07/08/2026
And we join the great chorus in the practice of singing the Doxology each Sunday morning.
It wasn't written for a church. It was written for schoolboys to sing before bed. Now it's the most sung piece of Christian music in history.
Thomas Ken was an Anglican bishop and chaplain who, in 1674, was assigned to Wi******er College — one of England's oldest boarding schools. Concerned that his students had no structured devotional practice for beginning and ending their days, he wrote three long hymns for their personal use: a Morning Hymn, an Evening Hymn, and a Midnight Hymn.
Each hymn was substantial — multiple verses covering themes of praise, confession, and trust appropriate to the hour of day. Ken reportedly told his students they should sing them privately, not as public performance but as personal prayer offered from their own rooms each day.
At the end of both the Morning Hymn and the Evening Hymn, Ken added the same closing doxology — a single verse of praise to the Trinity intended to seal each day's prayer:
"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."
He almost certainly had no idea what that verse would become.
The Doxology has since been sung in virtually every Protestant denomination across every continent, every Sunday, for over 350 years. It has been estimated — conservatively — to be the most frequently sung piece of music in the history of Christianity.
A bishop wrote a bedtime prayer for schoolboys. The world has been singing the last verse ever since.
Share this with someone who sings it every Sunday without knowing any of this.
"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." — Psalm 150:6
