And Saints and Angels Sing! Trivial Changes in Mormon Hymns

You know how those anti's are constantly publishing comparisons of different editions of the Book of Mormon and the temple ceremony and lamenting over the wording changes? Well, I'd like to highlight some changes in those old familiar hymns and ponder on their meanings. My consternation over these alterations commenced as a brand-new, three-month-old convert. At a Sacrament meeting around Christmas-time I was very embarrassed while singing a familiar carol to be looking up from my hymnal right when the words changed to

And Saints and angels sing

and I was caught singing

And heaven and nature sing!

I'm still pondering why W.W. Phelps felt this was a needed change. In the Isaac Watts version, "heaven" denotes the angelic hosts singing while "nature" clearly points to earthly beings joining in. Wouldn't that be the same as "saints and angels," only in a different order? Or do you see a subtle message here that out of all earthly praisers, only members of the Church ("saints") can join the heavenly beings in song?

Talk about embarrassing. But you don't have to be a convert to experience the pain of singing the wrong words when you thought you knew the song by heart. Some of us "oldies" took a while to remember to sing

"who unto the Savior"

instead of

"you who unto Jesus for refuge have fled"

in the first verse of How Firm A Foundation when it was changed in 1985. I imagine that this change might have been made to avoid the too frequent use of the Lord's name. But if this is the case, we might better teach our children and youth to say "in the name of the Savior" at the end of prayers, instead of "nameajesuschristamen."

This is not the only hymn where we notice incomprehensible changes. When "How Great Thou Art" was added to the 1985 hymnal it was familiar to me from my pre-Mormon days. But I wondered why, in the first verse, the words "works" and "mighty" were changed to

...consider all the *worlds thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the *rolling thunder...

I can't even think of a possible reason for this revision, and, although the change is noted, an author or perpetrator is not.

In the case of Hymn #68, I wonder if the music committee simply couldn't let the words of that great Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, rest unchallenged. Luther's words were "adapted" as follows: (scroll down)

A mighty fortress is our God,	A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;	A tower of strength ne'er failing.
our helper he amid the flood	A helper mighty is our God
of mortal ills prevaling.	O'er ills of life prevailing.
For still our ancient foe	He overcometh all.
doth seek to work us woe;	He saveth from the Fall.
his craft and power are great,	His might and power are great.
and armed with cruel hate,	He all things did create.
on earth is not his equal.	And he shall reign forever more.

Now, there are some changes which, though small or trivial, can be well understood. Before 1985 LDS congregations on the last week of December used to sing The Wint'ry Day, Descending to its Close with these words:

...where roamed at will the savage Indian band, the templed cities of the Saints now stand.

The word "savage" has now been changed to "fearless." I'm actually surprised that some sixteenth notes weren't added, along with the words "the fearless Native American band!"

For more info on word changes in hymns, go here!