031: "If You Could Hie To Kolob" - Listen - History of

History of Hymns—The Evolution of LDS Hymns

031: "If You Could Hie To Kolob"

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Description

This episode describes a hymn with a divinely inspired history. After William Wines Phelps personally aided the Prophet Joseph Smith in the translation of the book of Abraham, he took one of the central themes of “Kolob,” a star nearest unto the throne of God, which also symbolized “first creation,” and wrote the now-popular hymn “If You Could Hie to Kolob.” The hymn proclaims that there is no end to the goodness or light of God. Although it was published in the Deseret News in 1856, the date it was written is unknown.

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