Rock of Ages
One of the 94 hymns we sing together at Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church on the Gold Coast. Browse the full hymnbook.
Lyrics
Verse 1
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;
Cleanse me from its guilt and powe
Verse 2
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.
Verse 3
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, Saviour, or I die.
Verse 4
While I draw this fleeting breath
When mine eyelids 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.
Behind the Hymn
"Rock of Ages" was written by Augustus Montague Toplady in 1776 and published in the Gospel Magazine, which Toplady edited. Toplady was an Anglican clergyman and ardent Calvinist who was involved in heated theological debates with John Wesley over the doctrines of grace. Legend has it that Toplady was inspired while sheltering from a thunderstorm in a gap in the rocks of Burrington Combe gorge in Somerset, England, though this story is difficult to verify. The hymn's vivid imagery — clinging to the cleft of a rock while storms rage — draws from Moses hiding in the cleft of the rock as God's glory passed by in Exodus 33:22. Its theology of complete dependence on Christ alone for salvation, captured in the line "Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling," has made it one of the most enduring statements of evangelical faith. Toplady died of tuberculosis at only 38 years old, but his hymn has outlived centuries of theological controversy to become a universal expression of trust in Christ.