"The Solid Rock"  The “Solid Rock” text was written in 1834 and was originally titled “The Gracious Experience of a Christian” and was written after a morning walk to work by a successful English business owner and cabinet maker.  On that walk early that morning, Edward Mote felt "impressed to write a hymn" and before he arrived at his business, the chorus was already set in his thoughts.   Born into poverty in London on 21 January 1797, his parents ran a local pub. Raised by unbelieving parents, he had often been left to play with other boys and do as he pleased. His teachers did not tell him about God. Mr. Mote’s youth was empty and aimless. When he was a sixteen-year-old woodworking apprentice, his instructor took him to hear the famous preacher, John Hyatt. Two years later, the apprentice gave his life to Jesus and planted his feet on the Solid Rock forever. Sixteen years after his conversion, Mr. Mote wrote the hymn that testified of the security he experienced in Christ.  Now a successful adult, at 34, Edward was able to sequester himself alone in his office. By the day’s end, he had written four verses of his new hymn! Soon afterward, he was invited to a friend’s home. The host shared how he and his wife usually sang a hymn, read Scripture, and then prayed together. However, the hymnal had been misplaced, so Mr. Mote volunteered, “I have some verses in my pocket; if you like, we could sing them.”  The verses were the new hymn crafted earlier that week in his work office. The host’s ill wife enjoyed the words of the hymn so much that the man requested Mr. Mote to leave a copy for her. Greatly encouraged, he went home, “and by the fireside [I] composed the last two verses . . . and sent them to [her].” The completed hymn text originally consisted of six stanzas.  He worked in London for 37 years. Only in his 50's, he entered the ministry and was pastor at Rehoboth Baptist Church in Horsham, West Sussex for 26 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." He died on 13 November 1874 and is buried in the churchyard at Rehoboth Church.

      The music for Mote’s text was composed, in 1863, by William Batchelder Bradbury, one of the foremost composers of early, American gospel music. It first appeared in his collection, The Devotional Hymn and Tune Book, published in 1864, by the American Baptist Publication Society. This was the only new Baptist hymnal to appear during the Civil War years.

      William Bradbury is also the composer for these hymns: “Depth of Mercy”, “Even Me”, “Sweet Hour of Prayer”, as well as “He Leadeth Me”, “Jesus Loves Me”, and “Just As I Am”. Other well-known gospel hymns for which Bradbury has contributed the music include: “Tis Midnight–and on Olive’s Brow,” “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us,” and “There Is No Name So Sweet on Earth.”   Some song leaders today prefer to use the “Melita” tune (generally used with the Navy hymn text, “Eternal (Almighty) Father, Strong to Save) with the “Solid Rock” text, rather than Bradbury’s more rhythmic music, feeling that the intensity of the “Melita” melodic line is more compatible with the strength of the lyrics.  

He died on January 7, 1868, in Bloomfield, New Jersey (now Montclair, New Jersey) at age 51. He was buried in Bloomfield Cemetery in Bloomfield, New Jersey.