Frederick Lucian Hosmer

Frederick Lucian Hosmer (1840 – 1929) was an American Unitarian minister who served congregations in Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, and California and who wrote many significant hymns. Beginning in 1875 and continuing for nearly four decades, he and William Channing Gannett worked together, making a contribution to hymnody comparable to that of the "two Sams," Longfellow and Johnson, a generation earlier.

The Unitarian Universalist hymnbook, Singing the Living Tradition contains eight of his hymns, including #45 "Now While the day in Trailing Splendor", #53 "I walk the unfrequented Road", #96 "I Cannot Think of them as Dead", #105 "From Age to Age", "#114 "Forward Through the Ages", #269 "Lo the Day of Days is Here", "#270 "O Day of Light and Gladness", and #272 "O Prophet Souls of All the Years".

His notable hymn, "Forward Through the Ages", was an anthem of the Social Gospel movement. Written while he served the church in California, it replaced the militaristic imagery of Onward Christian Soldiers with a broader evocation of spiritual mission and unity. It is included in the United Methodist Hymnal as #555.

Read more about this composer on Wikipedia.