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