My hope is built on nothing else

1.    MY HOPE IS BUILT ON NOTHING ELSE – SMHB 71;  YMHB 324

Tune: Native Air

Author: Edward Mote

Presenter: Sis. A. A. Adesina

The name of Edward Mote does not often rest on the lips of the Church today in the same fashion as Fanny J. Crosby, B. B. Mckinney, Ira Sankey, or other great in hymnody. However, the testimony of his life is one that should inspire all Christians. Mote was not brought up in a godly home and did not have the advantage of early exposure to scripture. In fact, his parents managed a pub in London and often neglected young Edward, who spent most of his Sundays playing in the City Streets. Of his theological upbringing, he said “So ignorant was I that I did not know that there was a God”.

Eventually, Mote became exposed to the word of God, and was baptized at the age of 18. This event, however, did not send Mote immediately into the Ministry. He was apprenticed to become a Cabinet Maker, a career which he successfully conducted for another 37 years. Eventually, at the age of 55, he became Pastor of a Baptist Church in Horsham, Sussex, where he did not miss a Sunday in the Pulpit for the next 21 years. He was well liked by the congregation in Horsham and they offered him the Church building as a gift. Mote replied “I do not want the Chapel, I only want the Pulpit; and when I cease to preach Christ, then turn me out of that”.

It was with this background that Mote wrote the Hymn we have today, “The Solid Rock” One morning in 1834 as he was walking to work, it entered his mind to write a hymn. By the time he got to work, he had the chorus. He wrote four more verses over the course of that day and two additional verses before he was finished.

The Hymn was published anonymously in several Hymn collections before first being attributed to Mote in a collection of approximately 100 of his hymns published in 1837.

Biblical reference is traceable to Matthew 7:25-26 “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 and every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand”.

The tune “solid rock” to which Mote’s words are most commonly set was composed by William B. Bradbury (1816-1868) for this text in 1863. An alternative tune sometimes used is “melita” by John B. Dykes (1823-1876)

Brothers and Sisters may we all sing joyfully of Christ the solid rock, in Yoruba, where our anchor is steadfast and sure.

SMHB 71

1.    My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean on Jesu name.

On Christ, the solid Rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand.

2.    When darkness seems to hide His face

I rest on His unchanging grace;

In every high and stormy gale,

My anchor holds within the vale.

3.    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.

4.    When He shall come with trumpet sound,

Oh may I then in Him be found

Dressed in His righteousness alone

Faultless to stand before the throne.

YMHB 324

1.    Igbagbo mi duro lori

Eje at’ ododo Jesu;

Nko je gbekele ohun kan,

Lehin oruko nla Jesu:

Mo duro le Krist’ Apata;

Ile miran, iyanrin ni.

2.    B’ ire-ije mi tile gun,

Or’-ofe Re ko yipada;

B’ o ti wu k’ iji na le to,

Idakoro mi ko ni ye:

Mo duro le Krist’ Apata;

Ile miran, iyanrin ni.

3.    Majemu ati eje Re,

L’o gbe mi ro gba ‘kun ‘mi de;

‘Gbati ko s’ atilehin mo,

On je ireti nla fun mi

Mo duro le Krist’ Apata;

Ile miran, iyanrin ni.

4.    ‘Gbat’ ipe ‘kehin ba si dun,

A ba je ba mi ni Tire,

Ki nwo ododo Re nikan,

Ki nduro niwaju ite,

Mo duro le Krist’ Apata;

Ile miran, iyanrin ni.

Adesegun Akitoye

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