"Come, Come Ye Saints" Marika Lee's Hymn & Scripture Study Sundays

This week’s song is a pioneer song entitled, “Come, Come Ye Saints”. Click here for music.

Scriptures for this song:
D & C 61:36-39
D & C 59:1-4

Various facts:
Text by William Clayton (1814-1879)
Music by English Folk Song

The story behind the song:
William Clayton was one of the Mormon Pioneers that was forced by violent mobs to leave his home in Nauvoo before the spring thaw. These faithful leaders endured cold, sickness, mud, hunger and other trials. Some loved ones had been remained behind, unable to travel just yet. News of them had been hard to come by.

For two months, Clayton received no word about his wife. When he finally received word that his wife had given birth to a son, he was completely ecstatic. He wrote in his journal of how he rejoiced. He also noted that the same morning, he had composed a new song.

This new hymn became a favorite of the pioneers traveling west. By unspoken rule, whenever any one person began to sing this song, all should join in. The hymn memorializes the devotion of those early pioneers. It allows us all to reflect on our own commitment to Christ.

Although this is one of the best known LDS hymns, it is also sung by some Protestants and Seventh-Day Adventists.

I am doing a little research online to find these things out. I also have a book entitled "Our Latter-day Hymns The Stories and the Messages" by Karen Lynn Davidson from which I am finding information on these songs. If you want more info, the aforementioned book and the Internet search engines can get you much more than the little bit I shared.