Mary Artemisia Lathbury: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Break Thou the Bread of Life

Mary Artemisia Lathbury

“Break Thou the Bread of Life” as printed in The Army and Navy Hymnal (1920).

Mary Artemisia Lathbury: Collected Lyrics Text 1 1920 · historical text
Public domainHymnSacred song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Army and Navy Hymnal, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

Break thou the bread of life, Dear lord to me,

As thou didst break the loaves Beside the sea;

Beyond the sacred page I seek thee, Lord;

My spirit pants for thee, O living Word!

Bless thou the truth, dear Lord, To me, to me,

As thou didst bless the bread by Galilee;

Then shall all bondage cease, All fetters fall;

And I shall find my peace, My All-in-All.

Thou art the Bread of Life, O Lord, to me;

Thy holy Word the truth That saveth me;

Give me to eat and live With thee above;

Teach me to love thy truth, For thou art love.

Amen

Copyright by J. H. Vincent. Used by permission

Credits

Written by Mary Artemisia Lathbury

Words by Mary Artemisia Lathbury. Historical text published in The Army and Navy Hymnal (1920); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Army and Navy Hymnal (1920), “Break Thou the Bread of Life”

The 1920 published edition is in the public domain in the United States (pre-1931 publication). Entries whose credited author died more than 70 years ago are also in the public domain in life-plus-70 jurisdictions; traditional and anonymous entries are public domain. Pages whose scan quality is below the proofread threshold are held for review.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

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Retrieved 2026-10-26. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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