If You Could Hie to Kolob
284

Text: William W. Phelps (1792–1872; LDS)
Music: English melody; arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958)
Tune name: KINGSFOLD

“‘If You Could Hie to Kolob’ challenges the finite mind to understand the infinite,” commented J. Spencer Cornwall. “What is the meaning of ‘Everlasting?’ Nothing is final. Everything is intermediary between two other things. The beginning is as illusive as the end. There is no end— only eternity” (Stories of Our Mormon Hymns, 258).

According to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, “The Book of Abraham states that God’s physical dominion (throne) is located near a star called Kolob (Abraham 3:2–3). . . . Wherever Kolob is located, its purpose is to ‘govern’ all planets that are of the same ‘order’ as the Earth (Abraham 3:9).”

In Mormon Doctrine (2d ed. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966, 239–40), Elder Bruce R. McConkie noted: “Eternity refers to the eternal worlds, to the spheres of existence outside the realm of time, those outside the temporal limitations circumscribing mortal life on this earth. Spirit beings and immortal persons live in eternity; mortal man lives in time. Eternity goes on forever and is of infinite duration. . . . As men view things from their mortal perspective, there was a past eternity and there will be a future eternity.”

It is to stretch our thinking on such matters that William W. Phelps wrote this remarkable text, first published in the Deseret News in 1856. The effective repetition set up in verse three, “There is no end . . . ,” mirrors poetically the ongoing nature of eternity.

The verb hie is an archaic word meaning “hasten.”

This hymn, included in the choir section of the 1950 hymnal, was too difficult for congregational use and was not often chosen by choirs. Thus the 1985 Hymnbook Committee decided to print the hymn text with a new musical setting. From the first moment the committee tried KINGSFOLD, they felt that this tune captured the ethereal contemplation, the sense of wonder, and the almost mysterious wistfulness of the hymn text. The tune name, KINGSFOLD, is the name of the town in Surrey, England, where Ralph Vaughan Williams noted a version of this lovely folk melody.