A.B. Simpson and Hymn Writing

A.W. Tozer:

“Simpson’s songs were more than songs; they were slogans. Their value to the Society (the Christian & Missionary Alliance) lay in their power to compress into a single sentence a cluster of dynamic ideas and set those ideas singing in the hearts of believing men. Simpson – consciously or unconsciously, I am not sure which – was a master sloganeer, the greatest ever called to the service of the Church. He could take a Bible phrase, or a phrase adapted from the Bible, shape it into what he loved to call a “watchword,” and set multitudes to singing it. In a few of these musical slogans you can read the doctrines and policy of The Christian and Missionary Alliance: Jesus Only; The Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever; Himself; Christ in Me; The Fullness of Jesus; I Will Say Yes to Jesus; I Take, He Undertakes; Nothing is Too Hard For Jesus; Launch Out; Go and Tell Them; To the Regions Beyond; Jesus Giveth Us the Victory; I Am Living in the Glory; Even as He. There in concentration you will find the genius of the man and his movement.”

Copied from page 120 of Wingspread, which is Tozer’s biography of Simpson.

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