The widely used hymn to the Trinity which begins with this line was written about 1757 in England. It has often been mistakenly attributed to Charles Wesley, and research has failed to discover who its author was. Perhaps he thought it prudent not to disclose his name because both his words and the tune by Felice di Giardini to which it was set in 1769 offered so marked a contrast to the British national anthem, in the same unusual metre, which had come into popular use about 1745 with the words _God save our lord the King_. American Unitarians in the 19^th century could sing the first stanza of the hymn, addressed to the “Father all glorious,” but not the trinitarian stanzas which followed. An unknown writer produced two additional stanzas in a carefully revised version which was included in Lunt’s _Christian Psalter_, 1841; in the 1851 _Supplement_ to Longfellow and Johnson’s _Book of Hymns_, 1846; and in their _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1864. This version, however, was not satisfactory to later Unitarians and was again largely rewritten in the form in which it has been included in most of the Unitarian hymn books of more recent date. This version will be found in _The New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937. H.W.F. _For mercies past we praise thee, Lord_, Given as Anonymous in Longfellow and Johnson’s _Book of Hymns_, 1846, in 4 stas. of 4 l. It was repeated in their _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1864, and in the (Unitarian) _Hymn and Tune Book_, 1868. J. 1564 _My life flows on in endless song_, 8.7.8.7.D. 3 stas. _Isles of Shoals Hymn Book_, 1908. _Now, when the dusky shades of night retreating_, This is a free translation in five stanzas of the Latin hymn, _Ecce jam noctis tenuatar umbra_ by Gregory the Great, c. 600, included in Hedge and Huntington’s _Hymns for the Church of Christ_, 1853, as anonymous. It passed into Beecher’s _Plymouth Collection_, 1855, and into many other hymn books, British and American, often with the 3^d and 4^th stanzas omitted. There is no clue as to its author though Julian (p. 320) points out that the first stanza appears to be an altered form of W. J. Copeland’s translation from the Latin, published in 1848. The three stanza form of the hymn is included in the _New Hymn and Tune Book_, 1914, and in _Hymns of the Spirit_, 1937. J. 819 H.W.F. _We follow, Lord, where thou dost lead_, L.M. 5 stas. Attributed to “Book of Hymns,” in _Isles of Shoals Hymn Book_, 1908.