O then shall I in endless day,
When sleep and death have passed away,
With all Thy saints and angels sing
In endless praise to Thee, my King.
Thomas Ken, 1695.
THE DAWN OF HYMNODY IN ENGLAND
Owing to the strong prejudice in the Reformed Church to hymns of “human composure,” the development of hymnody in England, as well as other countries where Calvin’s teachings were accepted, was slow. Crude paraphrases of the Psalms, based on the Genevan Psalter, appeared from the hands of various versifiers and were used generally in the churches of England and Scotland. It was not until 1637, more than a century after Luther had published his first hymn-books, that England’s first hymn-writer was born. He was Bishop Thomas Ken.
This first sweet singer in the early dawn of English hymnody holds the distinction of having written the most famous doxology of the Christian Church. It is the so-called “long meter” doxology:
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;