"Rock of Ages" is a popular Christian hymn with lyrics by Reverend Augustus Montague Toplady, and music by Thomas Hastings. The lyrics to the hymn were first published in The Gospel Magazine in 1775, with the music added in around 1830. A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. ... A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a god or other religiously significant figure. ... Augustus Montague Toplady (November 4, 1740 – 1778), Anglican divine, was born at Farnham, Surrey, and educated at Westminster and Trinity College, Dublin. ... Thomas Hastings (15 October 1784–15 May 1872) was an American composer, primarily an author of hymn tunes and texts. ... The Gospel Magazine is a Calvinist, evangelical magazine from the United Kingdom, and is one of the longest running of such periodicals, having been founded in 1766. ... 1775 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix commemorates the July Revolution 1830 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

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 the Cheddar Gorge. 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. Burrington Combe is a gorge on the north side of the Mendip hills, in Somerset, England. ... Categories: Stub | Somerset ... Cheddar Gorge is the largest gorge in the United Kingdom Cheddar Gorge is the largest gorge in the United Kingdom, near the village of Cheddar in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. ... Blagdon is a village and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary authority in England. ...

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 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 utilize free will and thus play a role in salvation, an idea which Toplady and his Calvinist colleagues rejected. John Wesley (June 17, 1703–March 2, 1791) was an 18th-century Anglican clergyman and Christian theologian who was an early leader in the Methodist movement. ... The Methodist movement is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity. ... Calvinism is a system of Christian theology and an approach to Christian life and thought, articulated by John Calvin, a Protestant Reformer in the 16th century, and subsequently by successors, associates, followers and admirers of Calvin and his interpretation of Scripture. ...

The hymn was a favourite of Prince Albert, who asked it to be played to him on his deathbed, and it was also played at the funeral of William Ewart Gladstone. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (in full Francis Charles Augustus Albert Emmanuel) (26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the husband and consort of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809–19 May 1898) was a British Liberal Party statesman and Prime Minister (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886 and 1892–1894). ...

In his book Hymns That Have Helped, W. T. Stead reported that:

when the London went down in the Bay of Biscay, January 11, 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".

Map of the Bay of Biscay. ...

Lyrics

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.

Not the labor of my hands

Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;

Could my zeal no respite know,

Could my tears forever 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, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,

When mine eyes shall close in death, (*)

When I soar to worlds unknown,

See Thee on Thy judgment throne,

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee.

(*) This line was originally "When my eye-strings break in death".

Media

Image File history File links Toplady. ...

External links

• The story behind "Rock of Ages" and a brief biography of Toplady