August Montague Toplady was travelling through the pleasant English Countryside when a sudden fierce storm sent him scurrying for shelter. He found it nearby in the cleft of a great rock. The wonderful thing for us is that whilst there, inspired by the situation and the surrounding, he penned those immortal lines: "Rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee." Toplady, a born again Christian, always sought to show the utter sinfulness of men and the absolute necessity of receiving the Lord Jesus Christ's mercy and pardon; who died upon the Cross to redeem us from the curse of the law.

Two years after these blessed words were first published, Toplady, at only 38 years of age, passed from this earthly scene to await the everlasting shelter of the 'Rock of Ages'.

‑ Contributed by a reader