Ackley showed mu­sic­al tal­ent ear­ly, learn­ing the me­lo­de­on, pi­ano, cor­o­net, clar­i­net and pic­co­lo as a boy. Af­ter mov­ing to New York Ci­ty in 1888, he be­gan play­ing the or­gan in sev­er­al church­es. In 1907, he joined the Billy Sun­day-Homer Rodeheaver evan­gel­ism team as sec­re­tary-pi­an­ist, and tra­veled with them for eight years. As a com­pos­er and ed­i­tor with the Ro­de­heav­er Com­pa­ny, he wrote over 3,000 Gos­pel tunes. His works in­clude:

• Best Tem­per­ance Songs (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: The Glad Tid­ings Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1913) (mu­sic ed­it­or)

Sources

Music

1. Behold, He Cometh
2. Blessèd News
3. By and By
4. Coming Home
5. Hark! I Hear My Name
6. Have You Prayed It Through?
7. He Rose Triumphantly (© 1944)
8. He Will Not Let Me Fall
9. How You Will Love Him!
10. I Am Coming Home
11. I Love Jesus
12. I Shall Dwell Forever There
13. I Shall See the King
14. I Walk with the King
15. I Want Jesus (© 1933)
16. If Thou Shalt Confess
17. I Would Be Like Jesus
18. If Your Heart Keeps Right
19. In the Service of the King
20. Love Opened Wide the Door
21. Meet Your Troubles with a Smile (© 1933)
22. More Than These
23. Once My Way Was Dark and Dreary
24. Pardoning Grace
25. Promise
26. Repent! ’Tis the Voice of Jesus
27. Room for You
28. Satisfied
29. Shout and Sing
30. Since the Fullness of His Love Came In
31. Somebody Else Needs a Blessing
32. Somebody Knows
33. Speak to Me Only of Jesus
34. Sunrise
35. There Is Joy in Serving Jesus (1931)
36. There’s a Rainbow Shining Somewhere (© 1939)
37. There Will I Follow Thee
38. This My Plea
39. What Can I Ask Beside?
40. Where the Cross Is Leading
41. Who Will Open Mercy’s Door?