The Cyber Hymnal ‎#7011

7011. The True Bread

1 True bread of life, in pitying mercy giv’n,
Long famished souls to strengthen and to feed;
Christ Jesus, Son of God, true bread of Heav’n,
Thy flesh is meat, Thy blood is drink indeed.

2 I cannot famish, though this earth should fail,
Tho’ life through all its fields should pine and die;
Though the sweet verdure should forsake each vale,
And every stream of every land run dry.

3 True tree of life! Of Thee I eat and live,
Who eateth of Thy fruit shall never die;
’Tis Thine the everlasting health to give,
The youth and bloom of immortality.

4 Feeding on Thee, all weakness turns to power,
This sickly soul revives, like earth in spring;
Strength floweth on, and in each buoyant hour,
This being seems all energy, all wing.

5 Jesus, our dying, buried, risen head,
Thy Church’s life and Lord, Immanuel!
At Thy dear cross we find th’eternal bread,
And in Thy empty tomb the living well.

Text Information

• First Line: True bread of life, in pitying mercy giv’n
• Title: The True Bread
• Author: Horatius Bonar
• Meter: 10.10.10.10
• Language: English
• Source: Hymns of Faith and Hope 2nd series (London, James Nisbet, 1861)
• Copyright: Public Domain

Tune Information

• Name: ELLERS
• Composer: Edward John Hopkins (1869)
• Meter: 10.10.10.10
• Key: G Major or modal
• Copyright: Public Domain