Thomas Ken Biography Quotes 6 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Thomas Ken was born in 1637 and reared in England during the turmoil of the Civil War and Interregnum, circumstances that shaped a sober and resilient faith. He was educated at Winchester College, where the discipline of daily worship and study formed habits that remained with him for life. From there he proceeded to New College, Oxford, entering the clerical life with a reputation for devotion and integrity rather than for academic display. His early formation gave him a deep love for the Prayer Book tradition and a pastoral sensibility that would later distinguish his work as priest and bishop.

Ordination and Early Ministry
Ken was ordained in the Restoration Church and served in a series of pastoral and cathedral posts that brought him into the orbit of influential churchmen. Among these, Bishop George Morley of Winchester was especially important. Under Morley's patronage Ken learned episcopal administration and the art of preaching to varied audiences, from scholars to ordinary parishioners. He produced a Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Scholars of Winchester College, a small book that distilled a rule of prayer for the young and became a staple of Anglican devotion. His ministry emphasized reverent worship, catechesis, and moral seriousness at a time when the Church of England was rebuilding after years of upheaval.

At Court and Pastoral Courage
Ken's gifts brought him to royal and princely households. He served as chaplain to Princess Mary at The Hague, the future Queen Mary II, and his plain speaking there became a hallmark of his counsel. Returning to England, he was appointed one of the royal chaplains to King Charles II. According to widely repeated accounts, Ken refused to compromise the dignity of his office even at court, reportedly resisting pressure to accommodate the king's household arrangements when they offended his conscience. Charles II, who could sometimes admire candor in his chaplains, later nominated Ken to the see of Bath and Wells. Consecrated in 1685 under the primacy of Archbishop William Sancroft, Ken approached the office of bishop as a pastoral trust rather than a political prize.

Bishop of Bath and Wells
Ken became bishop just as the West Country was shaken by the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion and the harsh reprisals that followed the Battle of Sedgemoor. He cared for the wounded and bereaved, interceded for prisoners swept up in the Bloody Assizes under Judge George Jeffreys, and gave material relief to families in distress. When the defeated James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, faced execution, Ken was among the bishops who attended him, urging repentance and reconciliation. In his diocese Ken promoted frequent communion, the repair of churches, and personal holiness, visiting parishes tirelessly and expecting his clergy to live by the standards they preached.

The Seven Bishops and the Revolution
Tensions between conscience and royal policy climaxed under King James II. In 1688 the king's Declaration of Indulgence was ordered to be read in churches; Ken joined Archbishop Sancroft and bishops William Lloyd, John Lake, Francis Turner, Thomas White, and Jonathan Trelawny in a respectful petition asking to be excused from promulgating it, arguing that it rested on a dispensing power contrary to law. The seven were arrested and confined to the Tower of London. Their trial ended in acquittal, and the verdict was greeted with public jubilation. Within months the Glorious Revolution brought William of Orange and Princess Mary to the throne. When required to swear new oaths of allegiance, Ken, like Sancroft and several others, declined on grounds of prior sworn duty to James II. He had opposed the policies of the late king, yet he believed oaths could not be reshaped by events. As a result, he was deprived of his see in 1691, and Richard Kidder was appointed Bishop of Bath and Wells in his place.

Nonjuring Years and Writings
In deprivation Ken did not become a partisan firebrand. He maintained charity toward those who had taken the oaths and avoided schemes that would fracture the Church. He found a home and patronage at Longleat with Thomas Thynne, Viscount Weymouth, who respected his integrity and gave him quiet rooms for study, prayer, and pastoral counsel. There Ken revised and expanded his devotional writings. His Morning and Evening Hymns, which included the now-famous doxology beginning, "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow", passed quickly into common use. He also published The Practice of Divine Love, a succinct guide to Christian faith and conduct. Though without a diocese, he continued to act as a spiritual father to many, corresponded with fellow nonjurors such as Archbishop Sancroft, and kept friendship with those in the established church who valued his holiness and learning.

Friendships, Counsel, and Influence
Ken's circle bridged court, cloister, and countryside. As chaplain he had known Charles II and James II; as pastor he had advised Princess Mary before she became queen; as bishop he worked alongside fellow prelates like William Lloyd and Jonathan Trelawny; and in retirement he leaned on the hospitality of Thomas Thynne. He was also linked to the literary world through family ties with Izaak Walton, whose devotional sensibility and appreciation for plain piety harmonized with Ken's own. Those who met him noted his unadorned manner, his singing voice raised in psalms at dawn and dusk, and his refusal to let controversy sour charity. Even those who disagreed with his stance on oaths often acknowledged that it sprang from a carefully formed conscience rather than from factional zeal.

Final Years and Legacy
Ken spent his final decades in studious retirement, occasionally preaching and always praying for the peace of the Church. He died in 1711, after a long witness that spanned the Stuart restoration and the settlement that followed the Revolution. In keeping with his humility, he asked for a simple burial at early morning light, and was laid to rest in Somerset without pomp. His legacy endures less in treatises than in the words countless Christians still sing at table and in church: the brief doxology of praise to the Triune God, and the morning and evening hymns that shape daily devotion. Remembered as the most pastoral of the Seven Bishops and one of the gentlest voices among the nonjurors, Thomas Ken exemplified steadfast conscience joined to generous charity, a bishop who guarded his flock in crisis and taught them to pray in peace.

Our collection contains 6 quotes who is written by Thomas, under the main topics: Live in the Moment - Faith - Mortality - Prayer - God.