Fairest Lord Jesus

This hymn came from Germany and originally had six verses. It first appeared in 1677 in a hymnbook entitled Munster Gesangbuch, but the text of the hymn was in existence at least fifteen years earlier, for it has been found in a manuscript dating back to 1662. Yet the origin of the words remains a mystery.

Who translated it into English? That, too, is largely a mystery. The first three stanzas are the work of an anonymous translator. The fourth stanza was by Joseph A. Seiss, and it first appeared in a Lutheran Sunday School book in 1873.

How appropriate that no human author draws attention from the great theme of the song. There’s no source to distract from the subject, no story to detract from the Savior.

- Robert Morgan