367 O God, Beneath Thy Guiding Hand
Leonard Bacon, 1802-81
Written for the 200th anniversary of the founding of New Haven, Conn., celebrated April 25, 1833, in Center Church where the author was pastor. Dr. Bacon delivered the main historical address on this occasion and used the theme of the sermon for the basis of this hymn.
Leonard Bacon, son of missionaries to the Indians at the then frontier trading post of Detroit, graduated from Yale and Andover Theological Seminary. He was minister of the Center Congregational Church, New Haven, for the forty-one years from 1825 to 1866 and professor and lecturer at Yale Divinity School from 1866 till his death in 1881. Always interested in sacred music, he rendered a great service to the church by the hymns he wrote as well as his compilations of hymns.
MUSIC. DUKE STREET. For comments on this tune see Hymn 341.