Toplady at­tend­ed West­min­ster School, Lon­don, and Trin­i­ty Coll­ege, Dub­lin. He was or­dained an Ang­li­can priest in 1762, and served as Cur­ate at Blag­don and Far­leigh. In 1766, he be­came Vi­car of Broad­hem­bu­ry, De­von­shire. He left the Ang­li­can church in 1775, moved to Lon­don, and be­gan preach­ing at the French Cal­vin­ist church in Lei­ces­ter Fields. His works in­clude:

• The Doctrine of Ab­so­lute Pre­des­tin­a­tion Stat­ed and As­sert­ed, 1769
• Historic Proof of the Doc­trin­al Cal­vin­ism of the Church of Eng­land, 1774
• The Church of Eng­land Vin­di­cat­ed from the Charge of Armin­i­an­ism, 1774
• Po­ems on Sac­red Sub­jects, 1775
• Psalms and Hymns, 1776

Sources

Hymns

1. Can My Heaven-Born Soul Submit?
2. Come from on High, My King and God
   • O Might This Worthless Heart of Mine
3. Compared with Christ, in All Besides
4. Deathless Principle Arise
5. Debtor to Mercy Alone, A
6. Earnest of Future Bliss
7. Eternal Hallelujahs Be to the Father Given
8. Fountain of Never Ceasing Grace
9. From Thy Supreme Tribunal, Lord
   • Spotless Savior Lived for Me, The
10. From Whence This Fear and Unbelief
11. Grace, ’Tis a Charming Sound
12. Great God, Whom Heaven, and Earth and Sea
13. How Vast the Benefits Divine
    • Not for the Works Which We Have Done
14. I Saw, and Lo! A Countless Throng
15. If, on a Quiet Sea
16. Immovable Our Hope Remains
17. Jesus, God of Love, Attend
18. Jesus, Immutably the Same
19. Jesus, Thy Power I Fain Would Feel
20. Lord, I Feel a Carnal Mind
21. My Yielding Heart Dissolves as Wax
    • O Jesus, Manifest Thy Grace
22. Not to Myself I Owe
    • Father’s Grace and Love, The
    • Not to Ourselves We Owe
23. O Precious Blood, O Glorious Death
24. O That My Heart Was Right with Thee
25. O Thou That Hearest the Prayer of Faith
26. O Thou Who Didst Thy Glory Leave
27. O When Wilt Thou My Savior Be
    • Jesus, the Sinner’s Rest Thou Art
28. Object of My First Desire
29. Pilot of the Soul, Awake
30. Prayer Can Mercy’s Door Unlock
31. Redeemer, Whither Should I Flee?
32. Refining Fuller, Make Me Clean
33. Remember, Lord, That Jesus Bled
34. Rock of Ages
35. Surely Christ Thy Griefs Hath Borne
    • Weary Sinner, Keep Thine Eyes
    • Weeping Soul, No Longer Mourn
36. What Though I Cannot Break My Chain
37. What Tho’ My Frail Eyelids Refuse
    • Inspirer and Hearer of Prayer
    • O Tu pre­cum in­spir­a­tor
    • Sovereign Pro­tect­or I Have, A
38. When Languor and Disease Invade
39. Whom Have I in Heaven but Thee?
    • If My Lord Himself Reveal
40. Your Harps, Ye Trembling Saints

Translations

1. Ho­ly Ghost, Dispel Our Sadness