Could we with ink the ocean fill . . .

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 is verse 3 of Frederick Lehman's hymn "The Love of God" (1917). This verse is apparently an adapted translation of a Jewish poem by Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai (1050). It seems that the hymn-writer found it scribbled on the walls of a patient's room in an insane asylum after the death of its occupant. Whatever its origins, it is a wonderful and unusually striking piece of devotional writing. Thanks to Brad Jersak for using it in his great new book A More Christlike God: A More Beautiful Gospel (CWR Press, 2015).