Forward Through the Ages
American minister and hymnist Frederick Lucian Hosmer (1840-1929) wrote the hymn Forward Through the Ages in 1908 for the installation of a minister at the First Unitarian Church in Berkeley, California. Hosmer’s aptitude for poetry was apparent at a young age, but most of his hymns were written after he turned 40 years old. At 78 years of age, 50 of his hymn texts were published in the hymn collection The Thought of God in Hymns and Poems (1918).
United Methodist Hymnal editor Carlton R. Young described Forward Through the Ages as a “turn-of-the-century, forward-looking social gospel hymn.” Christian unity and the promise of God’s perfect kingdom are proclaimed throughout the stanzas and in the repeated refrain. The text is typically paired with the hymntune ST. GERTRUDE, better known for its pairing with the text Onward, Christian Soldiers.
