[NOTE: The Grif.Net will be OFF LINE until Monday, August 27th. For both
readers who will miss it, we send you love and bifocals.]
Sometimes a hymn so aptly describes the experience of a particular group
that it becomes an unofficial anthem for generations to come. Martin
Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress” embodies the stern resolve of the early
Reformation; “O for a thousand tongues to sing” captures the exuberant joy
of the Wesley’s. “Come, come ye saints” is the most famous hymn of the
Latter Day Saints, the Mormons, because it documents their formative
experience, the pilgrimage into the American west.
William Clayton (1814-1879) was a bookkeeper from Lancashire who became one
of the earliest converts to the Latter Day Saints in Britain. In 1840 he
left his native England for the “new Zion” of Nauvoo, Illinois. There he
served in numerous capacities, including as scribe to Joseph Smith himself.
He did not remain long; the Mormons had already been driven from New York,
to Ohio, to Missouri, to Illinois, and Smith’s assassination in 1844 meant
they could not long remain in the settled areas of the United States.
Brigham Young, their new leader, planned to lead them from Nauvoo to the far
West beginning in the spring of 1846, but events forced a departure in early
February during a winter so cold that the Mississippi River froze over.
Young appointed William Clayton the official records-keeper for this group,
an honor that was not without cost; Clayton was forced to leave behind one
of his wives, Diantha, who was eight months pregnant.
Into these hard circumstances, with unknown dangers ahead and known dangers
behind, came one spot of good news: on April 15th, as the group was camped
somewhere along Locust Creek near the Missouri-Iowa border, a letter came
with the news that Diantha’s child was delivered healthy.
Clayton recorded in his journal, “This morning I composed a new song, ‘All
is well.’ I feel to thank my heavenly father for my boy and pray that he
will spare and preserve his life and that of his mother and so order it so
that we may soon meet again.”
It is likely that Clayton had in mind both the tune and refrain of a folk
hymn by the title “All is Well”. There is another hymn with nearly the same
tune but almost entirely different lyrics, beginning with the first line
“What’s this that steals, that steals upon my soul?” It is a hymn about a
Christian joyfully greeting death, and contains the same refrain line: “All
is well! All is well!” The earliest known appearance of the earlier hymn is
in Revival Hymns by J. H. Neale, first published in 1842.
Clayton’s hymn quickly spread throughout the Latter Day Saints community,
and was sung on a daily basis during their westward migration. Clayton’s
original lyrics in four stanzas are quite stirring, and one need not agree
with his doctrines to share his sense of self-sacrifice and rejection of
this present world. Certain references, however – especially the line,
“We’ll find the place which God for us prepared / Far away in the
West”–make the original lyrics awkward for those of us who do not share the
belief in a modern-day prophet or an earthly, physical Christian Zion. In
1960 Joseph F. Green, an editor with the Southern Baptists’ Broadman Press,
published a slightly revised version suitable for our Church to sing.
[Thanks to David’s Hymn Blog for the above background information]
Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy, wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
‘Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell
All is well! All is well!
Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
‘Tis not so, all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward,
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take;
Our God will never us forsake,
And soon we’ll have this tale to tell,
All is well! All is well!
We’ll find the place which God for us prepared,
In His house full of light,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid,
There the saints will shine bright.
We’ll make the air with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we’ll tell,
All is well! All is well!
[and then Teresa’s favorite verse of the hymn – happy day!]
And should we die before our journey’s through?
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again
To see the saints their rest obtain,
O how we’ll make this chorus swell,
All is well! All is well!
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.net
“Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!”