"The Solid Rock", by National Presbyterian Church Choir (2018) #tbt #ThrowbackThursday
"The Solid Rock", also known as "My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less", is a hymn written by Edward Mote (1797-1874) with music by William Batchelder Bradbury (1816-1868).
Edward Mote, was born in Upper Thames Street, London, Jan. 21, 1797. Through the preaching of the Rev. J. Hyatt, of Tottenham Court Road Chapel, he underwent a great spiritual change; and ultimately he became a Baptist minister.
As Edward Mote was walking to work one day in 1834, the thought popped into his head to write a hymn on the “Gracious Experience of a Christian.”
As he walked up the road, he had the chorus, “On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.” By the end of the day, he had the first four verses written out and safely tucked away in his pocket.
Later that week, he visited his friend whose wife was very ill, and as they couldn’t find a hymnal to sing from, he dug up his newly written verses and sang those with the couple.
The wife enjoyed them so much she asked for a copy, and Mote went home to finish the last two verses and sent it off to a publisher, saying, “As these verses so met the dying woman’s case, my attention to them was the more arrested, and I had a thousand printed for distribution” (Lutheran Hymnal Handbook).
Almost two centuries later, we continue to sing these words of hope and assurance, our declaration that in the midst of all trials and storms, we will cling to the rock that is our Savior.
For the last 26 years of his life Mote was pastor at Horsham, Sussex, where he died Nov. 13, 1874. Mr. Mote published several small pamphlets of hymns.
William Batchelder Bradbury was a musician who composed the music to several hymns, including those for "He Leadeth Me"; "Just As I Am"; "Sweet Hour of Prayer", "Yes, Jesus Loves Me" and many other popular hymns.
Representative Text
1 My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
2 When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
in ev'ry high and stormy gale
my anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
3 His oath, his covenant, his blood
support me in the whelming flood;
when all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
4 When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found,
dressed in his righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
Source: Trinity Psalter Hymnal #459
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