Bitesize Biography - AUGUSTUS TOPLADY

ISBN: 9780852347935
Author: Douglas Bond

‘We all know ‘Rock of Ages’, but if you want to learn about the man behind the hymn, and the grace that made him sing, I highly recommend this new book by Douglas Bond. He does a great job of introducing us to Toplady, an important, but often overlooked and misunderstood figure in church history.’ Rev. Kevin Twit, RUF Campus Minister and Founder of Indelible Grace Ministries.

 What is one to make of a man described as ‘strangely compounded, peculiarly constituted, and oddly framed’? It  conjures up in the mind an image of Stevenson’s Mr. Hyde, or Shelley’s Frankenstein, or Hugo’s Quasimodo. But such is J. C. Ryle’s (1816-1900) description of Augustus Montague Toplady (1740-1778), author of what has been called the best-loved English hymn. One wonders why someone would bother writing a biography—or reading one—about a strange, peculiar, odd person. Nevertheless, Ryle declared that no account of Christianity in England in the 18th century would be complete without featuring remarkable Toplady.