PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM

           Thomas Ken (1637–1711), was an Anglican minister, royal chaplain, and eventually bishop, who first penned verses for his students at Winchester College at Oxford University, to sing upon arising in the morning, and at bedtime each evening. Later he added a third hymn, to rehearse at midnight, were students to have trouble sleeping. Each hymn was a confession of faith, and an invocation of divine blessing, tailored to its particular moment of the day. 
          The first of these was:

Awake my Soul and with the Sun,

Thy daily Stage of duty run.

Shake off dull Sloath, and joyful rise,

To pay the Morning Sacrifice.

All praise to Thee, who safe has kept,

And hath refreshed me whilst slept.

Grant, Lord, when I from Death shall wake,

I may of endless Light partake.

          Maybe this would be a good verse for us to recite each morning as we awake.  His second hymn for his students was to be used as they ended their day and retired for the night.  Here is the evening hymn:

All praise to You, my God, this night,

For all the blessings of the Light.

Keep me, O keep me, King of kings

Beneath the shelter of Your wings

Forgive me Lord, for this I pray

The wrong that I have done this day.

May peace with God and neighbor be,

Before I sleep restored to Thee.

Lord, may I be at rest in You

And sweetly sleep the whole night thro'

Refresh my strength, for Your own sake,

So I may serve You when I wake.

          This also would be a great verse for us to pray as we end our day and prepare to take our rest.

          But that isn't the end of this story, for Ken added a final verse to each song, the same 25-word doxological verse in praise of God, three in one. These 25 words, known to many around the world today as "The Doxology," comprise what is likely the single best-known verse of all Christian hymnology and poetry.  As simple and accessible as these four lines are, Christians have been singing them now for more than three centuries.  And yet we find an enduring quality in "The Doxology" absent from many of our passing modern choruses. Substance hides in the brevity and singability.  
         The tune, which Ken did not write, but which much later began to accompany the song, called Old One-Hundredth, originally designed to accompany the singing of Psalm 134, and later Psalm 100.  It first appeared in the Geneva Psalter in 1551 and was written by Louis Bourgeois (1510–1561), who served as head of choirs and music, alongside famous pastor and theologian John Calvin.
          God is glorified in our heartfelt expression of praise. God made us for praise. He made us for doxology. He made the world that he might be praised. And these simple yet profound words serve that simple yet most profound human act of devotion — and all the more when we join our voices and sing together.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise him all creatures here below;

Praise him above, ye heav'nly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

 

Listen to it here.      PRAISE

 

https://youtu.be/RB7WZxR-xGY