And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. (Rev. 14:3)
He was 39 years old, but already was looking forward to his ultimate destiny, with relish. How many people could have said that at mid-life? Jesse Randall Baxter had just entered upon a brand new business venture in 1926, and would live a very interesting and successful life beyond the time when he wrote “The New Song” that same year. So, why would someone like him be so eager to die? After all, ‘why not grab all you can before you depart?’, someone might have asked him. “Pap” Baxter must have really believed what he read about the afterlife, and imagined that the songs he sang and wrote were a mere warmup for something much bigger than anything he’d seen or heard.
J.R. Baxter may not be immediately familiar to you, unless you associate the name ‘Stamps’ with his. The Stamps-Baxter Music Company became one of the most recognizable names in Gospel music in 20th Century America. Baxter’s and his colleague Virgil O. Stamps’ partnership by 1926 promoted hymns that live on into the 21st Century. Baxter was also involved in a music school and production of a shape-note hymnal. Besides all of this, Baxter apparently wrote a large number of hymns himself (see last site listed below). So, one element of his life stands out clearly. Pap Baxter loved music, and especially music to God. No doubt that’s why he was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1997. But, reading the text of the song he composed in 1926, you sense that J.R. Baxter cared little about fame. His words in the three verses of “The New Song” show instead what prize he was aiming to acquire. ‘Thrill’ is in the first words of his song, underscoring how Baxter felt about this part of his life. He makes clear that he had experienced something special, perhaps even magical or synergistic, with a church that loved to sing. But, his verse two words show he was also a realist, with his mind’s eye sensing a weaker voice in his future. And, as he reminds us in verse three, songs and their mirth are really only an interlude during the rest of one’s life, with its troubles and intrusions – even in Jesus’ life. All the more reason to aim high, Baxter says.
You see, what we can only practice here will never end in that faraway place. No tired worn-out voicebox, no stale, familiar, old tune. And, it won’t matter that I’ve never seen before this song I’ll learn up there. With a glorified existence - -body, voice, and surroundings – I’ll be able to sing it and experience it like I never could anything here on terra firma. Pap Baxter worked his whole life to make others love God through music, to experience just a pale version of heaven. Even at 39, he must have read Revelation, and wondered what it would be like to hear something unimaginable, 144,000 people singing together. The closest thing we have here on earth is a stadium full of sports nuts. I wonder what it would be like if they were all God-nuts? Can’t wait to see and hear that!
Biographic information on the composer found in the following:
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