Glory to His Name -- Elisha A. Hoffman

This composer was a widower at the time of one of his early writing efforts, with three kids and adjusting no doubt to his role as a single parent. Elisha Albright Hoffman’s life had just taken a new turn when he wrote “Glory to His Name” in 1878, probably a transition he hadn’t wanted to endure. How’d he manage this experience? What would you or I do in such a situation? Is it possible that God heard the words Elisha wrote as a pledge of loyalty, and that He crafted a response – perhaps even a reward -- for this servant whose heart must have been broken?

Elisha Hoffman had been a lover of music directed vertically since his childhood, and would remain so for a lifetime, even as he was challenged at one point.  In the Pennsylvania community in which he was reared, Hoffman learned the love of music from parents and the church in which he was nurtured. He was the son on an evangelical minister, so it wasn’t a surprise that he devoted his adult life to ministry. Before his ordained ministry however, he worked for just over a decade with a publishing house, a period which must have also spawned his lifetime energy as an editor of songbooks (he edited some 50 songbooks over his life). He’d been in ministry just three years when his wife died, leaving him alone with three sons as a 37-year old in 1876, perhaps the pivotal point in his life. It was in this period prior to his 40^th birthday that he wrote the words for “Glory to His Name”. Reading the words, it is not apparent if he was struggling with the recent turn of events, but instead quite the opposite. He’s clinging to the Holy Redeemer with devotion, an appreciation of his eternal assurance. Could his wife’s death have crystallized something, perhaps bonded him stronger still to his God, even if his upbringing, education, and ordination had informed him of His presence as one would expect? Perhaps this time was a crucible for Elisha, wherein he discovered the glue he had with God was deeper and much more meaningful, an unbreakable thing. Is it just coincidental that Hoffman wrote the words in 1878, and remarried the following year? Or, that he went on to minister, beginning in 1880, in three churches over the next 42 years, and composed over 2,000 hymns, most of them in that four-decade stretch? What would you say?

What is the way to respond to a personal crisis? What prepares one for it, or does it happen randomly? Ask Job. He may have endured more than 10 believers are supposed to suffer. Elisha Hoffman must have had moments when he too cried out in despair as his 40^th anniversary on earth approached, yet his words in 1878 sound like a man who had decided he was “all in” with this God. Job’s and Peter’s replies sound similar -- to whom shall we go (John 6:68)? Maybe he’d had some ventures with the secular world that schooled him, educated him that a more reliable partner was needed. ‘Accidents happen’, or ‘life’s not fair’, someone says, but thank Him I’m not an accident, and He’s not unfair!           

See following links for song words and a biography of the composer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_Hoffman

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/h/o/f/hoffman_ea.htm

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/d/o/w/downattc.htm