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Thomas Ken

1637–1711 · England · Reformation

Author

Bishop of Bath and Wells and the most eminent of the nonjuring bishops, author of the morning and evening hymns that end with the Doxology 'Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow'.

Life

Thomas Ken was born in 1637 at Little Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire. Through his stepsister's marriage to Izaak Walton he came under that gentle man's influence. He was educated at Winchester College and Oxford (Hart Hall and New College), and became a fellow of Winchester. He served as chaplain to Princess Mary at The Hague and later to Charles II, and in 1685 became Bishop of Bath and Wells. He was one of the seven bishops imprisoned in 1688 for refusing to read James II's Declaration of Indulgence, yet after the Revolution he refused the oath to William and Mary and was deprived of his see as a nonjuror. He lived his last years in retirement at Longleat and died in 1711.

As a Hymn Writer

Ken wrote his Morning, Evening and Midnight Hymns for the boys of Winchester College, published in his Manual of Prayers. 'Awake, My Soul, and with the Sun' and 'All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night' each end with the stanza now sung alone as the Common Doxology. His hymns are simple, devout and ordered to daily prayer.

In The Lutheran Hymnal and Lutheran Service Book (3)

  • TLH 536 Awake, My Soul, and with the Sun
  • TLH 558 All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night
  • TLH 644 Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow

Sources: Wikipedia, 'Thomas Ken'.

Hymn Texts (14)