Latter-day Saint hymnody officially commenced in July of 1830, three months after the Church was organized, when a revelation was given to Emma Smith, wife of the prophet Joseph, to make a selection of sacred hymns. From that time forward, Smith and her successors printed new hymns, or “songs of Zion,” composed by early converts to the Church who, in their religious fervor, found expression for their new-found faith in verse. The most prolific of these early hymnists were William Wines Phelps (1792-1872) and Parley Parker Pratt (1807-1857), and they remain among the top contributors to the Latter-day Saint hymnal to this day. But over the years both men have been accredited with hymns they did not write, casting doubt on the remaining hymns over which their names appear in the hymnal.
Phelps and Pratt were each heavily involved in the creation of one the earliest and most influential of the Latter-day Saint hymnals: Phelps, a newspaper editor from Canandaigua, New York, before joining the Church in 1831, was assigned the task of “correcting” and printing the hymns selected by Emma Smith for the first Latter-day Saint hymnal, published at Kirtland, Ohio, in 1835; Pratt, in company with Brigham Young and John Taylor, compiled and edited A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Europe, published at Manchester, England, in 1840. After the martyrdom of the prophet Joseph Smith, and Emma Smith’s subsequent refusal to follow the Saints to Utah, her official Church hymnal fell out of favor with the Church leadership, and this unofficial collection eventually replaced it as the official Latter-day Saint hymnal. It went through twenty-five editions, the last of which was published in 1912.
No author names were included in any official Latter-day Saint hymnal until 1856. By then, the publishing center of the church had moved to Liverpool, England, and the hymnbook published by Pratt, Taylor, and Young had reached its eleventh edition, and was now named Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs. When the decision was made to include author names, many of the individuals involved in the creation of the earliest Latter-day Saint hymnals were not around to provide the names of the early hymn contributors: Emma Smith remained in Nauvoo, Illinois; Parley P. Pratt was serving a mission to the eastern United States; and William W. Phelps was in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Before publishing the 1856 edition, editor Franklin D. Richards evidently conducted a search of early Latter-day Saint books and periodicals, for many of the attributions found in these sources are also included in this hymnal, including the mistakes: “To leave my dear friends, and from neighbors to part,” for example, is erroneously attributed to Pratt in the October 15, 1842 edition of the Times and Seasons, and is also ascribed to Pratt in the 1856 hymnal.
But the majority of the mistakes in authorship can be traced back to the twelfth edition of the hymnbook, published at Liverpool, England, in 1863. While many of the 1856 authorship attributions can be verified by consulting the original published source in which the hymn text first appeared, this in not the case with the majority of the attributions originating in 1863. In this instance the general public was requested to send in information concerning the authorship of anonymous hymns. In early 1862, the following notice was published in the Millennial Star:
In publishing a new edition of the Hymn-book, (which we hope to do in the
course of another year), we desire, among other things, to improve the index by
attaching to each hymn the name of its original author, or the source from whence it
was taken. Should any of the Elders, or others, be able to render us any assistance by acquainting us with the name of the author of any hymn which in the present edition has no given authority, we shall be happy to receive it, or indeed any suggestion tending to render the work more correct and complete. (Mar. 22, 1862, 187.)
The 1856 hymnal included author names for just one hundred sixty-six of the three hundred thirty-two hymns. In the 1863 hymnal, this number was increased to two hundred seventy-one names out of three hundred thirty-four hymns. (These numbers were derived from counting the first lines in the index. The numbering is somewhat confusing, as some hymns are divided into more than one part, and the first lines from each of these separate parts are also included in the index, despite not being counted as a separate hymn in the book. The 1856 hymnal, for example, only contained three hundred twenty-two hymns, but three hundred thirty-two first lines are listed in the index. The 1863 hymnal has three hundred thirty different hymns, as opposed to the three hundred thirty-four first lines in the index. To avoid further confusion, I have counted these separate parts as individual hymns here.)
This 1863 edition, published in Liverpool, England, by George Quayle Cannon, introduced many long-standing errors into the Latter-day Saint hymnal, some of which remained for more than a century. In this hymnal William W. Phelps was credited with thirty-seven hymns, but at least eleven of these have been found in recent years to be the works of other authors. The following hymns were erroneously attributed to Phelps in 1863:
*“Earth with her ten thousand flowers.” This hymn was written by Thomas Rawson Taylor, and appears in the Memoirs and Select Remains of the Rev. Thomas Rawson Taylor (1836). It was borrowed by the Latter-day Saints in September 1832, when it was printed anonymously in the Evening and the Morning Star. Perhaps this is why Phelps was thought to be the hymn’s author. This hymn is still included in the current Latter-day Saint hymnal, and authorship was corrected in 1985.
*“From the regions of glory an angel descended.” This anonymous camp-meeting hymn has been altered from the original: “From regions of love, lo! an angel descended.” Phelps’ alteration was first published in the Evening and the Morning Star, August 1832.
*“Great is the Lord! ‘tis good to praise.” Written by Eliza R. Snow, this hymn was first published in the August 1835 Latter Day Saint’s Messenger and Advocate, with the title “Praise ye the Lord,” and credited to “Miss Eliza S.” This hymn is still found in the Latter-day Saint hymnal.
*“O happy souls who pray.” This hymn was written by Isaac Watts, and combines two of his hymns, “Lord of the Worlds Above,” and “Upward I lift mine eyes,” both originally published in his Psalms of David (1719). The first stanza, “O happy souls who pray,” is the original second stanza of “Lord of the worlds above.” The hymns’ second stanza, “No burning heats by day,” is the third stanza from “Upward I lift mine eyes,” while the third, “God is our only Lord,” is the sixth stanza of “Lord of the worlds above.” This “new” hymn first appeared in the Evening and the Morning Star, in August 1832.
*“O Jesus! the giver.” The author of this hymn is unknown, but the original first line was “Oh Jesus! the donor of all we enjoy,” and it was published in Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the use of Christians, 4th edition (Baltimore, MD: Warner & Hannah, 1803). The eighth edition of this same hymnal, published in 1806 is the first to use the altered “O Jesus the giver of all we enjoy.”
*“See all creation join.” Written by Isaac Watts. This is slightly altered from his hymn “Let every creature join,” first published in the Psalms of David (1719). The alteration, probably by Phelps, appeared in the Evening and the Morning Star in August 1832.
*“See how the morning sun.” This hymn was written by Elizabeth Scott, and was first published in 1806. The first line is sometimes given as “See how the rising sun” or “See how the mounting sun.” (see John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, 1037).
*“The Gallant Ship is Under Way” (also “The Gallant Ship is Under Weigh”). This hymn was first published in the Religious Intelligencer on February 11, 1826, ascribed to “H. E.” It later appeared in Sacred Lyrics, by Richard Huie (Edinburgh: John Johnstone, 1843).
*“The glorious day is rolling on.” This hymn was written by Eliza R. Snow and published in the first Latter-day Saint hymnal in 1835.
*“What fair one is this from the wilderness trav’ling.” This hymn may have been written by Samuel Hutchinson, but his authorship is uncertain. It was first published in Hutchinson’s Harmonious Hymn Book: a late composition of the editors and others, being wholly original, both doctrinal and experimental (Portland, Maine: From the Harold Press, 1811). Phelps’ alteration of this hymn was published in the June 1832 edition of the Evening and the Morning Star.
*“When Joseph his brethren beheld.” Written by John Newton, and first published in Newton and Cowper’s Olney Hymns (London: W. Oliver, 1779).
It is not known why Phelps did not correct any of these errors during his lifetime, especially after the printing of the hymnal moved to Salt Lake City. One additional hymn, “The pure testimony poured forth in the spirit,” was incorrectly attributed to Phelps in 1905.
In time, editors became aware that mistakes had been introduced into the hymnal, and two months before the completion of the fourteenth edition, published at Salt Lake City in April 1871, the following notice appeared in the Deseret News:
There is one little matter in respect to the new edition of the hymn book to which we desire to call attention. In former editions we believe that some of the hymns have been credited to parties who did not compose them; we shall be glad to receive genuine corrections of this kind, as early as possible in order that, in the new edition, the authorship may be corrected as far as it can be ascertained; and if the names of authors of hymns are known and they are not credited to them in the index we shall be much pleased to receive and insert them in the forthcoming edition. (Feb. 22, 1871, 32.)
Only two of the hymns wrongly attributed to Phelps were corrected in his lifetime, both in 1871: “Great is the Lord! ‘tis good to praise” and “The glorious day is rolling on.” Significantly, both of these hymns were written by Eliza R. Snow, suggesting she may have been the one responsible for having them corrected. The 1871 Salt Lake City hymnal is also the first to list Snow as the author of “The Time is Far Spent,” first published in Emma Smith’s 1841 Nauvoo hymnbook.
In the current hymnal, fourteen hymns are ascribed to Phelps, but of these only seven can be traced to Phelps without question:
*“Now We’ll Sing with One Accord” (Hymn no. 25). P., “Now we’ll sing with one accord,” Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, October 1835, 208.
*“Glorious Things Are Sung of Zion” (Hymn no. 48).W. W. P., “Hymn 35. Song of Zion,” in John E. Page and John Cairns, A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the use of the Latter Day Saints (n. p., ca. 1841), 46-47.
*“This Earth Was Once a Garden Place (Hymn no. 49). “W. W. Phelps, “Adam-ondi-Ahman, Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, June 1835, 144.
*“Gently Raise the Sacred Strain” (Hymn no. 146). By the Same [W. W. Phelps], “Sabbath Hymn,” Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, June 1835, 144.
*“O God, the Eternal Father” (Hymn no. 175). P., “Sacrament Hymn,” Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, July 1835, 160.
*“Come Let Us Sing an Evening Hymn” (Hymn no. 167). W. W. P., “Evening Hymn,” Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, August 1835, 176.
*“If You Could Hie to Kolob” (Hymn no. 284). W. W. Phelps, “There is no End,” Deseret News, November 19, 1856, 290.
The eight remaining hymns attributed to Phelps were all first printed without signature, casting doubt on their authorship. Several of these, however, are adaptations of existing hymns. Phelps, with his prior experience as a newspaper editor, had been assigned to “correct and print” the hymns selected by Emma Smith. He adapted existing texts and published several of them in the Evening and the Morning Star, an early Latter-day Saint newspaper printed at Independence, Missouri. For this reason, it is not unreasonable to assume that most of the adapted hymns are the work of Phelps. The following were all published without signature, and are credited to Phelps in the current Latter-day Saint hymnal.
*“Redeemer of Israel” (Hymn no. 6), adapted from Joseph Swain’s “O thou in whose presence,” and published in the Evening and the Morning Star, June 1832.
*“We’re Not Ashamed to Own Our Lord” (Hymn no. 57), adapted from Isaac Watts’ “I’m not ashamed to own my Lord,” and published in the Evening and the Morning Star, October 1832.
*“Come All Ye Saints of Zion” (Hymn no. 38), (originally published as “Come all ye sons of Zion”), adapted from the camp-meeting hymn “Come all ye Zion travelers” (possibly written by Caleb Taylor), and published in the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, November 1835.
*“Praise to the Man” (Hymn no. 27), adapted from the anonymous “Hail to the Lamb, that in triumph advances” (published in Mercer’s Cluster, 1823), which in turn was adapted from a portion of Sir Walter Scott’s The Lady of the Lake (“Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances.”). “Praise to the man” was published anonymously in the Times and Seasons, August 1, 1844, and is sometimes mistakenly attributed to Eliza R. Snow.
*“Now Let Us Rejoice” (Hymn no. 3), published anonymously in the Evening and the Morning Star, March 1833.
*“Come, All Ye Saints Who Dwell on Earth” (Hymn no. 65), published in Emma Smith, ed., A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Kirtland, Ohio: F. G. Williams & Co., 1835).
In the current Latter-day Saint hymnal Phelps also receives credit for alterations made to “Joy to the World” (Hymn no. 201), by Isaac Watts (1674-1748). However, with the exception of some minor alterations, most notably the substitution of “saints and angels” for Watts’s original “Heaven and nature,” and an inferior fourth verse, likely written by Phelps, the hymn is mostly Isaac Watts. (An argument could be made for bringing back Watt’s original fourth stanza, “He rules the world with truth and grace,” but this is a discussion for another day.)
“The Spirit of God” (Hymn no. 2), deserves special mention. This hymn has traditionally been credited to Phelps, but in its two earliest appearances, Emma Smith’s A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints (1835), and the January 1836 issue of the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, “The Spirit of God” is printed anonymously. Graduate student Helen Hanks Macaré, in her 1961 doctrinal dissertation, “The Singing Saints,” references an account given by Phelps’ wife Sally, in which she claims “The Spirit of God” was completed the Sunday before the March 27, 1836 dedication of the Kirtland Temple, and that Phelps then showed it to the prophet Joseph Smith, “who liked it so much he ordered it printed on white satin to be distributed at the dedication.” (Macaré, 118) The problem with this account, of course, is that this hymn was published as early as January 1836, almost three months before the Kirtland Temple dedication. Macaré notes that while factually inaccurate, the main points of Mrs. Phelps’ testimony are corroborated in many places, but she does not elaborate or cite any of these sources. If other first-person accounts relating to Phelps and this hymn are extant, I have not yet been able to locate them.
Rumors concerning divine origins of “The Spirit of God” began to circulate almost immediately after its publication, as public interest in the Latter-day Saint people and their beliefs began to grow. In an 1838 article on the “Mormonites” in the Church of England Quarterly Review, the following was written in regard to this hymn: “The following stanzas are extracted from a hymn, which (a correspondent informs us) ‘the Mormonites say, was most beautifully sung in an unknown tongue, and afterwards translated as it now appears’” (Church of England Quarterly Review, 508.) A similar statement was made at a later date by an ex-Latter-day Saint, Thomas Brown Holmes Stenhouse, in his book The Rocky Mountain Saints: “It is claimed that this effusion was given by ‘the gift of tongues,’ then translated by one of the elders, by the ‘gift of interpretation,’ into English.” (Stenhouse, 2.) Speaking in tongues was not uncommon in the early days of the Church, but no Latter-day Saint sources seem to include any information of this sort in relation to “The Spirit of God.” In fact, J. Spencer Cornwall in Stories of Our Mormon Hymns, quoting his predecessor George Pyper, stated: “Neither the date on which it was written, nor the particular circumstances under which it was penned is known.” (Cornwall, 220-221.)
Latter-day Saint musicologist Michael Hicks argues that “The Spirit of God” was adapted by Phelps from an old song entitled “The American Star.” (see Hicks, Poetic Borrowing, 134-135.) However, he provides little evidence to support this claim, and if “The Spirit of God” was truly adapted from “The American Star,” it does not borrow freely from its original source, as do many of Phelps’ other hymns. One such example of Phelps’ adaptations is printed below.
The following encompasses the complete first stanza and portions of the second and fourth from “Come, all ye Zion travellers,” as published in Peter D. Myers’ Zion Songster (1833):
Come, all ye Zion travellers,
….Come let us join to praise;
Ye ransom’d now returning,
….To Christ your voices raise:
Now crown’d with joy and gladness,
….Let sorrows flee away,
And praise the Lord, that brought us
….To see this happy day.
The watchmen of Jerusalem
….Stand on her walls around,
With harmony unceasing
….They swell the solemn sound:
………………………………………….
All wicked men and devils
….Exert their power in vain,
Since Christ hath us united,
….No power can make us twain.
Phelps’ adaptation of the above hymn is “Come all ye sons of Zion,” as published in Emma Smith’s 1835 hymn book (the borrowed portions are in bold):
Come all ye sons of Zion,
….And let us praise the Lord:
His ransom’d are returning,
….According to his word.
In sacred songs, and gladness,
….They walk the narrow way,
And thank the Lord who bro’t them
….To see the latter day.
Come, ye dispers’d of Judah,
….Join in the theme, and sing
With harmony unceasing,
….The praises of your King
……………………………………..
Tho’ wicked men and devils
….Exert their power, ‘tis vain
Since him who is Eternal
….Has said you shall obtain.
Another hymn adaptation similar to the one above is “Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise.” It was modeled after John Adam Granade’s “Arise and shine, O Zion fair” (sometimes given as “Arise O Zion, rise and shine”).
The first and third stanzas of Granade’s hymn appear below, as published in Jesse Mercer’s Cluster of Spiritual Songs (1823):
Arise, and shine, O Zion fair,
….Behold, thy light is come;
Thy glorious, conquering king is near,
….To take his exiles home.
The trumpet sounding through the land,
….To set poor captives free;
The day of wonder now is come,
….The year of Jubilee.
Ye heralds, blow your thundering trumps,
….Sound through the earth and sky:
Go spread the news from pole to pole,
….Behold the judgment’s nigh!
Blow out the sun, burn up the earth,
….Consume the rolling flood,
Shake from the darken’d skies the stars,
….And turn the moon to blood!
Compare this hymn with “Let Zion in her beauty rise” from the 1835 Latter-day Saint hymn book (borrowed words and phrases in bold):
Let Zion in her beauty rise;
….Her light begins to shine,
Ere long her King will rend the skies,
….Majestic and divine.
The gospel’s spreading through the land,
….A people to prepare,
To meet the Lord and Enoch’s band,
….Triumphant in the air.
Ye heralds sound the gospel trump,
….To earth’s remotest bound;
Go spread the news from pole to pole,
….In all the nations round,
…………………………………
But ere that great and solemn day,
….The stars from heav’n will fall,
The moon be turned into blood.
….The waters into gall
This revision bears such a striking resemblance to some of Phelps’ other adaptations that it is unfathomable to think this hymn could have been written by anyone else. Yet in the current Latter-day Saint hymnal it is attributed to Edward Partridge (1793-1840), the first bishop of the Church. But Partridge was not credited with this hymn until 1905, and there does not seem to be any evidence supporting his authorship. The likely source for this attribution is Partridge’s wife, Lydia, who sometime before her death in 1878 gave her son Edward Partridge Jr. a list of hymns composed by his father, including two no longer included in the Latter-day Saint hymnal: “Come let us all unite and sing” and “In ancient days men feared the Lord.” Yet she also asserted that Partridge wrote “Come let us sing an evening hymn,” a hymn which Phelps claimed as his own composition in the August 1835 issue of the Messenger and Advocate. (see Bishop Edward Partridge: Journal, CHO, 76) Perhaps she was thinking of another hymn; in any case, this error casts doubt on any other claims she might have made concerning Partridge and his authorship of hymns.
Parley Parker Pratt, like Phelps, has been credited over the years with several hymns he did not write. A convert to the Church in 1830, Pratt became one of the twelve apostles under Joseph Smith, and with fellow apostles John Taylor and Brigham Young compiled a hymnal for the use of the Saints in Europe, A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Europe (1840), commonly known today as the “Manchester hymnal.” Pratt was the principal contributor to this collection, but like Emma Smith’s 1835 hymnal, this book did not include author names. The 1856 edition of Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs was first official Latter-day Saint hymnal to include author names, and in the index to this book Pratt is credited with eighteen different hymns. All of these attributions can be found in earlier published sources. Some of them were printed in early Latter-day Saint periodicals with Pratt’s name or initials affixed to them, and many of the others were included in Pratt’s book The Millennium, a Poem (1835), or its second edition, The Millennium: and Other Poems (1840). The only error among these attributions is “To leave my dear friends and from neighbors to part,” which was credited to Pratt in the October 15, 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons, probably due to its earlier June 1840 appearance in an English Latter-day Saint newspaper edited by Pratt, the Millennial Star. However, in the Millennial Star no author’s name was attached to this hymn, and it can be found in many early nineteenth-century American hymnals. It was probably written by a Vermont resident named Thomas Ormsby (also spelled Ormsbee. See Vermont Courier, February 14, 1834), but has also been credited to Rev. S. Rusling (Greenbay (Wisconsin) Intelligencer, September 12, 1835).
In the 1863 hymnal forty-six different hymns are ascribed to Pratt. Only twenty-three of these are verifably the work of Pratt. At least three other hymns bearing his name were written by others: the aforementioned “To leave my dear friends and from neighbors to part,” “As the dew from heaven distilling,” by Thomas Kelly, and “The day is past and gone,” written by John Leland. Two additional hymns were erroneously attributed to Pratt in 1905: “The night is wearing fast away,” found in an 1853 book of poems by George Horsley Wood [1796-1874]), and “The time is nigh, that happy time,” which is the work of a Mrs. Voke, a woman about whom nothing is known except that she lived in Gosford, England, and her first name may have been Rebecca. This hymn was altered from her hymn “Exert thy power, thy rights maintain,” first published in 1796. Unlike with the hymns ascribed to Phelps, however, Pratt was dead by the time many of these attributions were made, and could not refute or correct them. In 1857, while on a mission to the eastern United States, Pratt was murdered by the estranged husband of one of his wives.
Many of Pratt’s hymns have been dropped from the Latter-day Saint hymnal throughout the years, but the most recent edition, published in 1985, still includes seven hymns attributed to Pratt. Evidence of Pratt’s authorship exists for only two of these hymns, however: “The Morning Breaks” (Hymn no. 1), and “Truth Eternal” (Hymn no. 4). Pratt claimed in his autobiography that “The Morning Breaks” was written by himself for the very first issue of the Millennial Star, and appeared on its cover. “Truth Eternal” was originally published in the Deseret News on November 6, 1852, with the title “The Triumph of Truth.” It was signed “P. P. Pratt.” When this poem was added to the Latter-day Saint hymnal in 1927, the original first line “Rock of Ages, truth divine” was altered to “Truth eternal, truth divine,” perhaps to avoid confusion with the protestant hymn “Rock of Ages,” which was also in the hymnal. This hymn was further modified for the 1948 hymnbook, but there is no indication in the most recent edition that the text has been altered.
There is no empirical evidence of Pratt’s authorship for the remaining five hymns attributed to him in the current Latter-day Saint hymnal. The following hymns were all first published anonymously in 1840:
*Come, O Thou King of Kings (Hymn no. 59, and Hymn no. 332)
*An Angel From On High (Hymn no. 13, and Hymn no. 328)
*Behold Thy Sons and Daughters Lord (Hymn no. 238)
*Father in Heaven We Do Believe (Hymn no. 180)
*Jesus Once of Humble Birth (Hymn no. 196)
Despite a lack of evidence in regard to the authorship of these hymns, it does not necessarily mean that Pratt did not write them. It only means there is not sufficient evidence to assert his authorship with any certainty, and until further information surfaces these hymns should probably carry the note “attributed to Parley P. Pratt.”
Given the haphazard nature with which author attributions have been handed out over the years, it stands to reason that other hymns that were actually written by both Phelps and Pratt were missed. The possibility that Phelps authored “Let Zion in her beauty rise” has already been discussed, but there are also a couple of anonymous hymns in the current Latter-day Saint hymnal that may have been written by Pratt.
It is not known how many hymns were written or adapted by Phelps for Emma Smith’s 1835 hymnal. Pratt, on the other hand, kept a record of his experiences, later published posthumously in his autobiography. “I also assisted my brethren in selecting, compiling and publishing a hymn book,” he wrote. “In this work was contained nearly fifty of my original hymns and songs.” (Pratt, Autobiography, 336) Although not published until 1874, it is likely someone involved with editing the 1863 hymn book was familiar with the manuscript; when this book was issued Pratt’s name appeared forty-nine times in the index, although three of these are two part hymns, not counted separately in the book, for a total of forty-six different hymns. But not all of these forty-six hymns in the 1863 book are found in the 1840 Manchester hymnal.
In determining the “nearly fifty” hymns which Pratt wrote for the 1840 hymnal, it is necessary to keep several thing in mind. First, four additional Pratt hymns (“All Hail the new-born year,” “Hark ye mortals! Hist be still,” “Lo, a gentile chain is broken,” and “O saints have you seen o’er yon mountain’s proud height”) were added to various editions of hymnal between 1840 and 1863, and it has already been established that at least three of the 1863 attributions were errors. In addition, three hymns assigned authorship to Pratt in 1863 originated in Emma Smith’s 1835 hymnal (“Ere long the vail will rend in twain,” “The sun that declines in the far western sky,” and “How often in sweet meditation, my mind”), although it is uncertain whether or not Pratt would have counted these three contributions among his nearly fifty hymns, if he in fact wrote them (There is no evidence he contributed any hymns to Emma Smith’s collection). It is also important to remember that three of the 1863 hymns (“Behold! the harvest wide extends,” “Ye gentile nations cease your strife,” and “Ye chosen twelve to you are given”), were not counted as separate hymns in 1840; these were all extracted from lengthy hymns written by Pratt, and were not counted as individual hymns until the 1863 hymnal. If we subtract these thirteen hymns Pratt’s total of forty-six, we are left with thirty-three, but then it is necessary to add back “Keep these few lines till time shall end” which was dropped from the hymnal in 1851, but would have been included in the 1840 count, for a total of thirty-four hymns contributed by Pratt to the 1840 hymnal (assuming all the other 1863 attributions are correct). This means, depending on Pratt’s definition of “nearly fifty,” some of the remaining anonymous hymns from the 1840 Manchester hymnal were likely written by Pratt, as well.
The 1840 Manchester hymnal includes two hundred seventy-one different hymns, eighty-one of which were borrowed from Emma Smith’s 1835 hymnal. One hundred ninty hymns, therefore, were newly compiled or composed by Pratt, Taylor, and Young in 1840. One hundred twenty-seven of these new hymns were later assigned authorship in various later Latter-day Saint hymnals. Of the sixty-three remaining hymns that were not assigned authorship in a Latter-day Saint hymnal, all but seven have been found in non-Latter-day Saint sources. If Pratt composed “nearly fifty” hymns for the 1840 Manchester hymnal, as he claims, it is possible he authored at least some of the remaining anonymous hymns. The following seven hymns, therefore, may have been written by Pratt:
*“Let Judah rejoice in this glorious news.” In the fifth volume of the Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, published in 1914, it is claimed that this hymn was written by Alexander Neibaur, the first Jewish convert to the Church.
It is related by one of his daughters that one day he was singing hymns, as was his frequent custom and some question was asked of her father concerning this hymn, who repeated it for her.
……“Yes,” he admitted, “this was was written by your humble servant.” When asked why his name did not appear attached to it, he replied that he had taken the poem to Brother Parley P. Pratt, who had edited it in some places. And this small assistance caused the sensitively honest soul of Elder Neibaur to shrink from asserting his authorship. (“Alexander Neibaur,” 58-59)
The reason I question this attribution, however, is because two other hymns which Neibaur did not write have also been attributed to him by his family: “Come, thou glorious day of promise,” and “By the river’s verdant side” (later changed to “Down by the river’s verdant side”), both of which can be found in non-Latter-day Saint hymnals, and date from as early as 1815 and 1820, respectively.
*“Come humble sinners in whose breast.” Not to be confused with the Protestant hymn with the same first line that was written by Edmund Jones. Other than a shared first line, the two hymns are distinctly different.
*“I saw a mighty angel fly”
*“Lo! on the water’s brink we stand”
*“May we who know the joyful sound”
*“What wondrous scenes mine eyes behold”
*“Ye wondering nations now give ear”
One additional hymn, “All hail the glorious day,” could probably be added to this list as well. It was attributed to Joel H. Johnson in 1905, several years after his death, but it has not been found in his diaries or in any of his published or unpublished works. He was also living in Illinois in 1840, and is unlikely to have contributed to this European collection.
If all of these eight anonymous hymns were, in fact, written by Pratt, his contributions to the 1840 hymnal would number forty-three. The only Latter-day Saint, other than Pratt, known to have contributed to the 1840 hymnal (not counting the hymns above attributed to Neibaur and Johnson, because their authorship is uncertain), is Pratt’s colleague and fellow editor, John Taylor, who furnished two hymns for this collection: “Go, ye messengers of glory” and “The glorious plan which god has given.” He did not claim any of these other anonymous hymns during his lifetime.
This means that most likely some of the remaining anonymous hymns from this collection are likely from Pratt’s pen, including two hymns that are still found in the current hymnal: “I Saw a Mighty Angel Fly” (Hymn no. 15) and “What Glorious Scenes Mine Eyes Behold” (Hymn no. 16). While there is no evidence to prove Pratt is the author of either of these hymns, there are subtle clues hinting that his authorship of each is a possibility.
Despite Karen Lynn Davidson’s claims in Our Latter-day Saint Hymns that “I Saw a Mighty Angel Fly” is not of Latter-day Saint origin, it has not been found outside of the Latter-day Saint hymnal. Furthermore, the opening stanza echos a section of Pratt’s lengthy poem “The Millennium.” One of the lines in his poem reads: “An angel comes, to earth he bends his way.” (see Chapter 5, line 6, The Millennium and other Poems, 16) The hymn in the Latter-day Saint hymnal commences: “I saw a might angel fly / To earth he bent his way.”
“What Glorious Scenes Mine Eyes Behold,” like “I Saw a Mighty Angel Fly,” was first published in the 1840 Manchester hymnal. This hymn, particularly in its original form, “What wondrous scenes mine eyes behold,” closely parallels a hymn from Emma Smith’s 1835 hymnal: “What wondrous things we now behold.” Several of the hymns attributed to Pratt follow this same pattern:
*“This earth shall be a blessed place” is similar in its first line to “This earth was once a garden place” by W. W. Phelps. It also shares the exact meter.
*“In ancient times a man of God” is similar in its first line and meter to “In ancient times men fear’d the Lord,” attributed to Edward Partridge, from Emma Smith’s 1835 hymnal.
*“Hark! listen to the gentle breeze” is similar in its first line to “Hark! listen to the trumpeters” by John Adam Granade.
*“The morning breaks, the shadows flee” borrows its first line from Charles Wesley’s poem “Wrestling Jacob.”
*“When shall we all meet again” is similar in its first line and meter to “When shall we three meet again,” a popular nineteenth-century hymn often attributed to three Indians who were educated at Dartmouth College, but now known to have been composed by Anna Jane Vardill (1781-1852).
*“O saints have you seen o’er yon mountain’s proud height” is Pratt’s adaptation of “The Star Spangled Banner” (“O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light”). It even borrows the line “O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
*“Behold the great Redeemer comes” was adapted from Samuel Medley’s “I know that my Redeemer lives” (see Hicks, Mormonism and Music, 28.)
*“Rock of ages, truth divine” (“Truth eternal, truth divine”) is similar in its first line and meter to “Rock of ages, cleft for me” by Augustus M. Toplady.
*“Lift up your heads, ye scattered saints” is similar in its first line and meter to “Lift up your heads, eternal gates” from Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady.
*“When Joseph saw his brethren moved” is similar to “When Joseph his brethren beheld” by John Newton.
“What glorious scenes mine eyes behold” follows this pattern (as does another anonymous hymn from 1840, “Come, humble sinner, in whose breast”), lending credence to the possibility that Pratt may have authored this hymn. However, whether or not he actually wrote either “What glorious scenes mine eyes behold” or “I saw a mighty angel fly” might never be known.
In the current Latter-day Saint hymnal other questionable attributions remain, in addition to the aforementioned hymns of Pratt and Phelps. “The Happy Day At Last Has Come” (Hymn no. 32), for example, altered from its original first line “The Happy Day Has Rolled On,” was published anonymously in the Evening and the Morning Star in June 1833. It was included in the first Latter-day Saint hymnal, and his been published in every subsequent hymnal. However, no author was given for this hymn until 1905, when its author was named as Philo Dibble (1805-1895). Dibble’s son, Philo Dibble Jr., in a statement to the Church Historian, claimed that this hymn “was composed by my father, the late Elder Philo Dibble, Sen., as far back as the days of Missouri, 1831-1838. The authorship was a matter of frequent reference between my father and myself, and I urged him on several occasions to make it known that he was the author of this hymn.” (Statement of Philo Dibble Jr., April 3, 1903)
A similar statement was made by Dibble’s grandson Edwin:
It was written by my grandfather, Philo Dibble, at the time when the prophet Joseph asked the brethren to “cast in their mites” toward a collection of gospel songs on doctrines as believed by the Latter-day Saints. I have heard my grandfather say many times that he handed the above song in on that occasion but did not sign his name out of a feeling of modesty in regard to his poetic ability. (Edwin C. Dibble, April 22, 1903.)
But both of these statements come second-hand, and there is no corroborating evidence to support these claims. In a 2009 BYU Studies article, professor Frederick G. Williams offers compelling evidence that “The happy day has rolled on” was written by his namesake Frederick G. Williams (1787-1842), who was the publisher of Emma Smith’s 1835 hymnal, in which this hymn first appeared.
John Taylor is credited with two hymns with similar first lines in the current Latter-day Saint hymnal: “Go Ye Messengers of Glory” (Hymn no. 262) and “Go Ye Messengers of Heaven” (Hymn no. 327). “Go Ye Messengers of Glory” was first published in 1840, in A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in Europe, edited by Parley P. Pratt, John Taylor, and Brigham Young. Taylor was named author of this hymn in 1863, and there seems no reason to doubt this ascription.
“Go Ye Messengers of Heaven,” on the other hand, was first published at Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1841, in Emma Smith’s A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Taylor, at the time of this publication, was still in England. While it is certainly possible he may have sent his new compositions to Emma Smith from England for inclusion in her hymnal, this seems unlikely when he could more easily insert them in the book he was helping to publish in England with Parley P. Pratt and Brigham Young. Furthermore, this hymn was not attributed to Taylor until 1927, more than forty years after his death. “Go Ye Messengers of Heaven” was dropped from the hymnal in 1948, and brought back in 1985 as a piece for men’s voices.
Another attribution in the current hymnal that needs further investigation is “See, the Mighty Angel Flying” (Hymn no. 330). This hymn was first attributed to Robert B. Thompson (1811-1841) in 1871, thirty years after his death.
Hopefully before the publication of the next edition of the Latter-day Saint hymnal an extensive search will be undertaken by the General Music Committee to verify the authorship of each of the hymns in the hymnal which will hopefully provide some answers to many of these hymns with questionable authorship attributions. Until then, due to the large number of errors in previous editions, each hymn in the hymnal for which there is no clear evidence of authorship should carry the note “attributed by,” especially in the case of the hymns ascribed to Phelps and Pratt.
Notes:
*Many scholars now believe Emma Smith’s 1835 hymnal was actually published in early 1836, but this has not been definitively proven.
*Although the official Church hymnal did not include author names until 1856, some unofficial hymnals did include some author names or initials before this date. These include: David White Rogers, A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the Church of the Latter Day Saints (New York: C. Vinten, 1838), John E. Page and John Cairns, A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the use of the Latter Day Saints (n. p., ca. 1841), and J. C. Little and G. B. Gardner, A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the use of the Latter Day Saints (Bellows Falls, Vermont: Blake and Bailey, 1844).
Sources:
Emma Smith, ed., A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Kirtland, Ohio: F. G. Williams & Co., 1835).
Emma Smith, A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Nauvoo, Ill.: E. Robinson, 1841)
Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, and John Taylor, A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Europe (Manchester: W. R. Thompson, 1840)
Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, and John Taylor, Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1856)
Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, and John Taylor, Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Liverpool: G. Q. Cannon, 1863)
Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, and John Taylor, Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon, 1871)
Karen Lynn Davidson, Our Latter-Day Hymns: the Stories and the Messages (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1988), 222.
J. Spencer Cornwall, Stories of Our Mormon Hymns (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1963), 220-221.
“Notice,” Millennial Star, March 22, 1862, 187.
“A New Edition of the Hymn Book,” Deseret News, February 22, 1871, 32.
Michael Hicks, “Poetic Borrowing in Early Mormonism,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 18 (Spring 1985): 132-142.
Michael Hicks, Mormonism and Music: A History (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2003), 28.
Helen Hanks Macaré, “The Singing Saints: A Study of the Mormon Hymnal, 1835-1950,” (PhD. Diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 1961), 118.
T. B. H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints; a Full and Complete History of the Mormons, from the First Vision of Joseph Smith to the Last Courtship of Brigham Young, &c. (London: Ward, Lock, and Tyler, 1873), 2.
“Mormonites—a new American Sect,” Church of England Quarterly Review, 3 (April 1838), 508.
Peter D. Myers, ed., The Zion Songster: a collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, generally sung at Camp and Prayer Meetings, and in Revivals of Religion (New York: M’Elrath, Bangs, & Herbert, 1833), 43-44.
Jesse Mercer, The Cluster of Spiritual Songs, Divine Hymns, and Sacred Poems: being chiefly a Collection (Philadelphia: William W. Woodward, 1823), 428.
Edward Partridge, Bishop Edward Partridge: Journal, CHO (1878), 76.
Parley P. Pratt, The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Embracing his Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts in Prose and Verse, from his Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by his son, Parley P. Pratt (New York: Russell Brothers, 1874), 336.
Parley P. Pratt, The Millennium, a Poem: to which is added hymns and songs on various subjects, new and interesting, adapted to the dispensation of the fulness of times (Boston: n. p., 1835).
Parley P. Pratt, The Millennium: and Other Poems: to which is annexed a treatise on the regeneration and eternal duration of matter (New York: W. Molineux, 1840).
Parley P. Pratt, “The Triumph of Truth,” Deseret News, November 6, 1852, 101.
P. P. Pratt, “Parting Hymn” (“To leave my dear friends”), Times and Seasons, October 15, 1842, 953.
T. Ormsbee “Bower of Prayer” (“To leave my dear friends), Vermont Courier (Woodstock, Vermont), February 14, 1834, [4].
Rev. S. Rusling, “The Bower of Prayer” (“To leave my dear friends”) Green-bay Intelligencer, and Wisconsin Democrat, September 12, 1835, [1].
“Alexander Neibaur,” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine 5 (April 1914): 58-59.
Statement of Philo Dibble Jr., April 3, 1903, Historian’s Office correspondence files: Authorship of hymns, 1903. Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah
Edwin C. Dibble to Church Historian, April 22, 1903, Historian’s Office correspondence files: Authorship of hymns, 1903. Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah
Frederick G. Williams, “Singing the Word of God: Five Hymns by President Frederick G. Williams” BYU Studies, 48.1 (2009): 57-88.
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