Augustus Montague Toplady (1740–1778)

Fascinating insights into the life of Augustus Toplady (1740-1778) -- the diary seems only to cover several years in his ministry in Devon, around the time of his assumption of the vicarage in Broadhembury (1768). (One wonders if this is all the man had time for, given his busy-ness and ill health, or if the book merely represents a selection from his diary -- the book does not say.) The two things most striking about the portrait of the author that emerges from the diary pages are: (a) show more Toplady's deeply pastoral heart and (b) his sincere humility. -- More than half the book is taken up with a generous selection of the many hymns/poetry he wrote. Some of these are well-known ('Rock of Ages' is Toplady's "greatest hit"), others are not as well-written, but all provide further illumination of the man's character and heart for God. Reading this book was time well-spent! show less

Augustus Toplady has been a prominent name in my mind and life for awhile, primarily through hymns. He wrote my favorite hymn, “Rock of Ages” which contains my favorite line “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.” Besides that, I had only read a short polemic he wrote against Arminianism. So naturally, when I saw Monergism was offering his complete works for free, I downloaded them on to my Kindle immediately.

Beginning with volume 1, we are introduced to show more Toplady’s memoirs. It reads almost like a diary as several of his thoughts are categorized by date. Toplady mentions Dr. John Gill favorably many times and mentions John Wesley and George Whitefield as well. In one section, he seems to be responding to someone as he cites several page numbers and scoffs at the idea that we can’t trust hebrew lexicons.

Throughout his journal entries, it is very clear that Toplady is very devout and has a deep love for Jesus Christ. He seems to have nothing but good things to say about his religious life and enjoys preaching. Toplady seems very concerned with his spiritual life and helping others along the way. His journal entries show multiple pleads with God to help people he encounters.

There seemed to be rumors that Toplady recanted Calvinism on his deathbed when he was overcome with an illness. This type of thing is common, a popular example is when it was rumored that Charles Darwin returned to his religious roots on his deathbed. The rumors about Toplady are determined to be “deliberate malice” from “Toplady’s avowed foes.”

After the memoirs, we are greeted with the last will of Toplady. In contains things you would normally see in a will, such as dividing his money and properties. He also reassures the readers of the will that he is confident that he will be with God after he departs from Earth.

Toplady has several small sections where he explains Calvinism’s uprise in England and how Arminianism serves the cause of Rome. Each section is a few pages and talks about a variety of topics related to the Calvinist and Arminian divide.

Overall, the memoirs were probably the most eye-opening and revealed a side of Toplady that you may not have seen if you’ve only read his polemical works. The Toplady that wrote the hymns sees to more of his natural disposition, while his polemical works seemed to be him simply defending the doctrines that he loved, the doctrines that lead him to truly find joy and faith in Jesus Christ. show less

Splendid series of meditations on Jesus' sufferings, death, and resurrection -- and ours -- interspersed with a number of poems, some of which do not seem to have been original from Toplady, but copied from other sources. (It would have been helpful to have an editorial hand indicate which were which.) The book concludes with a series of some 144 'sterling sentiments.' -- Toplady posits, to provide but one example, that the crown of thorns placed on our Lord's brown was composed of nails, show more not thorns from plants. -- Much food for thought in this slim volume! I suspect I will be returning to it again...and again. show less

In these volumes, Augustus M. Toplady, 18th century hymn writer shares some personal life accounts. Included in here are many of his sermons, his political beliefs and theological disputes.