HOLY SCRIPTURES
SDAH 271
Break thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me,
as thou didst break the loaves beside the sea;
beyond the sacred page I seek thee, Lord;
my spirit pants for thee, O Living Word!
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Hymn Spotlight: Break Thou the Bread of Life
In the 1870s, Bishop John H. Vincent, co-founder of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, asked Mary Artemisia Lathbury to write a study hymn for their spiritual and academic summer retreat. Drawing from the miracle of the loaves in Matthew 14:19, her two stanzas paralleled physical and spiritual nourishment through the Word. Alexander Groves later added a third stanza in 1913, and an anonymous final stanza followed. William Fisk Sherwin composed the tune BREAD OF LIFE in the summer of 1877 specifically for Lathbury’s text. Let us open our hearts to Scripture as the living bread, broken and blessed for our daily renewal.
📖 Reference: Feel free to share but please cite hymnsforworship.org when reproducing.
Introductions for Sabbath School Song Service (based on specific lesson quarterlies):
In the 1870s Bishop John H. Vincent was one of the confounders of the Chautauqua Literacy and Scientific Circle. Students gathered in conference in a summer retreat at an old Methodist camp meeting site at Lake Chautauqua in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. Their purpose was for self- improvement not only academically but spiritually. To assist in this latter function, in 1877 Vincent asked Mary Artemisia Lathbury (1841-1913; see SDAH 51) to write a study hymn for the group. She accordingly wrote the first two stanzas of hymn which derives a spiritual lesson from the feeding of the multitude with physical bread: “And looking up to heaven he blessed ,and brake ,and gave the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude” (Matt.14:19.The two original stanzas are similar in structures:(1) Break the bread of life as Thou didst break the actual loaves; and (2) Bless the truth ,which is the bread of life, as Thou didst bless the actual bread. A third stanza was added by Alexander Groves (1842-1909) in the September 1913 issue of the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, London, The last stanza is another addition.
Lathbury also wrote SDAH 51,”Day Is Dying in the West.” BREAD OF LIFE was composed in the summer of 1877 by William Fisk Sherwin (1826-1888; see Biographies) especially for the words. It first appeared in print in The Calvary Selections of Spiritual Songs, 1878.
📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.
Stanza:
1 – Matthew 14:19
Psalm 42:1
2 – Colossians 3:11
3 – John 6:63
Text
1
Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me,
As Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea;
Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord;
My spirit pants for Thee, O Living Word!
2
Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord, to me, to me,
As Thou didst bless the bread by Galilee;
Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall;
And I shall find my peace, my all in all.
3
Thou art the bread of life, O Lord, to me;
Thy holy Word the truth That saveth me;
Give me to eat and live With Thee above;
Teach me to love Thy truth, For Thou art love.
4
Spirit and life are they, Words Thou dost speak;
I hasten to obey, But I am weak;
Thou art my only help, Thou art my life;
Heeding Thy holy Word I win the strife.
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(a) Matt 14:19; Ps 42:1 (b) Col 3:11 (c) John 6:63
Author
Mary A. Lathbury (1842-1913); Alexander Groves, Stanza 3 (1842-1909)
Hymn Tune
BREAD OF LIFE
Metrical Number
6.4.6.4.D.
Composer
William F. Sherwin (1826-1888)
Year Composed
1877
