THE SOLID ROCK

Edward Mote was born in London on January 21, 1797. As a boy he had no interest in God. So ignorant of spiritual matters was he that he did not even know there was a God. His parents, keepers of a tavern, sent their son to a school “where no Bible was allowed.” On Sundays he and other naughty boys of the neighborhood played in the streets, giving no thought to church.

When Edward became an apprentice to a cabinet maker, he found himself in regular attendance at church. The reason is not given. In 1813, at the age of 16, Edward heard the noted Reverend John Hyatt at Tottenham Court Road Chapel. The sermon made him “think on his ways,” and two years later he came to know the Lord.

Shortly, Edward answered the call to preach and built a church. His congregation, through love, offered to deed the church to him as a gift. He answered, “I want not the church; I want only the pulpit. And if I cease to preach Christ, take even the pulpit from me.”

Mr. Mote was on his way to work one day. He says, “I began to meditate on ‘the gracious experience of a Christian.’ Soon the chorus, and then the first stanza (of a hymn), came into my mind. On the following Sunday, as I came out of Lisle Street meeting, Bro. King invited me to his home to encourage his critically ill wife. I had early tea that day; then I went to the Kings’ home. Mr. King said, ‘Before I go to a meeting, I always sing a hymn, read a Scripture, and pray. Will you join me?’ He searched in vain for a hymnbook. I said, ‘I have some verses in my pocket, Brother King. If you like, we can sing them.’ Mrs. King’s heart responded to the words, and Mr. King asked me to leave a copy with her. Back at home I sat by the fireside, musing upon Mrs. King’s reaction to the hymn; and soon the entire hymn was clear in my mind. I committed the words to paper, making a fresh copy for Mrs. King. Later the thought come to me that as these verses had met this dying woman’s needs, perhaps they would help someone else. So I had a thousand leaflets printed for distribution.”

“The Solid Rock,” written in 1834, first appeared anonymously in leaflet form and in various papers. In 1836 it appeared in Mr. Mote’s “Hymns of Praise” and was entitled, “The Immutable Basis of a Sinner’s Hope.” When arguments began to arise with regard to the authorship, Mr. Mote decided to acknowledge the words as his own.

In his words — “In every high and stormy gale” — Mr. Mote reminds himself and others that Christians are not exempt from trouble and temptation. But he goes on to explain that “dressed in His righteousness alone” (the righteousness of Christ) we can stand “faultless before the throne.”

Assurance and security were constant companions of Edward Mote. In November, 1874, his health began to fail; but he felt a renewed confidence in the merit of the precious blood of Christ which was shed at Calvary and through which men become children of God. He said, “I think I am nearing Port. But the truths I have preached I am living upon, and they will do to die upon. Ah! the precious blood! The precious blood which takes away all my sins; it is this which makes peace with God.”

On November 13, 1874, Edward Mote was called to be with the Lord he had served by grace. His grieving church erected near his pulpit a memorial plaque which included the words, “For 26 years the beloved Pastor of this church, preaching Christ and Him crucified, as all the sinner can need, and all the saint can desire.”

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.

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 convenant, His Blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul give way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
O yes I will in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!

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