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Lydia Baxter

Take the Name of Jesus with You

Words: Lydia Odell Baxter (b. Sept. 8, 1809; d. June 22, 1874)
Music: William Howard Doane (b. Feb. 3, 1832; d. Dec. 23, 1915)

Note: The first line of this hymn is usually used as the title. But the older name for it (that I like), is Precious Name. The precise date of Mrs. Baxter’s birth seems uncertain. The year was 1809, and the month was September, but various sources give the day as the 2nd, 8th, or 9th.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

This beautiful hymn is one of my (many!) favourites. “Jesus” is actually quite a popular name for boys among Spanish-speaking people ( who pronounce it Hay-soos‘). And each child may well be precious to his family. But only one Jesus is precious to believers the world over, the Lord Jesus Christ. “To you who believe, He is precious,” says Peter (I Pet. 2:7)–meaning highly valued, One to be revered and honoured. And why is He so precious to us? First, because of what He is, in Himself. As God the Son, He is worthy of all reverence and worship. And then for what He has done for the saints, in saving us, and keeping us, and providing a glorious and eternal future for us.

Not all have honoured the name of the Lord of course. Pharaoh of old said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?…I do not know the Lord” (Exod. 2). And those who hated the Lord Jesus gathered at Calvary to mock Him, crying with a sneer, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe” (Mk. 15:31-32). Later, the followers of Christ in the early church were commanded “not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18). But, praise the Lord, they boldly continued to do so.

The name “Jesus” means, literally, Jehovah [is] salvation. Thus, He is God who is our salvation. Before His virgin birth, Joseph was told that Jesus would be “God with us” (Matt. 1:23), and that He was to be called Jesus because “He will save His people from their sins” (vs. 21). The name Jesus is used of Him about 940 times in the New Testament. He is also called “the Lord,” emphasizing His deity (e.g. Mk. 16:19; Lk. 7:13), and often the two names are used in combination; He is the Lord Jesus (e.g. Acts 7:59; 9:17; 8:16; 19:5, 17; Heb. 13:20). Another common multiple makes use of the term “Christ,” meaning Messiah. He is Jesus Christ (Matt. 10:36; 16:18), and 82 times the Lord Jesus Christ (e.g. II Jn. 1:3; Rev. 22:21).

The Scriptures teach that the names and titles of Christ are closely associated with who He is. His names represent His Person, His nature, His holy character, and His divine authority. So, when Paul (then called Saul) speaks of persecuting Christians, and doing “many things contrary to the name of Jesus” (Acts 26:9), he means things against His Person. And when Peter says, “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), he means no other Person. To “take the name of Jesus” with us, and commit ourselves to that name, as Lydia Baxter means it, is to fellowship with Him, to obey Him, and put our trust in Him.

For those who are discouraged or sorrowing, Jesus brings joy and comfort (1). And when we are faced with temptation, He can provide “a shield from every snare” (2). He is a compassionate Friend, and a thrilling subject of our praise (3). Finally, we have the prospect of eternal worship at His feet in the heavenly kingdom (4).

In the latter regard, I’ve often been struck by a particular phrase in the refrain. The Lord Jesus is our “hope of earth and joy of heav’n.” Meditate on that for a while. Hope may be defined as: the joyful certainty of future blessing. Christians have a living relationship with the “God of hope” (Rom. 15:13), and with “the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope” (I Tim. 1:1). He is within us “the hope of glory” to come (Col. 1:27), and His return is our “blessed hope (Tit. 2:13). He is our hope now, and we look forward to rejoicing in His presence very soon (I Pet. 4:13; Jude 1:24; Rev. 19:7).

Questions:

  1. All too many individuals use the “precious name” of Jesus as a swear word. What does it tell us about their attitude toward Christ? What does it tell us about them personally?
  2. What will help us to value the name of Jesus more than we do now?

Links:

Today in 1809 – Lydia Baxter Born

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Lydia Odell Baxter and her sister came to Christ with the help of Baptist missionary Eben Tucker. Following their conversion, the two helped found a local church. After Lydia married, she moved to New York City. She was an invalid, and bedridden, most of her adult life, but that didn’t stop her active mind from studying the Word of God and writing. In 1855, she published Gems by the Wayside–a book of devotional poems, and she authored a number of hymns.

In addition, Baxter often hosted meetings of Christian leaders at her home, and was a great blessing to those who gathered there. The one hymn of Lydia Baxter’s that remains in common use is Precious Name (otherwise known as Take the Name of Jesus with You). Written just four years before her death, this hymn identifies the source of her abounding joy. Note particularly the phrase in the refrain that describes Christ as the “hope of earth and joy of heaven.” (Think about it! In the words of a pastoral theology professor I had once, “That’ll preach!”)

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, O how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of heav’n.
Precious name, O how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of heav’n.

At the name of Jesus bowing,
Falling prostrate at His feet,
King of kings in heav’n we’ll crown Him,
When our journey is complete.

(2) Today in 1849 – Lucy Meyer Born

Lucy Jane Rider Meyer was a lifelong educator. She was a high school teacher in Vermont, and taught at a school for freed slaves in North Carolina. Later she served as principal of a Methodist academy, and taught chemistry in a college in Illinois. After marrying Josiah Meyer, a Methodist Episcopal pastor, the two of them opened the Chicago Training School for City and Home Missions. She also founded a periodical, later named the Deaconess Advocate, and formed the Methodist Deaconess Association.

Mrs. Meyer wrote a number of hymns, and two of them are worthy of mention here: He Was Not Willing, and Ho, Everyone That Is Thirsty. Each of the four stanzas of the first song is a stinging rebuke of our complacency and inaction in Christ’s service. If your hymn book does not include it, it is worth tracking down and putting to use. (See the Cyber Hymnal.)

“He was not willing that any should perish”;
Jesus enthroned in the glory above,
Saw our poor fallen world, pitied our sorrows,
Poured out His life for us, wonderful love!
Perishing, perishing! Thronging our pathway,
Hearts break with burdens too heavy to bear:
Jesus would save, but there’s no one to tell them,
No one to lift them from sin and despair.

“He was not willing that any should perish”;
Am I His follower, and can I live
Longer at ease with a soul going downward,
Lost for the lack of the help I might give!
Perishing, perishing! Thou wast not willing;
Master, forgive, and inspire us anew;
Banish our worldliness, help us to ever
Live with eternity’s values in view.

In Ho, Every One That Is Thirsty, Lucy Meyer deals with the theme of soul-winning again, basing her thoughts on Isa. 55:1 and 44:3:

Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price….For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.

Ho! every one that is thirsty in spirit,
Ho! every one that is weary and sad;
Come to the fountain, there’s fullness in Jesus,
All that you’re longing for: come and be glad!

“I will pour water on him that is thirsty,
I will pour floods upon the dry ground;
Open your hearts for the gifts I am bringing;
While ye are seeking Me, I will be found.”

 

Storm

(3) Today in 1921 – Mosie Lister Born

Thomas Mosie Lister has been involved in gospel music for over half a century. In his early years he travelled with a quartet. But as he became more in demand as a songwriter, he stopped travelling to devote his time to creating music for others to sing. He was inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 1976, and the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 1997.

In 1958 Lister was asked to write a song for legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, and he did so (though there is no evidence she ever sang it). He thought about the struggles of her people with the storms of segregation and rampant racism, and of their need to look to the Lord in faith. With these thoughts in mind he created the inspiring ‘Til the Storm Passes By. It is a song that can encourage any of us, as believers, no matter what kind of storms we are facing in our lives.

In the dark of the midnight
Have I oft hid my face,
While the storm howls above me,
And there’s no hiding place.
‘Mid the crash of the thunder,
Precious Lord, hear my cry,
Keep me safe ‘til the storm passes by.

Here is Southern Gospel singer, the late Vestal Goodman (1929-2003). With her powerful voice, she originally hoped to train for an operatic career, but the Lord turned her in the direction of a sacred music ministry instead. As a soloist, she became known as the Queen of Gospel Music, but Vestal also sang as a member of the Happy Goodmans. Here she is, with a stirring rendition of the above song.

Suffering Hymn Writers

It is astonishing to discover how many authors of our hymns had some disability, or wrote out of some dark experience in their lives. For example:

  • Fanny Crosby (To God Be the Glory, All the Way My Saviour Leads Me) was blind. So was John Milton (Let Us With a Gladsome Mind), and George Matheson (O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go), and William Walford (Sweet Hour of Prayer), as was Lelia Morris, later in life (What If It Were Today? Nearer, Still Nearer).
  • Annie Johnson Flint (He Giveth More Grace, God Hath Not Promised) was confined to her room with crippling arthritis most of her life. So was Lydia Baxter (Take the Name of Jesus with You).
  • Charlotte Elliot was a bedridden invalid when she wrote the great invitation hymn, “Just As I Am.” Catherine Hankey (I Love to Tell the Story, Tell Me the Old, Old Story) wrote her hymns while confined to bed to recover from a serious illness. Eliza Hewitt (More About Jesus, When We All Get to Heaven) developed a severe spinal condition and was confined to bed for a long period.
  • Frances Ridley Havergal (Take My Life and Let It Be, Who Is on the Lord’s Side?) was in poor health all her life, and she died at the age of 43. Thomas Chisholm (Great Is Thy Faithfulness) served as a pastor for a short time, but frail health forced him to resign.
  • Major Daniel Whittle (Showers of Blessing, Have You Any Room for Jesus?) was a Civil War amputee.
  • William Cowper [pronounced Cooper] (God Moves in a Mysterious Way, There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood) suffered from bouts of suicidal depression. Joseph Scriven (What a Friend We Have in Jesus) seems to have suffered from depression as well.
  • Both George Young (God Leads Us Along) and Horatio Spafford (It Is Well) wrote songs as a declaration of faith after a time of great family tragedy.
  • Luther Bridgers wrote “He Keeps Me Singing” after the death of his wife and children in a fire. Thomas Dorsey wrote “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” after his wife died giving birth to a son (who also died).

These are just a few examples of many. Even when there was not a prolonged disability, many created songs in periods of deep distress, or out of crisis circumstances. Because of such things, the poetry of their hymns grew out of the intense reality of their experience with God. No dry, dusty religiosity here. We sense in their message the ring of reality and the richness of their faith.

Perhaps we wonder how or why such beauty and blessing grows from times of suffering. There are could be many reasons. One is that those limited in some way–perhaps even bedridden–by a disability or adversity found time to explore new avenues of creativity and service for Christ. (One pastor never knew he could write hymns until he lost his voice and could no longer preach!)

Also, with their focus narrowed, their attention concentrated, they sometimes discovered deeper insights into the ways of God. They learned what it means to truly depend on God. Then, as the Lord blessed them, and blessed others through them in unique ways, they proved with the Apostle Paul what the Lord means when He says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (II Cor. 12:9).

Gold Out Of The Furnace: Suffering Saints Behind Our Hymns

It is astonishing to discover how many authors of our hymns were handicapped in some way. Here is a sampling, listing a few of the hymns they have given us.

God Moves in a Mysterious Way

Annie Johnson Flint (He Giveth More Grace, God Hath Not Promised) was confined to her room with crippling arthritis most of her life. So was Lydia Baxter (Take the Name of Jesus with You). Fanny Crosby (To God Be the Glory, All the Way My Saviour Leads Me) was blind. So was John Milton (Let Us With a Gladsome Mind), and George Matheson (O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go), and William Walford (Sweet Hour of Prayer), and, later in life, Lelia Morris (What If It Were Today? Nearer, Still Nearer).

Charlotte Elliot was a bedridden invalid when she wrote the great invitation hymn, “Just As I Am.” Catherine Hankey (I Love to Tell the Story, Tell Me the Old, Old Story) wrote her hymns while confined to bed to recover from a serious illness. Frances Ridley Havergal (Take My Life and Let It Be, Who Is on the Lord’s Side?) was in poor health all her life, and she died at the age of 43. Eliza Hewitt (More About Jesus, When We All Get to Heaven) developed a severe spinal condition and was confined to bed.

Thomas Chisholm (Great Is Thy Faithfulness) served as a pastor for a short time, but frail health forced him to resign. Major Daniel Whittle (Showers of Blessing, Have You Any Room for Jesus?) was a Civil War amputee. William Cowper [pronounced Cooper] (God Moves in a Mysterious Way, There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood) suffered from bouts of suicidal depression. Joseph Scriven (What a Friend We Have in Jesus) seems to have suffered from depression as well.

These are just a few examples. And even when there was not a prolonged disability, many created songs in periods of deep distress, or out of crisis circumstances. Whatever the case, we sense in their message the ring of reality and the richness of their faith.

Perhaps we wonder how or why such beauty and blessing grows from times of suffering. There are many reasons. One is that those limited in some way–perhaps even bedridden–by handicaps or adversity found time to explore new avenues of creativity and service for Christ. (One pastor never knew he could write hymns until he lost his voice and could no longer preach!)

Also, with their focus narrowed, their attention concentrated, they sometimes discovered deeper insights into the ways of God. They learned what it means to truly depend on God. Then, as the Lord blessed them, and blessed others through them in unique ways, they proved with the Apostle Paul what the Lord means when He says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (II Cor. 12:9).