Born: Ap­ril 21, 1856, near Med­ford, New Jer­sey.

Died: Sep­tem­ber 25, 1922, Nor­man, Ok­la­ho­ma.

Buried: Mt. Hol­ly, New Jer­sey.

Son of John­son and Ra­chel Ann Cline Oat­man, John­son at­tend­ed Her­bert’s Acad­e­my in Vin­cen­town, New Jer­sey, and the New Jer­sey Col­le­gi­ate In­sti­tute in Bor­den­town. He was or­dained a Meth­od­ist Epis­co­pal min­is­ter at age 19, but his pas­tor­al work was con­fined to lo­cal church­es, as he worked full time in the re­tail and in­sur­ance in­dus­tries. He wrote ly­rics for 5,000 Gos­pel songs.

Sources

Lyrics

  1. All the Way from Hea­ven
  2. At My Re­deem­er’s Feet
  3. Alone with God
  4. Be a Bless­ing
  5. Blood upon the Door, The
  6. Christ Je­sus Is King of Kings
  7. Come, Soul, and Find Thy Rest
  8. Come Up to Be Crowned
  9. Count Your Bless­ings
  10. Deeper Yet
  11. Everlasting Love
  12. Every Bridge Is Burned Be­hind Me
  13. Every Word I Be­lieve
  14. Fairer Than Day
  15. Father Is Wait­ing, The
  16. Fire Is Burn­ing, The
  17. God Has Opened All the Gates
  18. God Is Watch­ing o’er Me
  19. Good-Bye
  20. Gospel Train, The
  21. Hallelujah Side, The
  22. Hand in Hand with Je­sus
  23. Happy Up There
  24. He In­clud­ed Me
  25. Hear Us While We Pray
  26. Higher Ground
  27. Holy, Ho­ly, Is What the An­gels Sing
  28. Honey from the Rock
  29. How the Fire Fell
  30. I Know He’s Mine
  31. I Shall Know Him by the Nail Prints
  32. I Will Fol­low Thee
  33. I Will Trade the Old Cross for a Crown
  34. I’m Glad That Je­sus Came
  35. I’m Go­ing Home at Last
  36. I’m Home­sick for Hea­ven To­night
  37. I’ve Reached the Port of Peace
  38. Jesus Can Help You, and Will
  39. Jesus Ne­ver Leaves the Ship
  40. Jesus Took My Bur­den (© 1933)
  41. Jesus Wept
  42. Judgment Day, The
  43. Last Mile of the Way, The
  44. Lift Him Up
  45. Light on the Hill­tops
  46. Lord Knows Why, The
  47. Move Along
  48. My Gaze Is Fixed on Je­sus
  49. Naaman, Go!
  50. Nevermore
  51. No, Not One
  52. Only Once You Pass This Way
  53. Resting in the Arms of Je­sus
  54. Send a Wave of Salva­tion Today
  55. Shining for Je­sus
  56. Sweeter Than All
  57. Take Off the Old Coat
  58. Tell Mother I Am Com­ing
  59. Tell It Over Again
  60. Tell It Wher­ev­er You Go
  61. Valley of Elim, The
  62. We Are in to Win
  63. We’ll All Meet at Home
  64. What Is That to Thee?
  65. What Shall It Pro­fit?
  66. When He Opened Hea­ven’s Gate for Me
  67. When Our Lord Shall Come Again
  68. When Our Ships Come Sail­ing Home
  69. Worthy the Lamb
  70. Your Fa­ther’s Good Plea­sure