My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less -- Edward Mote

Edward Mote must have been thinking about the contrasts of his experience during a few days in 1834, differences that nevertheless did not leave him confounded but rather upbeat and confident. He was observing at least two parts of life at the time that he composed “My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less” in 1834. The hymn’s alternate contemporary title (The Solid Rock) is more revealing about his conclusion regarding what he was observing, and his original title for the song is still more indicative of Mote’s position. “The Immutable Basis of a Sinner’s Hope”, or “The Gracious Experience of a Christian” – do either of those convey how I approach my time daily, despite the slow decay of life?

Edward Mote was a cabinetmaker and believer in England during the early part of the 19^th Century, a dual-track life that gave rise to his composition as a 37-year old. He’d been used to fashioning wood into cabinets for about 20 years, and it was no wonder that he might have been thinking about a piece of wood one day on his way to work. What kind of wood might it have been, perhaps something pretty hard and sturdy, like oak? (See cross-section picture here of an oak.)

He must have observed or been lectured as an apprentice about the imprudent use of other softer wood in his craft. Something difficult to cut would have the advantage of endurance, he knew. It’s said that Mote thought of the hymn’s chorus—the solid, rock-like, and unsinkable nature of Christ—as he walked to his work that day. The verses came later, perhaps as he continued to ponder his work and his faith, and how the former held lessons for the latter. A visit to a friend’s dying wife the next day must have been still more instructive, where he couldn’t have missed noticing how fragile life might become. Wood, even an oak, might eventually succumb to beetles or disease or just age, even as one’s body does. How much rotten wood do you suppose Edward had seen in 20 years? More importantly, a disintegrating human life, even if it’s measured and grace-filled, is still certain. So when Edward shared the verses he’d just penned, probably for the first time with this couple (their surname was King), was it accidental that he just happened to have them in his pocket when he came calling?

Was ‘the sweetest frame’ in Mote’s first verse a cabinet he was especially proud of making that week, contrasted with Jesus’ gift toward him and his fellow believers? Wood, though the structure of probably most buildings of Mote’s day, could fail because of fire, wind – acts of God, as they might be characterized in most insurance policies, right? Compare that fact to what He’s like, what we can depend on, Mote reflected. It’s not known if Mote talked with this couple about his work—including what ‘sweetest frame’ meant—but his words resonated, reportedly. I have to work and make a living, just as Edward Mote did. I wonder if I might learn something at my labor this week that could show up on a musical score…what might that resemble?

  

Information on the song was obtained from the books  Amazing Grace – 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, 1990, Kregel Publications; The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.; Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.; and 101 More Hymn Stories by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985. 

See also here for four verses and refrain of hymn, and the hymn’s story: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/m/y/h/myhopeis.htm

 

See also here for history of the hymn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Hope_Is_Built_on_Nothing_Less