Leonard Bacon

Leonard Bacon, D.D., was born at Detroit on February 19, 1802, where his father was serving as a missionary to Native American communities. He was educated at Yale College and Andover Theological Seminary. In 1825, he was ordained pastor of the Centre Church in New Haven, Connecticut, retaining that pastorate until 1866. He was subsequently appointed Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School, a position he held until 1871, after which he continued as Lecturer on Church Polity until his death on December 23, 1881.

Dr. Bacon rendered significant contributions to nineteenth-century American hymnology as both a compiler and a writer. While a student at Andover, he edited a now-rare tract titled Hymns and Sacred Songs for the Monthly Concert of Prayer for Missions (1823). This publication introduced three of his early missionary compositions: "Weep not for the saint that ascends" (written on the death of a missionary), "Land where the bones of our fathers are sleeping" (brought to notice in Great Britain through the Evangelical Magazine in 1824), and "Wake the song of jubilee." The latter was revised by Josiah Pratt in 1829 and subsequently adopted into Greene and Mason's Church Psalmody (1831) and the Church Psalmist (1845). Bacon incorporated this revised text into his own Appendix to Timothy Dwight's revised edition of Watts's Psalms in 1833.

The 1833 Appendix also contained three new hymns by Dr. Bacon: "Though now the nations sit beneath" (a missionary text based on an earlier hymn by Sarah Slinn), "O Thou Who hast died to redeem us from hell" (for Holy Communion), and "God of our fathers, to Thy throne" (a national thanksgiving hymn).

In 1845, Dr. Bacon served as joint compiler with Dr. Eleazar T. Fitch and others for Psalms & Hymns for Christian Use and Worship, published by the General Association of Connecticut. To this collection he contributed four notable hymns: "Here, Lord of life and light, to Thee" (written in 1825 for his installation at Centre Church), "O God, beneath Thy guiding hand" (a famous American anniversary hymn recast from his 1833 New Haven bicentenary poem), "O God of Abraham, ever sure" (written for the young), and "Hail, tranquil hour of closing day" (a popular evening hymn). Stanzas from the latter were also published in the Church Praise Book (1882) under the first line "How sweet, through long remembered years."