Rock of Ages Cleft for Me #685

In 1740, a baby was born with the formidable name of Augustus Montague Toplady.  His father died, his mother spoiled him, and he was thought of as "sick and neurotic" who was not liked by even his family.

However, he loved The Lord and by the age of 11 or 12 he was preaching sermons to whomever would listen. By the age of 14, he began writing hymns and by 16 he was converted to Christ and was ordained as an Anglican priest by the age of 22. 

In 1776, he wrote that John Wesley, the well-known Methodist leader,  was guilty of "satanic shamelessness." Augustus wrote an article about God's forgiveness intending it as a slap at Wesley; the article ended with an original poem that became the first verse of the hymn we know as "Rock of Ages". 

Although Augusutus died at the age of 38, his poem outlived him and has been called "the best known, best loved, and most widely useful" hymn in the English language.  Interestingly enough, Wesley himself wrote a remarkable similar hymn text called "Rock of Salvation, Rock struck and cleft for me, let those two streams of Blood and Water which gushed from thy side bring down Pardon and Holiness into my soul."