Bread of Heaven, On Thee We Feed

Top Media Text Author Text Info Notes Tune Timeline Arrangements Page Scans Instances

Bread of heaven, on Thee we feed

Author: Josiah Conder (1824)
Communion Songs
Published in 333 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Playable presentation: Lyrics only, lyrics + music
Audio files: MIDI, Recording

Song available on My.Hymnary

FlexScore
	Bread of Heaven, on Thee We Feed

Piano/Organ
	He Leadeth Me: Ten Hymn Arrangements for…

Choral
	BREAD OF HEAVEN

Representative Text

1 Bread of heaven, on thee we feed,
for thou art our food indeed.
Ever may our souls be fed
with this true and living Bread,
day by day with strength supplied
through the life of Christ who died.

2 Vine of heaven, thy love supplies
this blest cup of sacrifice.
'Tis thy wounds our healing give;
to thy cross we look and live.
Thou our life! O let us be
rooted, grafted, built on thee.

Source: Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #496

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

Author: Josiah Conder

Josiah Conder was born in London, in 1789. He became a publisher, and in 1814 became proprietor of "The Eclectic Review." Subsequently to 1824, he composed a series of descriptive works, called the "Modern Traveller," which appeared in thirty volumes. He also published several volumes of poems and hymns. He was the author of the first "Congregational Hymn Book" (1836). He died in 1855. --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A. 1872.… Go to person page >

^ top

Related Texts

First Line:	Bread of heaven, on Thee we feed
Title:	Bread of Heaven, On Thee We Feed
Author:	Josiah Conder (1824)
Meter:	7.7.7.7
Source:	Pratt's Collection
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain
Liturgical Use:	Communion Songs

^ top

Notes

Bread of Heaven, on Thee I [we] feed. J. Conder. [Holy Communion.] This hymn takes rank as the most popular and widely used of the author's productions. It appeared in his Star of the East, &c, 1824, p. 57, in the following form:—

”For the Eucharist.

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven . . . Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. ... I am the true vine."—John vi. 51-4, xv. l

"Bread of Heav'n!on Thee I feed,
For thy flesh is meat indeed.
Ever may my soul be fed
With this true and living bread;
Day by day with strength supplied,
Through the life of Him who died.

"Vine of Heav'n! thy blood supplies
This blest cup of sacrifice.
‘Tis thy wounds my healing give:
To thy Cross I look, and live.
Thou my life! oh, let me be
Rooted, grafted, built on Thee."

This text was repeated in Conder's Congregational Hymn Book, 1836, and his Hymns of Praise, &c, 1856, p. 86. It is in several Nonconformist hymnals, but sometimes, as in the Baptist Psalms and Hymns, 185S, No. 725, with "The blest" for "This blest cup," in stanza ii., line 2. In Pratt's Psalms & Hymns, 1829, No. 69. it was broken up into 3 stanzas of 4 lines, and given as "Bread of heaven, on Thee we feed"; and this was repealed in some later collections. The most popular and widely used form of the hymn is the following, which was given in the Cooke and Denton Church Hymnal, 1853, No. 202, as follows:—

"Bread of heaven, on Thee we feed,
For Thy Flesh is meat indeed;
Ever may our souls be fed
With this true and living Bread;
Day by day with strength supplied
Through the life of Him Who died.

"Vine of heaven! Thy Blood supplies
This blest cup of Sacrifice;
Lord, Thy Wounds our healing give;
To Thy Cross we look and live:
Jesu! may we ever be
Grafted, rooted, built in Thee. Amen."

Great popularity was given to this text by its adoption by Hymns Ancient & Modern in 1861, and subsequently by other important Church of England collections. In Thring's Collection, 1882, there is a slight return to the original. It will be noted that in the revised text there is no change of doctrine involved. Both in it, and in the original, the same truth is set forth; but the revised text is the more congregational and musical of the two. The American hymnals, in common with those of Great Britain, have adopted both texts, the revised being mainly found in the Protestant Episcopal collections. A Latin rendering of the Hymns Ancient & Modern text by the Rev. C. B. Pearson as: "Pasce nos, Divine Panis," was given in Biggs’s Annotated Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1867.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

^ top

Tune

BREAD OF HEAVEN (Maclagan)

HOLLEY

PLEYEL'S HYMN

All tunes published with 'Bread of Heaven, On Thee We Feed'^ top

Timeline

^ top

Arrangements

Store

Media

FlexScores
Additional Scores
Audio

You have access to this FlexScore.
Download:

Are parts of this score outside of your desired range? Try transposing this FlexScore.

General Settings

Stanza Selection

Voice Selection

Text size

Text size:

Music size

Music size:

Transpose (Half Steps)

Transpose (Half Steps):

Capo

Capo:

Contacting server...

This is a preview of your FlexScore.

The Cyber Hymnal #512

Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
XML score (XML)

^ top

Page Scans

View Page

Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal (2013), p.638

^ top

Instances

Instances (1 - 100 of 333)

Book of Hymns and Tunes, comprising the psalms and hymns for the worship of God, approved by the general assembly of 1866, arranged with appropriate tunes... by authority of the assembly of 1873 #375a

Pages

Exclude 308 pre-1979 instances

All instances ^ top

$2.99 Purchase the FlexScore for this hymn instance (licensed for a single user) $11.99 Purchase all of the FlexScore instruments/formats for this hymn instance (licensed for all instrumentalists in your church or organization) $39.99 Purchase a FlexScore subscription and get unlimited access to all public domain FlexScores for one year
	Questions? Check out the FAQ

User Links

User Links

Discover

Collections

Connect

Search

Collections

Discover

Bread of Heaven, On Thee We Feed

Contents