Lyrics: 17th century German Jesuit poem translated from German to English by Joseph A. Seiss, 1873.
Music: CRUSADER’S HYMN, from a Silesian folk tune, arranged by Richard Willis.
Theme: Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
Revelation 5:12-13
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Beautiful Savior! Lord of all nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
now and forevermore be thine.
Believe it or not, back in the dark ages (1970’s) when I went to high school, this hymn was my public high school choir’s theme song. They sang the last verse a cappella at the end of every concert. Could that possibly happen nowadays?
At any rate, it’s a beautiful hymn. The origin of both words and the tune is disputed, but what I wrote at the beginning is my best guess.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the fourth of your stanzas before, Sherry. And in spite of the Cyber Hymnal’s assertion that “The lyrÂics above are the ones shown in most hymnÂals”, I must beg to differ. So far in my indexing I show it in 34 hymnals, and not one of them has five stanzas; indeed, almost half of them give only 3 stanzas. And while CRUSADERS’ HYMN is overwhelmingly the tune of choice, there is also the SCHÖNSTER HERR JESU option, that being the original tune from the first German publication, in the Münster Gesangbuch, 1677. One hymnal (Christian Life Hymnal, which you should get if you don’t already own one) gives both versions of the text (though still only 4 stanzas of each!), setting “Beautiful Savior” to SCHÖNSTER HERR JESU and “Fairest Lord Jesus” to CRUSADERS’ HYMN, but noting that each may be sung to the other.
Leland aka Haruo
Sherry, this is lovely. My husband grew up identifying this hymn as “Beautiful Savior.” Your high school singing reminds me of my experience (also in the 1970s): we finished each and every concert with “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” and a seven-fold amen.
I am SO enjoying your hymn project. Thank you for the work you’ve done on it.
I had never seen that fourth verse either, but I liked it. So I included it here. It may just be an alternate summary translation of the entire hymn.
I’m a little surprised that this one isn’t closer to the top of the list.