George WitherGeorge Wither (1588 -1667) is important in the history of English Hymnody for publishing one of the first collections of Hymns in the English language which were meant to be sung in public worship. King James I granted Wither a patent to have his hymns bound together with every book of psalms that was printed after 1623. However, the printer was a Calvinist and strongly against the concept of hymn singing (as opposed to singing metrical psalms) so he just ignored the patent and didn't include Wither's hymns. Consequently, Wither's hymns were never widely used. Nevertheless, the fifteen tunes which Orlando Gibbons wrote to accompany the texts became well known and several are still in use in modern hymnals:
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