What We Sang Today - 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, cleanse me from its guilt and pow’r.
Not the labors 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 thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace;
Foul, I to the Fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.
While I draw this fleeting breath, when mine 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 M. Toplady, 1776
Toplady is said to have written the hymn while seeking shelter from a thunderstorm:
Sir William Henry Wills, in a letter to Dean Lefroy, published in the [London] Times in June, 1898, says ‘Toplady was one day overtaken by a thunderstorm in Burrington Coombe, on the edge of my property, Blagdon, a rocky glen running up into the heart of the Mendip range, and there, taking shelter between two massive piers of our native limestone rock, he penned the hymn,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.There is a precipitous crag of limestone a hundred feet high, and right down its centre is the deep recess in which Toplady sheltered.’
What did you sing today?
Comments
Leave a Reply