I Must Tell Jesus

1 Peter 5:7 casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

1. I must tell Jesus all of my trials;
I cannot bear these burdens alone;
In my distress he kindly will help me;
He ever loves and cares for his own.

2. I must tell Jesus all of my troubles;
He is a kind, compassionate Friend,
If I but ask him, he will deliver,
Make of my troubles quickly an end.

3. Tempted and tried I need a great Savior,
One who can help my burdens to bear;
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus;
He all my cares and sorrows will share.

4. O how the world to evil allures me!
O how my heart is tempted to sin!
I must tell Jesus, and he will help me
Over the world the vict’ry to win.

Chorus:
I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!
I cannot bear my burdens alone;
I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.

I Must Tell Jesus was written in 1893, and published in 1894. The author told this story about the song to Charles Gabriel:

“While I was a pastor at Lebanon, Pennsylvania, 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!’”

The pastor and songwriter, Elisha Albright Hoffman, left that home with those words echoing in his mind. When he returned home, Hoffman wrote the words of this hymn and composed the tune, now referred to as Orwigsburg. This name was apparently first given to the tune by the Hymnal Committee for the Baptist Hymnal. Orwigsburg is the town of his birthplace in Pennsylvania. I Must Tell Jesus was first published in Pentecostal Hymns: a Winnowed Collection for Evangelistic Services, Young People’s Societies and Sunday-Schools (Chicago, IL: Hope Publishing Company, 1894; Henry Date, E. A. Hoffman, W. A. Ogden, J. H. Tenney, editors).

Elisha Albright Hoffman was born May 7, 1839 in Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, the son of Francis A. Hoffman and Rebecca A. Wagner. His father was a minister in the Evangelical Association for over 60 years. Jacob Albright, a German-speaking Christian of Pennsylvania, founded the Evangelical Association in 1800/1816. Elisha worked with the Evangelical Association’s publishing house in Cleveland, Ohio before surrendering his life to preaching the gospel. He, however, cast his lot with the Presbyterians. Among his pastorates, the longest was that of the Benton Harbor Presbyterian Church in Michigan. He served as pastor there for 33 years.

Elisha A. Hoffman died in Chicago, Illinois, November 25, 1929 at age 90. He is buried at the Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Elisha Hoffman first married Susan M. Orwig. After her death in 1876, he married Emma Sayres Smith.

Hoffman wrote many well-known songs, whose titles are readily recognizable:

• Are You Washed in the Blood?
• Down at the Cross/Glory to His Name
• Enough For Me
• Is Thy Heart Right with God?
• Is Your All on the Altar?
• Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (words)

Hoffman wrote over 2,000 gospel songs, and co-edited several song books. In his book Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers, Jacob Henry Hall wrote of Hoffman, “Through his songs he preaches to many thousand who never hear his voice” (p. 165).