The Doctrine and Covenants and Music

Yesterday I wrote about music—particularly singing—mentioned in the Book of Mormon; I was surprised to also see that the Doctrine and Covenants similarly references songs and singing in numerous places.  The most well-known of course comes from the section to Emma Smith when the Lord gave her this instruction: “And it shall be given thee, also, to make a selection of sacred hymns, as it shall be given thee, which is pleasing unto me, to be had in my church.”  He then explained why such a selection of hymns was important: “For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads” (D&C 25:12).  The Lord doesn’t just accept music as a form of worship—He delights in the music of the righteous.  And the fact that the Lord gave this instruction only three months after the organization of the Church tells us how important it was to Him: it came before most of the priesthood organization, the keys to perform work for the dead, temples, etc.  That’s not to suggest that the order of how the Restoration unfolded necessarily gives us some strict ranking of relative importance, but surely the Lord thought that music was vitally important to the Church to have placed this emphasis on a collection of hymns from the very beginning. 

               Many other verses in the Doctrine and Covenants confirm the importance of music for our dispensation.  The Lord declared in one revelation, “And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion, singing with songs of everlasting joy” (D&C 45:71).  Music will play—and certainly has played—a significant part in missionary work to gather people to Zion.  In the dedication of the Kirtland Temple we have this revealed prayer to the Lord: “And help us by the power of thy Spirit, that we may mingle our voices with those bright, shining seraphs around thy throne, with acclamations of praise, singing Hosanna to God and the Lamb!” (D&C 109:79)  Like the Book of Mormon this suggests that music will continue to be important to the faithful even in the next world.  Another revelation gives the same message as the Lord prophesied a future day when “the graves of the saints shall be opened; and they shall come forth and stand on the right hand of the Lamb, when he shall stand upon Mount Zion, and upon the holy city, the New Jerusalem; and they shall sing the song of the Lamb, day and night forever and ever” (D&C 133:56).  In his letter to the Saints, the Prophet Joseph declared, “Let the earth break forth into singing…. And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy!” (D&C 128:22-23)  I’m not sure that the earth or heavenly bodies can really sing, but music for Joseph was the best way to describe the extreme joy of the gospel that we feel.  In a revelation to his successor, we have this injunction to show that joy with music to the Lord: “If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving” (D&C 136:28).  This is, as I see it, a commandment for us to praise the Lord with song when we are joyful.  In President Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the dead he described the righteous who had died who, like us, sing unto the Lord: “Their countenances shone, and the radiance from the presence of the Lord rested upon them, and they sang praises unto his holy name” (D&C 138:24).  This seems to suggest that music is available even to righteous disembodied spirits.  The Doctrine and Covenants also contains the lyrics to a song that the Lord has given us.  He said that the righteous will one day “see eye to eye, and shall lift up their voice, and with the voice together sing this new song” (D&C 84:98).  This “new song” is then revealed in the subsequent four verses—I certainly look forward to the day when we have music to accompany the powerful message of the words declaring “glory, and honor, and power, and might, be ascribed to our God.”  The Doctinre and Covenants, like the Book of Mormon, confirms that music is an essential and powerful part of our worship of the Lord today.