<P> Upon leaving his position with the Evangelical Association, Hoffman began his pastoral ministry . From 1880 until his retirement in 1922, Hoffman pastored several churches in Cleveland and Grafton, Ohio; Benton Harbor, Michigan; and Cabery, Illinois . His longest post was held at the Benton Harbor Presbyterian Church in Michigan where he served for 33 years . It was during these years in ministry that Hoffman composed the bulk of his hymns . There are over two thousand hymns composed by Hoffman in print . Among his most popular and widely recognized songs are: "What a Wonderful Saviour!" "Enough for Me," "Are You Washed in the Blood?" "No Other Friend Like Jesus," "I Must Tell Jesus," and "Is Your All on the Altar?" Hoffman also assisted in the compilation and editing process of over 50 different song books . Hoffman died on November 5, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois . </P> <P> In the vast majority of his compositions Hoffman is the author of both the words and music . In his composition, Hoffman sought to create songs for congregational worship . According to Hoffman, a hymn is "a lyric poem, reverently and devotionally conceived, which is designed to be sung and which expresses the worshipper's attitude toward God or God's purposes in human life . It should be simple and metrical in form, genuinely emotional, poetic and literary in style, spiritual in quality, and in its ideas so direct and so immediately apparent as to unify a congregation while singing it ." Operating under this definition of a hymn, most of Hoffman's compositions are metrically simple (3 / 4 or 4 / 4). As per the majority of hymns, Hoffman's are also very simple in form, usually a collection of 8 or 16 bar stanzas separated by the return of a central refrain . </P> <P> The typical musical and lyrical style in which Hoffman composed can be seen in one of his most popular hymns "What a Wonderful Savior!" The piece is in common time and in the key of D major . The metre of this hymn is 8.6. 8.6 or common metre . (The metre of a hymn refers to the syllables contained in each line of a stanza . Another of Hoffman's hymns, "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms," is in long meter, or 8.8. 8.8 .) As with many of Hoffman's hymns, the text of this hymn is fairly repetitive, however there are deep theological truths in the simple lyrics . </P> <Ol> <Li> Homaday, Clifford L. "Some German Contributions to American Hymnody ." Monatshefte für deutschen Unterricht 32, no . 3 (March 1940). JSTOR 30169655 </Li> <Li> McCutchan, Robert G. "American Church Music Composers of the Early Nineteenth Century ." Church History 2, no . 3 (September 1933). JSTOR 3159846 </Li> <Li> Wilson, Robert S. and Melvin R. Wilhoit . "Elisha Albright Hoffman ." Hymn: A Journal of Congregational Song 35, no . 1 (1984). (1) (accessed September 27, 2012). </Li> </Ol>

Who wrote are you washed in the blood