THE ORIGIN OF "ROCK OF AGES"

THE ORIGIN OF “ROCK OF AGES”

Charles Wesley wrote several hymns to promote his brother John’s doctrine of sanctification. The second verse of his “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” asks God to “take away our bent to sinning.” This view was too much for the Calvinist, Augustus Toplady. In a magazine of which he was editor, Toplady wrote an article detailing a picture of man’s potential for sinning. Somehow, he arrived at the mathematical conclusion that a man of eighty is guilty of many millions of sins, a debt he could never hope to pay but for which he need not despair because of the sufficiency of Christ. He closed the article with an original poem, entitled “A Living and Dying Prayer for the Holiest Believer in the World.” This poem became one of the most beloved Christian hymns of all time.  We know it by the title, “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.

Amen, Brother Toplady, Amen!

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!