Augustus Toplady wrote it in a storm. The church has been sheltering in it ever since.

The story is disputed but irresistible: the young clergyman caught in a sudden downpour on the Somerset Levels, taking shelter in a cleft of the limestone rock, and finding in that moment the image for the most theologically concentrated hymn he would ever write. Whether the storm happened exactly as legend tells it, the hymn it produced is undeniable. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee - two lines that contain a complete doctrine of salvation, a complete posture of the soul before God, and a comfort sufficient for the hardest hour any believer will face.

Let Me Hide Myself in Thee is the fourth volume in the Songs of the Redeemed series. Moving phrase by phrase through Toplady's great hymn, Elias Hartwell traces the theology of refuge from its roots in the Psalms and the Prophets to its fullest expression at the cross - the Rock cleft not by lightning but by the nails and the spear, so that sinners might have somewhere to hide. Here is the double cleansing of water and blood. Here is the end of every attempt to bring something to God rather than receive everything from Him. Here is the soul at the deathbed and the judgment seat, stripped of every plea but this one: in my hand no price I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.

For the soul who has tried to earn what can only be received. For the believer who needs a shelter that will hold in the worst weather -

The Rock is cleft. The hiding place is open.