![]() ![]() Not withstanding the bitter pamphlet war between Augustus Toplady and John Wesley over the correctness of Calvinist/Reformed theology versus Arminian theology, there has been speculation by some, that although Toplady was a Calvinist, the edited version of the words, "Be of sin the double cure, Save from wrath, and make me pure," suggest 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. The text of this hymn from Toplady's July 1776 'alt' version has been substantially edited since its publication by different denominations over the years creating a number of versions of the hymn text used by different churches around the world.Īn example of an edit made to Toplady's text is: "When my eyes shall close in death" was originally written as "When my eye-strings break in death". The similarity between the passages from Brevint's sermon and the hymn suggests this was the starting point for Toplady's text. This sermon had been partially quoted in the preface to Charles Wesley's Hymns of the Lord's Supper (1745), which was in common use amongst a number of ministers of the period. Fasham, a more likely inspiration for the text is a 1673 sermon by Daniel Brevint (who had been the Dean of Durham Cathedral). Finding shelter in a gap in the gorge, he was struck by the title and scribbled down the initial lyrics.Īccording to E. Toplady, then a curate (assistant Church of England preacher) in the nearby village of Blagdon, was travelling along the gorge when he was caught in a storm. Wills' claim asserted that Toplady drew his inspiration from an incident in the gorge of Burrington Combe in the Mendip Hills in England. The burden of Lefroy’s correspondence is based on a claim made by Sir W. That story was started 122 years after publication of the hymn text by a letter published in the Times, J from Dean Lefroy of Norwich, together with one from Sir W. There is a popular story most hymnologists do not believe about the origin of this hymn text. A slightly further revised version was published that summer in July 1776 in Toplady's hymnal Psalms & Hymns for Public and Private Worship. The first publication in full was the following spring in the March, 1776 edition of The Gospel Magazine, with a revised first verse, plus three more verses. The first four lines for the 1st version of the 1st verse were published in The Gospel Magazine in October, 1775. ![]()
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