Fish the Right

Rock of Ages

Words: Augustus M. Toplady · Tune: TOPLADY, Thomas Hastings

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Organ and orchestra: an introduction, then each of the 4 verses. Tap a verse’s number to start there.
  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,Save from wrath and make me pure.
  2. Not the labor of my handsCan 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.
  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, Savior, or I die.
  4. While I draw this fleeting breath,When mine eyes shall 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.

About this hymn

Words
Augustus M. Toplady, 1776. In the form American hymnals have printed since the 1800s. As printed in Hallowed Hymns, New and Old (1908), no. 260, with stanza 1 as in The Golden Sheaf (1902), no. 200.
Tune
TOPLADY, Thomas Hastings, 1830.
Harmony
Congregational Church Music, 1854. Score from the Open Hymnal Project.
Recordings
Arranged and recorded by Fish the Right, from the harmony above: the melody note for note and every chord the hymnal’s own. Played on the Salamander Grand Piano V3 by Alexander Holm (CC BY 3.0), with organ, strings, brass and timpani from VSCO 2 Community Edition by Versilian Studios (the organ sampled by Simon Dalzell); drums from Virtuosity Drums and bass from Black And Blue Basses by Versilian Studios and Karoryfer Samples; pads from GeneralUser GS by S. Christian Collins; made with abcMIDI, sfizz, FluidSynth and FFmpeg.
Rights
Words 1776, tune 1830, setting 1854: all published before 1931, so public domain in the United States. Checked: words (hymnary.org), tune (hymnary.org), harmony (openhymnal.org).