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 power.

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!

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall 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 Montague Toplady, 1740-1778]

It is often claimed that Toplady wrote  “Rock of Ages” in 1763 after seeking shelter under a large rock at Burrington Combe, a magnificent ravine close to Blagdon in the Mendips, during a thunderstorm. This theory is generally discounted by historians, since we find that the first stanza of this hymn was printed in the Gospel Magazine for Oct. 1775. Toplady was Curate at Blagdon from April 1762 to April 1764. This gives some twelve years or more from the alleged circumstances of its composition to the printing of the first stanza.

To this element of delay in the printing of the hymn we must add that it was used by Toplady, not as an illustration of a providential deliverance in immediate danger in a thunderstorm, but as an argument against John Wesley’s doctrine of the possibility, if not certainty, of absolute holiness in man.The relationship between Toplady and Wesley that had initially been cordial, involving exchanges of letters in Toplady’s Arminian days, became increasingly bitter and reached its nadir with the “Zanchy affair” in 1769.