Rock of Ages (Christian Hymn) - Commentary On Lyrics

Commentary On Lyrics

"When my eyes shall close in death" was originally written as "When my eye-strings break in death".

There has been speculation that, though Toplady was a Calvinist, the words, "Be of sin the double cure, Save from wrath, and make me pure," suggest that he agreed with the teachings of the Methodist preacher under whom he received his religious conversion, and of his contemporary, John Wesley, who taught the “double cure,” in which a sinner is saved by the atonement of Jesus, and cleansed from inbred sin by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. However, Toplady's own published hymnal of 1776 refutes such a notion, with the lines: "Be of sin the double cure, Save me from its guilt and power," a clear indication that the double cleansing was from the guilt and power of sin.

Some contemporary artists, including Amy Grant in her recent rendition, prefer the words, "Be of sin the double cure, Save me from its guilt and power," possibly suggesting a disagreement with the holiness movement doctrine of two works of grace.