Fairest Lord Jesus
Fairest
Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul's glory, joy and crown.
Fair are
the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.
Fair is
the sunshine,
Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.
All
fairest beauty, heavenly and earthly,
Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;
None can be nearer, fairer or dearer,
Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.
Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forever more be Thine.
Very little is known about the origin of
this dearly cherished hymn. There are several stories about how this
hymn came about but they cannot be substantiated by research.
Some said that it was the Crusaders' Hymn,
stating that the twelfth century German Crusaders, especially their
children, sang it as they made their long and weary journey to
Israel.
Some said
that it was one of the hymns used by the singing followers of John
Hus, a small band of believers. They settled in Silesia (now part of
Poland) after they were driven out of Bohemia in the
anti-Reformation purge of 1620. This hymn was believed to be a folk
song derived from these devout Silesian peasants.
The text for
the hymn first appeared in the Roman Catholic Munster Gesangbuch of
1677. It was published as the "first of three beautiful selected new
hymns." Later it was said that a man by the name of Hoffman
Fallersleben heard a group of Silesians singing the hymn in a
service. He then recorded the words and music from this oral
recitation, and published it in his Schlesische Volkslieder in 1842.
This became the music score of the hymn that we know today.
No one knows
for sure who first translated the text from German into English. The
English version was adapted by Richard Storrs Willis. He was born in
Boston, Massachusetts, on February 10, 1819. This hymn first
appeared in his Church Chorals and Choir Studies in 1850. It is
interesting to note that in his collection, he added a notation
about the origin of the hymn, stating that it was "sung by the
German knights on the way to Jerusalem." This statement undoubtedly
did much to foster the Crusader account. Richard Willis was also the
composer of the Christmas carol "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear."
The fifth
verse was a fine translation by Joseph A. Seiss. It described the
dual nature of our Savior, Son of God and Son of Man, and all praise
is eternally His.
A summary
about this hymn:
Text:
From
Munster Gesangbuch, 1677
Music:
From
Schlesische Volkslieder, 1842.
Adaptation:
Richard S. Willis, 1819-1900
5th verse translated by Joseph A. Seiss, 1823-1904
Please view a pictorial presentation of
this hymn:
Fairest Lord Jesus (0.8 MB)