Review of a sermon collection

This is from The Eclectic Review 14:78

Sermons printed from the MSS. of the late Rev. Benjamin Beddome, A.M. With a Brief Memoir of the Author. London: Ward and Co. 8vo. 467.

These sermons, sixty-seven in number, are by the author of a large number of some of the most beautiful hymns contained in our various selections of devotional poetry. They are evidently not what he preached, from the texts which are placed at their head, but rather the subject-matter on which he expatiated more at large. They are, however very beautiful, and eminently instructive. It cannot be said of this book, as of many modern publications, that it contains 'a rill of letter-press and a meadow of margin!'

It is a very honest volume, and that is no small praise. The memoir which is prefixed is short and interesting. Mr. Beddome's life was too retired and uniform to admit of much incident, or any striking events. But it was a very holy and useful life; and no intelligent and pious person can read it without interest and profit. It appropriately closes with the graphic sketch, by the late Rev. Robert Hall, from a preface by that master hand, to a volume of Mr. Beddome’s Hymns, from which we take the following sentences:—

‘Mr. Beddome was, on many accounts, an extraordinary person; his mind was cast in an original mould; his conceptions on every subject were eminently his own. Favoured with the advantages of a learned education, he continued to the last to cultivate an acquaintance with the best writers of antiquity. As a preacher, he was universally admired for the piety and unction of his sentiments, the felicity of his arrangement, the purity, force, and simplicity of his language, all which were recommended by a delivery perfectly natural and graceful.'

After such a testimony from such a quarter, what more can we say to recommend this volume!