A min­is­ter’s son, Hoffman at­tend­ed Un­ion Sem­in­ary in New Ber­lin, Penn­syl­van­ia, and was or­dained in 1868. Af­ter­ward, he worked with the Evan­gel­ic­al As­so­ci­a­tion’s pub­lish­ing arm in Cleve­land, Ohio for 11 years. He pas­tored in Cleve­land and Graft­on, Ohio, in the 1880s; at the First Presby­ter­i­an Church in Ben­ton Har­bor, Mich­i­gan, around the turn of the cen­tu­ry; and in Ca­bery, Ill­i­nois (1911-1922). In his life­time, he wrote over 2,000 Gos­pel songs. The 50 song books he edit­ed in­clude:

• The Evergreen, 1873
• Spiritual Songs for Gos­pel Meet­ings and the Sun­day School, 1878
• Pentecostal Hymns No. 1 (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Hope Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1894)

Sources

Hymns

1. Are You Washed in the Blood?
2. Down at the Cross
3. Down Low at My Redeemer’s Feet
4. Draw Me Closer, Lord, to Thee
5. Enough for Me
6. Give Him the Glory
7. Hallowed Hour of Prayer
8. I Must Tell Jesus
9. Is It Not Wonderful?
10. Is Thy Heart Right with God?
11. Is Your All on the Altar?
12. It Is Mine
13. Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
14. Lord I Am Fondly, Earnestly Longing
15. Lord Is Coming By and By, The
16. No Other Friend Like Jesus
17. Over the Rolling Sea
18. Power for Service
19. Sing of Jesus
20. Speed the Light
21. What a Wonderful Savior!
22. Where Will You Spend Eternity?
23. Would You Know Why I Love Jesus?