I must tell Jesus

with ORWIGSBURG

I. Background and Publication

The story behind this hymn by pastor-composer Elisha Hoffman (1839–1929) was relayed to another gospel composer, Charles Gabriel, in 1916:

While I was a pastor at Lebanon, Pa., I called one day at the home of a parishioner and found the lady in great distress and sorrow. Wringing her hands, she cried: “What shall I do—what shall I do?” I replied, “You cannot do better than to take it all to Jesus—you must tell Jesus.” For a moment she seemed abstracted in meditation, then her face glowed, her eyes lighted up, and with animation she exclaimed, “Yes, I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus!”

As I went from that sorrow-filled home a vision walked before me, a vision of a joy-illumined face, of a soul transformed from darkness into light, and I heard all along my pathway the echo of a tender voice saying, “I must tell Jesus!”[1]

In 1894, this hymn appeared in three collections Hoffman co-edited. In Favorite Gospel Songs (Jersey City, NJ: J.N. Davis, 1894 | Fig. 1), which was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office in April of 1894, the song appeared as the first item in the collection, bearing a copyright date of 1893, Hoffman Music Co. This original version contained four stanzas and a refrain, and it appeared in a condensed form, with the last part of the refrain overlapping melodically with the last part of the stanzas.

The hymn was included in Hoffman’s first major collection for the newly minted Hope Publishing Co., Pentecostal Hymns (Chicago: Hope Publishing Co., 1894 | Fig. 2), which was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office in July of 1894. In this version, the chorus is written out in full, and it was dated 1894.

The hymn also appeared in Best Hymns (Chicago: Evangelical Publishing Co., 1894 | Fig. 3), which was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office in October of 1894. For this collection, Hoffman was the sole editor. This version has the condensed chorus, is dated 1893, and the engraving is nearly identical to that in Favorite Gospel Songs.

This hymn is also reported as appearing in the Christian Endeavor Hymnal (1894), published by Hope (not to be confused with Christian Endeavor Hymns, 1894, edited by Ira Sankey). The following year, the collection was rebranded as Christian Endeavor Echoes, apparently to avoid confusion with Sankey’s volume. “I must tell Jesus” was included in Songs of the Savior’s Love, which is sometimes erroneously dated 1892; it actually appeared in 1897; this should not be mistaken as the first printing of the hymn.

The tune name ORWIGSBURG, in recognition of Hoffman’s birthplace, was assigned by the editors of the Baptist Hymnal (1956).

II. Analysis

At its core, the hymn is a prayer from a soul in distress. In the chorus, the repeated high notes on the upper tonic convey the kind of exclamation Hoffman described in his experience. Music minister and scholar A. Royce Eckhardt, writing in relation to Hebrews 2:18 and 4:15, described this hymn in its pastoral context:

It is a great capability to be able to empathize with others—to stand in their place, to vicariously feel what they feel. That is a deeper identification than sympathy, which may be offered without truly feeling and internalizing the emotions of another. Only one who has experienced what other persons have experienced can fully empathize with them. There is such a one to whom the believer can turn. His name is Jesus. . . . Human friendships, as supportive and understanding as they may be, are subject to disappointment and failure. Only one person fully understands the human condition.[2]

George W. Sanville, who published gospel songs as part of the Rodeheaver Company, wrote, “It contrasts with other gospel songs in that it is entirely a great confession—the kind of confession that leads into and flows out of salvation.”[3]

Pastor and scholar Robert Cottrill was supportive of the hymn’s message, especially in relation to the error of failing to seek God’s guidance through prayer. Nonetheless, he noted a potential concern with the text:

The only quibble I have with Elisha Hoffman is his extravagant claim at the end of the second stanza: “If I but ask Him, He will deliver / Make of my troubles quickly an end.”

No, that is not always the case. Our wise heavenly Father is at work in our trials. He can accomplish things in them that allowing us a life of unbroken comfort and ease could not. What He will do, as we seek His help in prayer, is either deliver us from the difficult or painful circumstance, or give us the grace to endure it, and glorify Him in and through it. In the latter case, “my troubles” remain, but I can bring glory to God by proving the sufficiency of His grace (cf. II Cor. 12:7–10).[4]

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
10 June 2020

Footnotes:

1. Charles H. Gabriel, The Singers and Their Songs: Sketches of Living Gospel Hymn Writers (Chicago: Rodeheaver, 1916), p. 79: Archive.org

2. A. Royce Eckhardt, “I must tell Jesus,” The Worshiping Church: Worship Leaders’ Ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Hope, 1990), no. 621.

3. George W. Sanville, “I must tell Jesus,” Forty Gospel Hymn Stories (Winona Lake, IN: Rodeheaver Hall-Mack, 1943), p. 60.

4. Robert Cottrill, “I must tell Jesus,” Wordwise Hymns (2 Dec. 2011): https://wordwisehymns.com/2011/12/02/i-must-tell-jesus/

Additional Resources:

Homer A. Rodeheaver, “I must tell Jesus,” Hymnal Handbook for Standard Hymns and Gospel Songs (Chicago: Rodeheaver, 1931), p. 157.

Harry Eskew, “I must tell Jesus,” Handbook to the Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Convention Press, 1992), p. 154.

“I must tell Jesus,” Hymnary.org: https://hymnary.org/text/i_must_tell_jesus_all_of_my_trials