BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY Hardy, John. A collection of sacred hymns, adapted to the faith and views of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Compiled by John Hardy. Boston: Dow & Jackson’s Press, 1843.
160 pp. 11.5 cm.
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John Hardy presided over the Boston branch of the Church from February 1843 to October 1844. In the preface to his hymnal he states that his only object in publishing the book was “to meet the immediate and urgent demand for hymn books by the branch in this city.” Hardy was a composer of hymns himself; three of his songs, for example, appear in The Prophet for June 29, August 31, and September 21, 1844. One might guess, therefore, that a second object in publishing his book was to include some of his own compositions.
Hardy’s hymnbook contains the texts of 155 numbered hymns, followed by an index of first lines. Eighty–six of the hymns came from the Nauvoo hymnal, which include twenty–three in the 1835 Emma Smith hymnal and thirty–eight in the 1840 Manchester, England hymnal (see this digital collection for both of these hymnals A collection of sacred hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints and A collection of sacred hymns : for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Europe). Seven of the songs can be identified which are by Mormon authors, including Austin Cowles, Parley Pratt, Joel H. Johnson, and Gustavus Hills. Some of the hymns are undoubtedly Hardy’s.
Two songs in hardy’s book, Johnson’s “The Glorious Gospel Light Has Shown” and the hymn “Come Thou Glorious Day of Promise,” were added to the official LDS hymnal in 1847 and 1851, respectively, and have remained in it to the present. One other song introduced by Hardy, Thomas Kelly’s “Men of God Go Take Your Stations,” also had a long life in the official hymnal.
Excerpted and edited from Peter Crawley, A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. Volume One, 1830-1847. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, Religious Studies Center, [1997]). Item 186, p. 231.
Used by permission of the author and the Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University