The son of an Evangelical minister, Hoffman grew up singing sacred hymns both in church and in the home with his parents.

[2] After completing high school, Hoffman furthered his education at Union Seminary in New Berlin, Pennsylvania, and was subsequently ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1873.

[2] Following his seminary education, Hoffman began work with the publishing branch of the Evangelical Association in Cleveland, Ohio.

[5] During the course of his life, Hoffman composed over 2,000 hymns, and edited over 50 song books, including: The Evergreen, 1873; Spiritual Songs for Gospel Meetings and the Sunday School, 1878; Temperance Jewels (Boston, Massachusetts: Oliver Ditson & Company, 1879); Bells of Victory (Boston, Massachusetts: Oliver Ditson & Company, 1888); Pentecostal Hymns No.

[2] His father worked as a minister in the Evangelical Association for over 60 years, which likely influenced Hoffman's decision to enter the ministry.

[2] After receiving his degree from Union, Hoffman spent eleven years working with the Evangelical Association's publishing house in Cleveland, Ohio.

From 1880 until his retirement in 1922, Hoffman pastored several churches in Cleveland and Grafton, Ohio; Benton Harbor, Michigan; and Cabery, Illinois.

[2] In 1906, his daughter Florence married Barratt O'Hara who eventually served the state of Illinois as Lieutenant Governor (1913-1917) and a Democratic U.S.

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.

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.