Lord of the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor,
Praise, adoration,
Now and for evermore be Thine!
Münster Gesangbuch, 1677.
TWO FAMOUS HYMNS AND SOME LEGENDS
Every hymn has a story. Ofttimes, however, the origin is obscure, and it is difficult to trace its birth out of the misty past. Again there are so many legends that have gathered around the great lyrics of the ages, many of them generally accepted, that it becomes a painful process to get rid of these excrescences. Two beautiful German hymns, “Schönster Herr Jesu” and “Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!” may serve to illustrate these difficulties.
In innumerable hymn-books the former hymn, sometimes translated “Beautiful Saviour” and sometimes “Fairest Lord Jesus,” is designated as “The Crusaders’ Hymn.” The hymn was first introduced to American worshipers by Richard Storrs Willis, who included it in his “Church Chorals and Choir Studies,” published in 1850. It was accompanied with this explanation: “This hymn, to which the harmony has been added, was lately (1850) discovered in Westphalia. According to the traditionary text by which it is accompanied, it was wont to be sung by the German knights on their way to Jerusalem. The only hymn of the same century which in point of style resembles this is one quoted by Burney from the Chatelaine de Coucy, set about the year 1190, very far inferior, however, to this.”
In a London hymn-book, “Heart Melodies” by Morgan and Chase, the same error is repeated. There it is referred to as “Crusader’s Hymn of the Twelfth Century. This air and hymn used to be sung by the German pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem.”