The very first
Christian song most children learn is "Jesus Loves Me."
If
there were a best-seller hit list among the
preschoolers, this very simple
but precious song would have
to be at the top of the charts. Yet few people
know that
"Jesus Loves Me" began life not as a song but as a part of one
of
1860's best-selling novels.
Anna Warner was
well aware of the coming of the war between the states.
She
lived with her father and sister on Constitution
Island. Their home was
practically next door to the United
States Military Academy at West Point,
and from her front
porch she constantly heard the rumors of war. Yet even
in
the face of uncertain times, every Sunday Anna taught
Bible classes to the
cadets. She realized that if the
southern states made good on their threat
to withdraw from
the Union many of the boys she knew could be killed
or
wounded in the war that would follow. While it broke her
heart to consider
the dismal fate for those too young to
have experienced the many blessings
of life, she also fully
comprehended the importance of leading each of them
to
Jesus now. With an urgency brought about by a nation on the
brink of
dividing, sharing Christ's love became her mission
in life.
Besides her
teaching, the forty-year-old Anna also wrote. With her
sister
Susan she had written several novels, using the
pseudonym Amy Lothrop. In
1860 the sisters' Say and Seal
became the country's best-selling work of
fiction. Written
for the masses and the moment, not fueled by
timeless
struggles or epic writing, the book would quickly
pass from the public's
fancy, lost with thousands of other
period pieces of the time. Yet, thanks
to one very special
scene on but a single page, the essence of the book and
of
Anna's faith would live for decades after Say and Seal and
Anna herself
had been forgotten.
In one chapter a
child lay dying. Nothing could be done to ease his pain
or
give him a second chance at life. As his ultimate fate
grew nearer, the
novel's focal character, Mr. Linden,
attempted to comfort the small boy.
Looking into the
child's eyes, he slowly recited a poem that began,
"Jesus
loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me
so."
The words of the
poem made the boy's last moments of life much easier.
These
simple lines also moved thousands of readers to
tears. Hauntingly beautiful,
composed straight from Anna's
faithful heart, "Jesus Loves Me" quickly
sprang out of her
book's pages and became one of the most beloved poems
of
the era. No one can even begin to calculate how many
times it was said on
the battlefield, in the homes of
children whose fathers were engaged in the
Civil War, from
pulpits and in Sunday school classes, and even at the
White
House itself. Ringing so clear and true, Anna's
sixteen short sentences had
touched the hearts of millions
with verses meant only to calm the soul of a
dying
fictional character.
One of the scores
of readers who memorized the poem was William Bradbury.
A
teacher of voice and organ, in 1854 Bradbury had formed a
piano company with
Ferdinand Lighte and Henry Newton.
Besides heading up his business, the
noted musician also
continued a practice of setting his faith to music
by
composing his own songs. By the beginning of the Civil
War, Bradbury had
built his own music company to publish
and distribute his works. It was
during the time when his
music business was taking off that he first read
and fell
in love with "Jesus Loves Me."
Although an
accomplished composer of what many think of as
high-church
music--he had already lent his talents to such
hymns as "Sweet Hour of
Prayer, .... He Leadeth Me," and
"On Christ the Solid Rock I
Stand"--Bradbury was moved in a
much different fashion when he decided to
add a melody to
Anna Warner's poem. A lover of children's voices, as well
as
a proponent of music education in both school and
church, Bradbury allowed
the child in his own heart to
spring forth when writing the simple musical
notes for
"Jesus Loves Me." Then, to fully complete the work, he added
the
following chorus:
Yes, Jesus loves
me, Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus loves me, The
Bible
tells me so.
The marriage of
Waner's words and Bradbury's music was one of the
most
beautiful gospel efforts of all time. Yet the song
"Jesus Loves Me" might
have been as quickly forgotten as
the novel Say and Seal if Bradbury's music
company hadn't
published it. Through the publisher's
established
distribution network, the new children's song
quickly worked its way across
the North and South. In the
face of the most horrible fighting this nation
had ever
known, both sides were singing about a Savior who died, yet
had
risen and still watched over everyone with equal love
and compassion. It was
an ironic message for a very ironic
time.
Almost a hundred
and forty years after this song was first published,
few
know of the writings of Anna Warner or recognize the
name of William
Bradbury. But even though the writer and
the composer have been forgotten,
everyone knows their
song. Children and adults of all races and even
millions
outside the Christian faith can sing "Jesus Loves Me." How
many
millions have clung to this message on lonely nights
or rocked babies to
sleep while singing this song is
unknown. But what can be most assuredly
stated is that
"Jesus Loves Me" is the foundation on which many children
not
only first come to know Christian music but also come
to know the love and
sacrifice of the Lord who inspired it.
And this message is what keeps them
singing the gospel
throughout their lives.
