Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
In four lines Ken accomplishes what elaborate texts require many stanzas to say: all good originates in God, all creatures are summoned to praise, the angelic host joins the earthly congregation, and the God so praised is Trinity. For Lutheran use this functions as a liturgical hinge — a moment of doxological pause between actions that re-grounds the assembly in the praise of the triune God. The phrase 'all blessings flow' is a compressed theology of grace: every good thing is gift, not achievement.
History & Background
Thomas Ken (1637-1711) wrote this doxology as the final stanza of both his Morning Hymn ('Awake My Soul and with the Sun') and his Evening Hymn ('All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night'), published in 1674 for the scholars of Winchester College. The single stanza, set to Bourgeois's OLD HUNDREDTH tune, became detached from its original hymns and gained independent use as a metrical doxology — a brief Trinitarian ascription of praise suitable as a congregational response at any point in the liturgy. The 'Old Hundredth Doxology' as it is commonly known is arguably the most sung piece of Christian text in the English-speaking world. It has been used to conclude collections, to mark the offertory, to punctuate liturgies, and to gather congregations in shared praise across every Protestant denomination. Its Trinitarian structure ('Father, Son, and Holy Ghost') and its call to 'all creatures' and the 'heavenly host' give it a cosmic scope in four lines.
Hymnal Appearances
- Evangelical Lutheran Worship — 884
- Glory to God — 606
- The Hymnal 1982 — 380
- Lutheran Book of Worship — 564
- Lift Up Your Hearts — 968
- United Methodist Hymnal — 94
Bulletin Note
Thomas Ken (1637-1711), 1674. Tune: OLD HUNDREDTH, Louis Bourgeois (1551). Originally the final stanza of Ken's Morning and Evening Hymns.
Preaching Connection
This single stanza encompasses the entire theology of worship: all blessings originate in God, all creation is called to respond, and the God addressed is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Themes
doxology Trinity praise blessing all creation offertory