Augustus Toplady

Bitesize Biographies

by Douglas Bond

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 the remarkable Toplady.

Bond says that the purpose of the book is to 'pull back the shroud that has covered Toplady, to unmask the caricature that has shaped his memory as merely a raw-boned and harsh controversialist'. The reader is shown what we can learn from Toplady for today.

‘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 gure in church history.’
Rev. Kevin Twit RUF Campus Minister and Founder of Indelible Grace Music.

‘Douglas Bond has an engaging style of writing that brings his subject to life. This book will open windows of insight in how to stand rm in your faith despite ridicule, poverty, health challenges, and the ood of popular cultural. Inspired to strive for a closer walk with the Lord, I can highly recommend this and other books by Douglas Bond.’
Vince Treadway MM, Director of Music Ministries, First Presbyterian Church of Lake Wales, Florida.

‘I vividly recall the sweetness and joy of Toplady’s diary when I rst read it more than twenty years ago now. Doug Bond has ably captured the man and his faith in this brief bio. Warmly recommended!’
Michael Harkin.

Douglas Bond lives in Washington State and is an elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. He teaches English and history at Covenant High School, and was awarded the regional Teacher Award for teaching young people how to write. He lectures on church history and leads study tours to Europe.

Genres: Biography

91 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2012

About the author

Douglas Bond, author of more than thirty books--several now in Dutch, Portuguese, Romanian, and Korean--is father of six, and grandfather of eleven--and counting--is Director for the Oxford Creative Writing Master Class and the Carolina Creative Writing Master Class, two-time Grace Award book finalist, adjunct instructor in Church history, recent advisory member to the national committee for Reformed University Fellowship, award-winning teacher, speaker at conferences, and leader of Church history tours in Europe.

Reviews

[David Dunlap · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent little volume about the obscure author of a famous hymn ("Rock of Ages"). Toplady died of tuberculosis at age 38 and little is known about his life apart from his own writings and those of a few contemporaries. The figure that emerges from Douglas Bond's book is an appealing one of a man deeply aware of his sinfulness and his need of Christ's saving work, a warm and engaged pastor, and an author of many poems that have found their way down through the years into hymnbooks (although they seem to be vanishing, bit by bit, unfortunately). The book seemed a mite repetitive at times (perhaps due to the paucity of source material) but is eminently readable and very much worthwhile.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, brief introduction to the life of Augustus Toplady, of whom J. C. Ryle said that "no account of Christianity in England in the eighteenth century would be complete without featuring [him]".

[Janelle]

I normally enjoy biographies but this one was a little too dry for me.