The Glorious Gospel Light Has Shone
283

Text: Joel H. Johnson (1802–1882; LDS)
Music: Gottfried W. Fink (1783–1846)
Tune name: BETHLEHEM

Latter- day Saints treasure their unique beliefs concerning the salvation of the dead and the responsible role all worthy members of the Church are to assume in making this salvation come to pass. In this hymn, we give voice to our gratitude for these doctrines and then exhort one another to “act for those we love.”

Such a complex topic is difficult to express in the form of a hymn text, and thus Joel H. Johnson’s words, first printed in Times and Seasons in 1841, fill an important role in the hymnal. They were not chosen often for congregational use from the 1950 hymnbook, however, even though Leroy J. Robertson had provided a dignified musical setting in keeping with the solemnity of the words.

The 1985 Hymnbook Committee decided that another hymn tune might increase the use of the text. The choice was an old tune, BETHLEHEM, so called because it was once used as a setting for “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks” (no. 211). It is a tune with immediate appeal, one that gives great power to the words.

In the 1950 hymnal, this eight- verse hymn had the last four “extra” verses printed at the bottom of the page. An advantage of the present tune is that it is exactly twice the length of the previous one. Thus Joel H. Johnson’s original eight short verses can be combined into four long ones, and the entire hymn text can now be accommodated between the lines of the music. The hymn is far more meaningful when the entire text is sung. Whereas most congregations singing from the 1950 hymnal would have ended with the old verse four, singing words that do not really conclude the hymn satisfactorily (“So many Saints have gone to teach / The gospel to the dead”), we now finish with a ringing call to action:

Then let us rise without restraint
And act for those we love,
For they are giving their consent
And wait for us to move.