Augustus Montague Toplady

Born: November 4, 1740, Farnham, Surrey, England.

Died: August 11, 1778, Kensington, Middlesex, England, of tuberculosis.

Buried:  Whitefield’s Tabernacle, Tottenham Court Road, London, England.

    At the age of 16, as he sat in a barn and listened to the preaching of an uneducated man, Augustus Toplady was dramatically converted. Later, he became a powerful and respected minister of the Anglican church. While he was the busy pastor of several churches in England, Augustus Toplady wrote many hymn texts, 
    Toplady attended Westminster School, London, and Trinity College, Dublin. He was ordained an Anglican priest in 1762, and served as Curate at Blagdon and Farleigh. In 1766, he became Vicar of Broadhembury, Devonshire. He left the Anglican church in 1775, moved to London, and began preaching at the French Calvinist church in Leicester Fields. His works include:

• The Doctrine of Absolute Predestination Stated and Asserted, 1769
• Historic Proof of the Doctrinal Calvinism of the Church of England, 1774
• The Church of England Vindicated from the Charge of Arminianism, 1774
• Poems on Sacred Subjects, 1775
• Psalms and Hymns, 1776

Hymns

1. Debtor to Mercy Alone, A
2. Fountain of Never Ceasing Grace
3. Grace, 'Tis a Charming Sound
4. How Vast the Benefits Divine
5. If, on a Quiet Sea
6. Rock of Ages
7. What Though I Cannot Break My Chain
8. Your Harps, Ye Trembling Saints

Translations

1. Holy Ghost, Dispel Our Sadness