Huntington, Rt. Rev. Frederic Dan, D.D., Hadley, Massachusetts, May 23, 1819—July 11, 1904, Hadley, Massachusetts. He graduated from Amherst College in 1839 and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1842. He was minister of the South Congregational Church (Unitarian), Boston, 1842-1855, and from 1855 to 1859 he was Professor of Christian Morals and University Preacher at Harvard College. In 1859 he was ordained priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church and served as rector of Emmanuel Church in Boston from 1860 to 1869, when he was consecrated Bishop of Central New York. In 1853 he collaborated with [Rev. Frederic Henry Hedge], q.v., in editing their Unitarian collection, Hymns for the Church of Christ, to which he contributed three hymns,
1. O Love Divine, lay on me burdens if Thou wilt (Supplication)
2. O Thou, in whose Eternal Name (Ordination)
3. O Thou that once on Horeb stood (God in Nature)
The hymn beginning
Father, whose heavenly kingdom lies,
in Longfellow and Johnson’s Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, is a cento taken from no. 2. Hymns for the Church of Christ also includes a good many anonymous hymns, some of which may be by him, though there is no proof that such is the case. Dr. Huntington also collaborated with Dr. Hedge in editing a collection of sacred poetry entitled Elim: Hymns of Holy Refreshment, Boston, 1865, which includes a funeral hymn beginning
So heaven is gathering one by one,
This hymn has been mistakenly attributed to Huntington, but is an altered form of a hymn by E. H. Bickersteth beginning
Thus heaven is gathering one by one.
Although Dr. Huntington is known to have written occasional verses in religious themes later in life for his own edification he is not credited with any published hymns after his resignation from his professorship at Harvard, and none of the three listed above are in present use.
J. 544, 1714 Revised by H.W.F.