Lydia Baxter's Hymns Invited People to the Living Christ
What was the secret source of Baxter's happiness?
MANY PEOPLE have cause to bless the Lord for the sixty-five years Lydia Baxter spent on earth. She was born in Petersburg, New York in September 1809. When she was a child, Rev. Eber Tucker, a Baptist home missionary, led her and her sister to Christ. There was no Baptist church in Petersburg, but the two girls became the catalyst for the formation of one. Baxter taught Sunday School there. Sparkling and vivacious, known for witty conversation, she caught the eye of Colonel John Baxter who asked for her hand in marriage. Soon her influence won him to Christ.
The pair moved to New York City where they spent the rest of their lives. Their home was a gathering place for evangelists, preachers, and other Christian workers who came for advice and encouragement. After 1844, Baxter became ill and was often bedridden. But visitors remarked that they still received more encouragement from her than they were able to give. When asked the secret of her cheery disposition, she replied, “I have a special armor. I have the name of Jesus.”
To fill her hours in bed, Baxter became skilled at making artificial birds and flowers. She also wrote hymns. Today she is remembered principally for “Take the Name of Jesus with You.” But another of her hymns drew many people to Christ when sung by Ira Sankey in revival services in Scotland during 1873.
There is a gate that stands ajar,
And through its portal gleaming
A radiance from the Cross afar,
The Savior’s love revealing.
Oh depth of mercy! Can it be
That gate was left ajar for me?
Maggie Lindsay of Aberdeen, Scotland was so moved by the thought of that gate ajar that she gave her life to Christ. Traveling home from Edinburgh a few days later she was involved in a train wreck. Rescuers took her, suffering from internal injuries, to a nearby cottage, her bloodstained hymnbook open at Baxter’s song. While still able to speak, she repeated again and again, “For me, for me.” According to Sankey, Maggie’s story touched hearts and many became believers.
In 1855 Baxter published a number of her devotional poems under the title Gems by the Wayside. “Take the Name of Jesus with You” was not in that collection; it was written fourteen years later, a few years before her death on this day, 22 June 1874. Many have sung it since:
Take the name of Jesus with you,
Child of sorrow and of woe;
It will joy and comfort give you,
Take it then where’er you go.
Precious name! Oh, how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of heav’n.
—Dan Graves
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For more on the use of hymns, watch A History of Christian Worship: Part 4, The Music at RedeemTV
(A History of Christian Worship Part 4: The Music can be purchased at Vision Video)
And read Christian History #31, Golden age of hymns
