Many of the British hymn writers were children
of clergy or from middle- or upper-class backgrounds. But not Edward Mote. His parents
kept a pub in London. Mote said, “My Sundays were spent in the streets; so
ignorant was I that I did not know that there was a God.” He was apprenticed to
a cabinetmaker who took him to church, where he heard the gospel message. Mote
himself became a successful cabinetmaker in a London suburb and was active in
his local church.
Mote wrote this hymn while he was working as a cabinetmaker. The chorus came to his mind as he was walking to work, and later in the day the stanzas came to him. The following Sunday afternoon, he visited the dying wife of a close friend. Mote didn’t know exactly what to say to her, so he quoted the four verses of the hymn he had just written. At the end of each verse, he repeated these words: “On Christ, the solid rock I stand; / All other ground is sinking sand.”
Two years later, he published the hymn and titled it “The Immutable Basis of a Sinner’s Hope.” It is a hymn that combines deep biblical theology with sincere personal experience.
Scriptures: Matthew 7:24-27; 1 Corinthians 3:11; 1 John 1:6-9
Themes: Hope, Salvation, Assurance
Lyrics of the Hymn:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found!
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!
Reference for the Hymn Story:
Petersen, William. The Complete Book of Hymns (pp. 112-113). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Mote wrote this hymn while he was working as a cabinetmaker. The chorus came to his mind as he was walking to work, and later in the day the stanzas came to him. The following Sunday afternoon, he visited the dying wife of a close friend. Mote didn’t know exactly what to say to her, so he quoted the four verses of the hymn he had just written. At the end of each verse, he repeated these words: “On Christ, the solid rock I stand; / All other ground is sinking sand.”
Two years later, he published the hymn and titled it “The Immutable Basis of a Sinner’s Hope.” It is a hymn that combines deep biblical theology with sincere personal experience.
Scriptures: Matthew 7:24-27; 1 Corinthians 3:11; 1 John 1:6-9
Themes: Hope, Salvation, Assurance
Lyrics of the Hymn:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found!
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!
Reference for the Hymn Story:
Petersen, William. The Complete Book of Hymns (pp. 112-113). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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