Thomas Ken – a man who was both rewarded and punished for
his convictions
Thomas Ken was born in 1637 and died in 1711. His parents died when he was a child and he
was taken in by his half-sister and her husband, who sent him to a boarding school
where he eventually was trained for the ministry. He had a firm attachment to the Church of
England.
He returned to his hometown near London as a chaplain. To encourage the devotional habits of the
young boys he was in charge of, he wrote three hymns, one of each meant to be
sung at morning, at evening, and at midnight if the boys woke up in the middle
of the night.
The morning hymn had thirteen stanzas, beginning with:
Awake, my soul, and with the sun the daily
stage of duty run;
Shake off dull sloth and joyful rise, to pay thy morning sacrifice.
The evening hymn included this verse:
All praise to Thee, my God, this night, for
all the blessings of the night!
Keep me, O keep me, King of
Kings, beneath Thine own might wings.
Singing hymns was fairly revolutionary in England. At this time, the only signing in churches
was singing of the Psalms. Thomas continued
to write hymns, later publishing a hymnal.
Thomas was later appointed as chaplain to Princess Mary
of England, wife of the Dutch King William.
He lasted a year, then was sent home after publicly rebuking the King
for his treatment of Mary. Thomas was
then appointed as a royal chaplain to King Charles II, a rather thankless job
as the King shamelessly indulged in a variety of immoralities.
During this time, Charles had an official mistress, Nell
Gwynne. For his convenience, Charles
directed Thomas to lodge her in his residence.
Thomas replied that he was the King’s chaplain, not the King’s
pimp. Fortunately for Thomas, Charles
took the rebuke in stride and later, when a Bishop’s position became open, said
that the man who should have it must be, “that little man who refused lodging
to poor Nellie.” When Charles was on his
deathbed, it was Thomas that he requested be at his side.
Charles was succeeded by James II, a royal proclamation
which opened the door to an official sanction of Roman Catholicism. Charles, along with six other bishops,
refused to publish the order and instead drafted a statement opposing it. James threw them in the Tower of London as
prisoners. Public pressure, including
rioting in London, resulted in a verdict of acquittal. After release, Thomas was taken in by a
friend and spent the rest of his life writing and tutoring.
Thomas is known for his steadfast conviction in the light
of authority, but perhaps more so for those little hymns he wrote those boys so
early in his career. Each of those
hymns, meant to be sung morning, evening, and night, had a common refrain – a refrain
we today call the Doxology:
Praise God from whom all blessings
flow. Praise Him all creatures here
below.
Praise Him above, ye Heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Morgan, Robert J., Then Sings My Soul, Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 2003.
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