The History of Hymns Pt. 1

Credit to Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

     The Christian church has been blessed by God with a rich collection of beautiful hymns, some of which have been around for centuries. While many people recognize the most famous ones, they don’t know the stories behind them. Hymns didn’t just appear. Most of them have a very deep story behind them. This is one of the reasons that the hymns are so rich, so relatable and heart-wrenchingly beautiful. They were written straight from another man’s soul.

     In a three-part series, I will share the stories behind four very famous hymns. Hopefully you will begin to realize that the songs weren’t written for profit or as part of a career. The stories behind them prove that their authors experienced a very deep relationship with the Lord and gave vent to their feelings with music. For me, knowing that there is a story behind the very best hymns makes them even more personal. The hymns’ authors understood such things as Jesus’ saving grace, His protection over their lives and His forgiveness from their sins at a personal level. 

     No wonder the hymns speak so deeply to us when we sing them.

      The words to the Rock of Ages were written by Augustus M. Toplady and first appeared in print in the March issue of The Gospel Magazine somewhere between 1775 and 1776. It was placed at the end of an article that Toplady had written about man’s endless sins. In Toplady’s article, he firmly stated man’s sinfulness, proving that he needed a Savior.

      Because the Rock of Ages is an older hymn, it is hard to tell exactly which specific event influenced it. However, the writer of Al Smith’s Treasury of Hymn Histories believes that two separate events inspired Toplady to write Rock of Ages.

     The first of these was a powerful sermon delivered by Dr. Daniel Brevint, a clergyman of the Channel Islands. This man’s great words during a sermon were the ones that later influenced Toplady’s Rock of Ages. In his sermon, Brevint said, “...Rock of Salvation, Rock struck and cleft for me. Let not those two streams of blood and water which once gushed out of Thy side…let not my soul less thirst after them at this distance…” (Smith.) Powerful words indeed! One very seldom hears such grand and heartfelt words spoken from the pulpit today. Certainly, these words made an impact on Toplady for, according to him, he couldn’t shake them from his memory. 

    The second event occurred a little later. Toplady was walking in England in a gorge called Barrington Coombs. In the middle of this walk, he was overtaken by a thunderstorm and forced to shelter in a cleft of a rock.

     Apparently, while safely sheltered from the raging storm, the words of Brevint’s sermon came once more into Toplady’s mind. Except this time, they were much more real to him. The thunderstorm, terrible as it might seem, was only a tiny bit of the wrath of God against sinners. And the cleft in the rock, protective as it was, was a pale example of what Christ had done at Calvary.

     When the storm finally abated, Toplady went on his way but, before he could forget about the magnificent allegory he had seen, he wrote Rock of Ages.

     Without the personal experience that Toplady had, it is doubtful that Rock of Ages would be written at all and, even if it were written, it would not be as powerful a hymn. 

     It is easy to take the hymns for granted. They seem like they have always been around. They seem like they could have been easy to write. They seem to be just another staple of the Christian Church. 

     They are none of those things. 

     Hymns are not just rhyming poems put to music. They are testimonies of a deep experience with God.

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 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 my eyes shall close in death,

When I rise to worlds unknown,

And behold Thee on Thy throne,

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee.

Smith, Alfred B. Al Smith’s Treasury of Hymn Histories. Greenville: Better Music Publications, 1985. Print.