Elisha Hoffman

Elisha Albright Hoffman (May 7, 1839 – November 25, 1929) was an American Presbyterian minister, and composer. After completing high school, Hoffman furthered his education at Union Seminary in New Berlin, Pennsylvania, and was subsequently ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1873. After serving in this position for 11 years, Hoffman held several pastoral positions in the midwest. He pastored churches in both Cleveland and Grafton, Ohio, in the 1880s; moved to Benton Harbor, Michigan, and the First Presbyterian Church in the mid-1890s; and finished his ministry in Cabery, Illinois, from 1911-22.

During the course of his life, Hoffman composed over 2,000 hymns, and edited over 50 song books, including: The Evergreen, 1873; Spiritual Songs for Gospel Meetings and the Sunday School, 1878; Temperance Jewels (Boston, Massachusetts: Oliver Ditson & Company, 1879); Bells of Victory (Boston, Massachusetts: Oliver Ditson & Company, 1888); Pentecostal Hymns No. 1 (Chicago, Illinois: Hope Publishing Company, 1894); Favorite Gospel Songs: A Tune Book (Jersey City, New Jersey: J. N. Davis, 1894); and Jubilant Voices (Chicago, Illinois: Hope Publishing Company, 1907). Hoffman's parents, Francis A. and Rebecca A. Hoffman, were both of German descent.

Personal life In early 1879, at the age of 40, Hoffman remarried to Emma, a woman who was 26 years old. The couple had a baby boy in December of that same year, adding to the family's three other boys. At the time, they were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and had Hoffman's sister-in-law living with them and working as a dressmaker. In 1906, his daughter Florence married Barratt O'Hara, who eventually served the state of Illinois as Lieutenant Governor (1913-1917) and a Democratic U.S. Congressman (1949-1951 & 1953-1969).

Works During the course of his life, Hoffman composed over 2,000 hymns. Among his most popular and widely recognized songs are: "What a Wonderful Saviour!" "Enough for Me," "Are You Washed in the Blood?," "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms," "No Other Friend Like Jesus," "I Must Tell Jesus," and "Is Your All on the Altar?” Hoffman also assisted in the compilation and editing process of over 50 different song books.

Hoffman also edited over 50 song books, including: The Evergreen, 1873; Spiritual Songs for Gospel Meetings and the Sunday School, 1878; Temperance Jewels (Boston, Massachusetts: Oliver Ditson & Company, 1879); Bells of Victory (Boston, Massachusetts: Oliver Ditson & Company, 1888); Pentecostal Hymns No. 1 (Chicago, Illinois: Hope Publishing Company, 1894); Favorite Gospel Songs: A Tune Book (Jersey City, New Jersey: J. N. Davis, 1894); and Jubilant Voices (Chicago, Illinois: Hope Publishing Company, 1907).

In the vast majority of his compositions Hoffman is the author of both the words and music. In his composition, Hoffman sought to create songs for congregational worship. According to Hoffman, a hymn is "a lyric poem, reverently and devotionally conceived, which is designed to be sung and which expresses the worshipper's attitude toward God or God's purposes in human life. It should be simple and metrical in form, genuinely emotional, poetic and literary in style, spiritual in quality, and in its ideas so direct and so immediately apparent as to unify a congregation while singing it." Operating under this definition of a hymn, most of Hoffman's compositions are metrically simple (3/4 or 4/4). As per the majority of hymns, Hoffman's are also very simple in form, usually a collection of 8 or 16 bar stanzas separated by the return of a central refrain.

The typical musical and lyrical style in which Hoffman composed can be seen in one of his most popular hymns "What a Wonderful Savior!" The piece is in common time and in the key of D major. The metre of this hymn is 8.6.8.6 or common metre. (The metre of a hymn refers to the syllables contained in each line of a stanza. Another of Hoffman's hymns, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” is in a longer meter, 10.9.10.9.). As with many of Hoffman's hymns, the text of this hymn is fairly repetitive, however there are deep theological implications in the simple lyrics.