Rock Of Ages
Rock of Ages
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Could my tears forever flow,
Could my zeal no languor know,
These for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
In my hand no price I bring;
Simply to Thy cross I cling.
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
CONVERTED under a Methodist evangelist while attending the University of Dublin, Augustus Toplady decided to prepare for the ministry. Though impressed with the spirit of Methodism, he strongly disagreed with the Wesleys’ Arminian theology and waged a running battle with them through tracts, sermons, and even hymns. “Wesley,” said Toplady, “is guilty of Satan’s shamelessness.” Wesley retorted, “I do not fight with chimney sweeps!”
Toplady wrote “Rock of Ages” to conclude a magazine article in which he emphasized that, just as England could never repay its national debt, so humans through their own efforts could never satisfy the eternal justice of God. He died of tuberculosis and overwork at the age of thirty-eight, two years after he published his own hymnal, in which “Rock of Ages” and Charles Wesley’s “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” (July 17) were placed side by side.
Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.
Psalm 62:5-7
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