Thy hand, O God, has guided

Thy hand, O God, has guided. Edward Hayes Plumptre* (1821-1891). This hymn on church unity was first published in the Supplement (1889) to the Second Edition of A&M. It has since been included in over fifty hymnbooks. In the original text it had six stanzas, but one or two are often omitted, most frequently stanza 3: When shadows thick were falling, And all seemed sunk in night, Thou, Lord, didst send thy servants, Thy chosen sons of light. On them and on thy people Thy plenteous grace was poured, And this was still their message, One church, one faith, one Lord. Modernised variants exist with the opening ‘Your hand, O God, has guided’ or ‘Your hand, O Lord, has guided’...