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!
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!
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 heav’n can boast!
Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter,
Jesus shines purer,
Than all the angels heav’n 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.
Heavenly and earthly,
Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;
None can be nearer,
Fairer, or dearer,
Than Thou my Savior art to me.
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Loudon, TN, United States
This morning I was awake early and this hymn was on my tongue. I looked it up on YouTube & sent it to my sister who is a pilot. She was in a city where she had a friend who came to pick her up to go to church with her. When she got to church, they sang this hymn! 😍God has a way of letting us know that He is everywhere all the time!
Norman, OK, United States
Repast for the soul. Surprised at the anonymous author.
Aba, Abia, Nigeria
This used to be my late father's favorite hymn. He used to tell us to be spiritually prepared before singing this song because it gets Lucifer infuriated. I still recall one day he was playing guitar and singing this song, all of a sudden, bulbs in the house started exploding and my dad told us that Lucifer is not happy that we are are referring to Jesus Christ as the fairest. I was barely 7yrs then ( 40yrs ago). To be candid, that experience / incident made me to be afraid of this hymn then. Thank God that all my fears are now gone and I not only draw inspirations from this marvelous hymn but have also adopted it as my favorite. Thank God for giving mankind the best gift, Jesus Christ.
Odessa, TX, United States
I was reading Psalm 45:2 You are fairer than the sons of men. Grace is poured upon Your lips. Therefore God has blessed You forever. Nothing and no one compares to the fairness of Christ. He has completely attracted and captivated us by His beauty. When we lay our eyes on Him everything else falls away. We have found the fairest one in the universe.
Conroe, Texas, United States
This song came to mind today and I find it to be comforting and worshipful. So encouraging to read others around the world listening to hymns to our Savior and Lord
Elizabethtown, KY, United States
I woke up this morning thinking about this beautiful song! Thank you, Lord Jesus!! No matter how dark things in the world may get—
“Jesus shines brighter,
Jesus shines purer,
Than all the angels heav’n can boast! ”
Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
This was our song singing on this bright Sunday morning between my dad and mom and myself. And through it we praise God and claim the promise that when two or three are gathered, He is here.
I love God
United States
Little is known of the origin of this hymn. One of the best known accounts is that it was called the “Crusader’s Hymn. ” Some think that it was sung by twelfth century German Crusaders, especially by their children on their way to the Holy Land. Another account is that it was one of the hymns used by the followers of John Hus, a small band of believers who settled in Silesia (now part of Poland) after they were driven out of Bohemia in the bloody Reformation purge of 1620. The hymn was said to have been derived from these Reformation peasants.
The text for the hymn first appeared in the Roman Catholic “Munster Gesangbuch” of 1677, a collection of hymns belonging to what is called The Third Period of German Hymnody coming between the Great Reformation and the beginning of Pietism with the advance of the Moravians. It was published as the “first of three beautiful selected hymns. ”
Later it is said that a man by the name of Hoffman Fallersleben heard a group of Salesians singing the hymn in a service, recorded the words and music from this oral recitation and published it in 1842 in his “Schlesische Volkslieder, ” a collection of sacred and secular songs. This is the form in which we now know the hymn.
No one knows for certain who first translated the text from German into English. The English adaptation by Richard Storrs Willis, born in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 10, 1819, first appeared in his “Church Chorals and Choir Studies” in 1850. It is interesting to note that in the collection a notation about the origin of the hymn is made stating that it was “sung by the German Knights on the way to Jerusalem. ” Richard Willis is also the composer of the hymn “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. ”
The fourth verse is a translation by Joseph A. Seiss, born and raised in a Moravian home, which speaks of Christ’s divinity and humanity, “Son of God and Son of Man. ”
Feasterville, PA, United States
I love the song. It has so much depth in every stanza.