Rock of Ages (Christian hymn)
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| "Rock of Ages" | ||
|---|---|---|
| Music: Thomas Hastings | ||
| Words: Augustus Montague Toplady | ||
| Published | 1775 | |
| Language | English | |
| Melody name | Toplady | |
"Rock of Ages"
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Not the labour of my hands
Can fulfil Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears for ever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, else I die.
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyelids close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgement throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Augustus Montague Toplady
"Rock of Ages" is a popular Christian hymn by Reverend Augustus Montague Toplady. It can be sung to the hymn tunes "Toplady" by Thomas Hastings or "Redhead 76" by Richard Redhead. The words of the hymn were written in 1763 and first published in The Gospel Magazine in 1775, with the music added in around 1830.
According to a famous but largely unsubstantiated story, Rev. Toplady drew his inspiration from an incident in the famous gorge of Burrington Combe, a Mendip gorge close to Cheddar Gorge in England. Toplady, a preacher in the nearby village of Blagdon, was travelling along the gorge when he was caught in a storm. Finding shelter in a gap in the gorge, he was struck by the title and scribbled down the initial lyrics on a playing card.
The fissure that is believed to have sheltered Toplady is now marked as the ‘Rock of Ages’, both on the rock itself and on some maps, and is also reflected in the name of a nearby tea shop.
Others[citation needed] have viewed the hymn as a criticism of the theology of John Wesley and the early Methodists, citing the line, ‘Thou must save, and Thou alone’. This line was believed to refer to the Wesleyan notion that human beings may exercise free will and thus play a role in salvation, an idea which Toplady and his Calvinist colleagues rejected.
The hymn was a favourite of Prince Albert, who asked it to be played to him on his deathbed, as did Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart. It was also played at the funeral of William Ewart Gladstone.
In his book Hymns That Have Helped, W. T. Stead reported "when the London went down in the Bay of Biscay, 11 January 1866, the last thing which the last man who left the ship heard as the boat pushed off from the doomed vessel was the voices of the passengers singing "Rock of Ages".
Contents |
[edit] Lyrics
When my eyelids close in death was originally written as When my eye-strings break in death.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Barkeley, J.M. (1979) Handbook to the Church Hymnary, 3 ed. London: Oxford University Press, p.96
