It was the summer of 1893 that Katherine Lee Bates, Professor of Literature at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, came to Colorado Springs to teach summer courses at Colorado College.
One day, Katherine and several other teachers decided to go on a trip to the top of 14,000-foot Pike’s Peak. They hired a “prairie wagon,” and then finished the last of the ascent on mules. In her writings, she details how tired she was when they finally reached the top. But when she saw the view, it took her breath away! She wrote,
“It was then and there, as I was looking out over the sea-like expanse of fertile country spreading away so far under those ample skies, that the opening lines of [a] hymn floated into my mind.”
The poem/hymn Katherine Bates penned she originally sold for $5. It was later set to music and became the beloved patriotic song we know as America the Beautiful.
Oh, beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
I’m sure we’re all familiar with the first verse. Here is the lesser-known second verse:
Oh, beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev’ry gain divine.
Perhaps you learned this hymn in elementary school and still enjoy singing it on patriotic days. America the Beautiful praises the beauty of our country and the pride we have in our nation.
Another well-known hymn praises not the beauty of creation, not our pride, but humbly praises our beautiful Savior. The hymn praises the beauty and majesty of Jesus Christ, comparing Him to the natural wonders of the world and emphasizing His divine qualities and role as Savior of the world. Originally, the hymn was titled Fairest Lord Jesus. It wasn’t until 1873 that the hymn was renamed Beautiful Savior. Here are the words as we have them today:
Beautiful Savior, King of creation,
Son of God and Son of Man!
Truly I'd love Thee,
Truly I'd serve Thee,
Light of my soul, my joy, my crown.
Fair are the meadows,
Fair are the woodlands,
Robed in flow'rs of blooming spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer;
He makes our sorr'wing spirit sing.
Fair is the sunshine,
Fair is the moonlight,
Bright the sparkling stars on high;
Jesus shines brighter,
Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels in the sky.
It was in 1848 that Richard Willis translated the hymn from German into English. Two years later, in 1850, the hymn appeared in his book titled, Church Chorales and Choir Studies.
It’s great that we are patriotic and love our country. There really is no other country on earth like it! And, during this politically charged time, it’s easy to pin our hopes for our future on the success of one party or another, on one political leader or another. But it’s also very important to remember that this world, with its politics and economies, its divisions and strife between peoples and nations, this world is passing away, it is fleeting. The purple mountain majesties and amber waves of grain will be burned up by fire on the Last Day, and then will come judgment.
In the end, the Word of God will remain, and the saving work of Jesus Christ: His incarnation, His sinless life, His atoning death and His death-defeating resurrection. He is the light of our soul, our joy and crown. He is, truly fairer and purer than the beautiful meadows and woodlands. He does shine brighter and purer than the sun, the stars and the angels in the sky.
Jesus is a beautiful Savior. What He has done for us cannot be matched. That the One who created and sustains this beautiful creation would give up his glory, take on our flesh and our sin, go willingly to take on the wrath of His Father as he suffered and died on the cross, then rise again to life all for us sinners truly takes our breath away. The heroes of our past can’t hold a candle the work of our beautiful Savior, who loved us and laid down his life to liberate us not from tyrannical rule, but from sin, death and hell!
It was in 1873 that Joseph Seiss, a Lutheran pastor and theologian, renamed the hymn. He did so on the occasion of discovering that there was a fourth verse:
Beautiful Savior,
Lord of the nations,
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor,
Praise, adoration,
Now and forevermore be Thine!
Glory and honor, praise and adoration be Thine, now and forevermore, our beautiful Savior and Lord!
In the name of Jesus,
Pastor