Written in 1910, this hymn borrows several phrases from Charles Wesley’s “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” (SDAH 490). Notice also how it uses a number of the names of Christ to describe His complete ministry in our lives. It was published first with the Welsh tune HYFRYDOL (see SDAH 167, 204) in Alexander’s Gospel Songs, No. 2, published by Revell.

J. Wilbur Chapman was born June 17, 1859, at Richmond, Indiana, and educated at Lane Theological Seminary. After ordination to the Presbyterian ministry, he served for 20 years as a pastor in Albany, New York; Philadelphia; and New York City. A visit from the great evangelist D. L. Moody roused and inspired him, and from then on his life was completely filled with evangelism. In 1902 he was appointed secretary of an aggressive Evangelistic Committee for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. The work of large-city campaigns was so successful that soon he had to cease administrative work to answer calls from all over the world to conduct preaching missions.

Moody had also showed him how to use the power of singing in his meetings, so he secured the services of singing evangelist Charles Alexander, who was a veritable “magician” in leading huge choirs and crowds in services of song. Chapman and Alexander worked so well as a team that they traveled the world, preaching and singing for 10 years. (On page 233 is a picture of a businessmen’s noon meeting in Melbourne, Australia, Town Hall, May, 1909.) Alexander described his partner’s skill in “handling” a big crowd: “The musical quality of his voice stirred and yet quieted an audience. His words, clearly enunciated, could be heard without strain by an immense crowd (often 10,000), even when hushed to a quiet whisper” (from Charles Alexander, H. C. Alexander and J. K. MacClean, 1920). In these present days of dependence on microphones and amplifiers, this feat seems almost impossible! Chapman died December 25, 1918, at Jamaica, New York.

The tune named HOLY MANNA comes from the use of that phrase several times in the text usually associated with this music, “Brethren, We Have Met to Worship.” The tune was first printed, and composeship claimed, by William Moore in his collection Columbian Harmony, 1827. The book was registered in Wilson County, Tennessee, and printed in Cincinnati; Moore claimed to be the composer of 18 of its tunes. About his life, nothing more has been found. This joyful tune became so popular that many of the compilers of later shaped-note, oblong tunebooks in the South included it.
(See page 234 for a reprint from the 1853 Timbrel of Zion, which shows this hymn with the original text crediting Moore as the composer.)

The arrangement is by Wayne Hooper (1920– ; see Biographies).