, so this is not a crazy interpretation.
https://amishcatholic.com/2017/11/26/father-faber-on-extraterrestrials/