Gospel Greats -- 'Rock of Ages' Quiz

Answer: Thee

The missing word is 'Thee'.

Augustus Toplady wrote 'Rock of Ages' in 1763 and more than 250 years later the hymn remains immensely popular. Toplady was born in Farnham, Surrey, England, in 1740 and his father Richard Toplady was a commissioned officer in the Royal Marines. His father died when Toplady was still an infant. According to Wikipedia, his father participated in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in 1741, during the course of which he died, "most likely of yellow fever, leaving Augustus' mother to raise the boy alone."

Answer: wounded

The missing word is 'wounded'.

Augustus Toplady's mother was Catherine and she reared the child alone after the death of her husband Richard Toplady. (See answer to Question 1 for more information.) According to Wikipedia, she was the daughter of Richard Bate, who was the incumbent of Chilham from 1711 until his death in 1736. Wikipedia reports Catherine and her son moved from Farnham to Westminster where he attended Westminster School from 1750 to 1755.

Answer: pure

The missing word is 'pure'.

The Website Sharefaith.com reports Augustus Toplady was an "unusual" child. As stated in the answers to Questions 1 and 2, Toplady's father died when he was an infant and he was raised by his mother "who adored and spoiled him."

"He was not very well liked by his peers or his relatives, partly because they did not relate to his extreme intelligence, and partly because he was sickly and neurotic," Sharefaith.com reports. "Controversy followed Toplady throughout his short 38 years of life, but he did not let that stop him."

Answer: demands

The missing word is 'demands'.

According to Sharefaith.com, Augustus Toplady, the author of 'Rock of Ages', was keenly interested in Christianity while still a child.

"At a very young age he showed a keen interest in developing a relationship with God," Sharefaith states. "By age 12 he was preaching sermons, and at age 14 he began writing hymns." Toplady was ordained an Anglican priest at the age of 22.

"Although some thought him to be arrogant and obstinate, excerpts from his writings verify that he was a devoted and humble follower of Christ," Sharefaith.com states.

Answer: tears

The missing word is 'tears'.

As stated in the answer to Question 4, many people regarded Augustus Toplady, author of 'Rock of Ages' as "arrogant and obstinate." However, Sharefaith.com reports a study of his writings show the opposite.

The Website goes on to state:
"An example of one of the many poems Toplady wrote between the ages of 15 and 16 years:
'Refining Fuller, make me clean,
On me thy costly pearl bestow:
Thou art thyself the pearl I prize,
The only joy I seek below.'
An excerpt from his personal journal, at age 27:
'O, my Lord let not my ministry be approved only, or tend to be no more than conciliating the esteem and affections of my people to thy unworthy messenger; but to do the work of thy grace upon their hearts: call in thy chosen; seal and edify thy regenerate; and command thy everlasting blessing upon their souls! Save me from self-opinion, and from self-seeking; and may they cease from man, and look solely upon thee.'"

Answer: save

The missing word is 'save'.

Augustus Toplaldy, author of 'Rock of Ages', never married although Wikipedia reports he had relationships with two women. "The first was Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, the founder of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, a Calvinist Methodist series of congregations," Wikipedia reports. "Toplady first met Huntingdon in 1763, and preached in her chapels several times in 1775 during his absence from Broadhembury."

According to Wikipedia, the second woman in his life was Catharine Macaulay, "with whom he spent a large amount of time in the years 1773-77."

Answer: naked

The missing word is 'naked'.

Augustus Toplady, author of 'Rock of Ages', was a staunch Calvinist, and a vehement opponent of the Arminian theology of John Wesley and his brother Charles. According to Wikipedia, Toplady and Wesley were initially "cordial" about their differences, but things escalated to the point they were bitter adversaries.

Wikipedia stated things came to a head and Wesley announced he would have nothing to do with Toplady. In a letter made public in 1770, Wesley had this to say about a document written by Toplady: "I do not fight with chimney-sweepers. He is too dirty a writer for me to meddle with. I should only foul my fingers. I read his title-page, and troubled myself no farther."

Answer: fly

The missing word is 'fly'.

According to Wikipedia, Augustus Toplady's inspiration for 'Rock of Ages' came from a time when he was caught in a rainstorm in the Mendip Hills in England and took refuge in a gap in a rockface.

"The fissure that is believed to have sheltered Toplady is now marked as the 'Rock of Ages', both on the rock itself and on some maps, and is also reflected in the name of a nearby tea shop," Wikipedia reports.

Answer: unknown

The missing word is 'unknown'.

Sharefaith.com reports two years before Augustus Toplady's death, he wrote an article on God's forgiveness. "The purpose of this publication was to rebut statements made by [John] Wesley," Sharefaith.com reports, "The article concluded with Todlady's poem, 'Rock of Ages'; a poem that would many years later find its way into the very same hymnals as many of John's brother, Charles Wesley's (Arminian) songs."

Answer: hide

The missing word is 'hide'.

'Rock of Ages' is far and away Augustus Toplady's most popular hymn. Three of his other hymns -- 'A Debtor to Mercy Alone', 'Deathless Principle, Arise' and 'Object of My First Desire' -- are still occasionally sung today, according to Wikipedia.

Wikipedia also reports Toplady died of tuberculosis on August 11, 1778, and he is buried at Whitefield's Tabernacle, Tottenham Court Road, London.

Here are the words to the old-time hymn '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.

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."