Glory To Thee, My God, This Night

[ancientandmodern]

Glory to thee, my God, this night,
for all the blessings of the light:
keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
beneath thine own almighty wings.

Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son,
the ill that I this day have done;
that with the world, myself, and thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

Teach me to live, that I may dread
the grave as little as my bed;
teach me to die, that so I may
rise glorious at the awful day.

O may my soul on thee repose,
and with sweet sleep mine eyelids close;
sleep that shall me more vigorous make
to serve my God when I awake.

When in the night I sleepless lie,
my soul with heavenly thoughts supply;
let no ill dreams disturb my rest,
no powers of darkness me molest.

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.

Written by Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells - a principled man who was committed the Tower when he refused to publish James II's Declaration of Indulgence. Later, finding that swearing allegiance to William III, having already sworn it to James II, was incompatible with his conscience, he was superseded in his bishopric and retired.

The tune is Tallis' canon, much favoured as a warm-up exercise. It has the treble virtues of being simple to sing, simple to sing in harmony, and resulting in a pleasing noise.

O God, from whom all blessings flow,
by whose providence we are kept
and by whose grace we are directed:
help us, through the example of your servant Thomas Ken,
faithfully to keep your word,
humbly to accept adversity
and steadfastly to worship you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

My mother used to use that as a lullaby.

Possibly this explains a lot.