Sister Sheri Peterson
Ward Music Director
In the minds of many members of the Church, "Come, Come, Ye Saints" is the hymn that more than any other connotes the heritage and spirit of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The unforgettable words of this hymn allow us to pay tribute to the unflinching courage of the early Saints and to relate that commitment to our own lives.
William Clayton was a member of the first company of Mormon pioneers to face the westward trek to Utah. Forced to leave Nauvoo before the spring thaw, Clayton and his fellow exiles faced cold, mud, sickness and hunger. News from loved ones left behind in Nauvoo was slow in coming. For two months William Clayton worried about his wife, Diantha, who was still in Nauvoo, pregnant and unable to travel. On April 15, 1846, when word finally reached him of the birth of their son, he was ecstatic. "Truly I feel to rejoice at this intelligence," he wrote in his journal, "but feel sorry to hear of her {Diantha's} sickness." (She was soon to recover.) He then added, "This morning I composed a new song - 'All is well.'" (from William Clayton's journal, p. 19)
"Come, Come, Ye Saints" has appeared in every Latter-day Saint hymnbook since 1851 and it holds a special place in the hearts of all Latter-day Saints, since all members of the Church are the spiritual, if not literal, descendants of the pioneers whose devotion is memorialized in the hymn.
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