O God, Beneath Thy Guiding Hand

O God, beneath Thy guiding hand
Our exiled fathers crossed the sea;
And when they trod the wintry strand,
With prayer and psalm they worshipped Thee.

Thou heardest, well pleased, the song, the prayer:
Thy blessing came; and still its power
Shall onward, through all ages, bear
The memory of that holy hour.

Laws, freedom, truth and faith in God
Came with those exiles o’er the waves;
And, where their pilgrim feet have trod,
The God they trusted guards their graves.

And here Thy Name, O God of love,
Their children’s children still adore,
Till these eternal hills remove,
And spring adorns the earth no more.

Author: Leonard Bacon

Year: 1833

This is a well-known patriotic hymn written for the bicentennial of the founding of New Haven, Connecticut. Leonard Bacon (1802–1881) is the undisputed author; no significant alternate attributions exist.