Letter to Andrew Fuller 1793

In October, 1793 Beddome wrote to Andrew Fuller. The letter is in the Angus Library. it is quoted in the work and remains of Fuller. He writes

Revd: and dear Sir

The increasing Infirmities of old age being in my 76th: or 77th Year together with some unaccountable and severe Trials I have lately met with have occasion’d such a Depression of Spirits that a Visit from my Christian Friends which us’d to exhilarate will give me little Pleasure as I am persuaded I can afford them none - I make shift being carried in a Sedan to occupy the Pulpit one part of the day & generally speaking feel the least Pain there. On the other part of the Day a Sermon is read and Time spent in Prayer.

I fear least your propos’d Collection would fall greatly short of your Expectation partly because We are behind hand thro’ some unavoidable Expenses partly in that our Auditory lying wide You would have but about half a Congregation. Lastly, because We have few very few open-hearted Persons amongst us - It would perhaps answer much better if put of (sic) to some Sabbath in the Summer When Notice might be previously giv’n - especially as settling Matters with respect to our own Finances is intended at Christmas and this a previous Collection would postpone if not absolutely prevent.

To conclude for I begin to be very much [afraid] I think your Scheme considering the Paucity of well qualified Ministers hath a very unfavourable Aspect with respect to destitute Churches at home, where Charity ought to begin. I had the Pleasure once to see and hear Mr. Carey. It struck me that he was the most suitable Person in the Kingdom, at least who I knew, to supply my Place & make up my great Deficiencees when either disabled or remov’d. A different Plan is form’d and pursued and I fear that the great and good Man tho influenced by the most excellent Motives will meet with a Disappointment. However, God hath his Ends and whoever is disappointed he will not, he cannot be so. My unbelieving Heart is ready to suggest with the Jews of old that the time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. I have said all that my present State of Body and Mind will permit & therefore with sincere Respects to Mrs. Wallis if living & intreating a particular Remembrance in your Prayers I subscribe.

Your affectionate but much afflicted Brother Benj: Beddome

Bourton 10: 2: 1793

Something about the Beddome Library

In an autobiography here Pope A Duncan says (writing in the seventies)

 

One of the very fascinating things that occurred during the summer I was at Regents Park [1952?] was that the College received the Library of Benjamin Beddome who had been the pastor of the Baptist Church at Burton-on-the-Water in the seventeenth-century. This remarkable man had been a hymn writer and a very highly educated and intelligent individual. So much so that he ran a kind of seminary for young preachers out of his home in Burton-on-the-Water. In the process he collected hundreds of books and pamphlets of the Puritans and Separatists. After his death, his library lay in the attic of one of the members of his church and his succeeding family until Ernest Payne [tutor 1940-1951] found it over two hundred years later and managed to get it put on permanent loan at Regents Park College. Dr Ernest Payne had been principal of Regents Park College [?] and was at the time the executive officer of the British Baptist Union in London. Payne continued to take an active interest in Regents Park and in scholarship. His rescue of this library was certainly important. The library had never been cataloged nor really had it been closely examined when I was given a chance to work in it. I went through most of it fairly carefully in terms of seeing what was there. I found it to be a remarkable collection that had several first editions, some of which were not otherwise known to exist. Again, I wrote this up and planned to publish it and never got around to it before I moved into administration. When Margaret and I visited in Oxford in 1961, approximately nine years later, I found the library of Benjamin Beddome in the same room apparently having been untouched in all of those years. I do not know what has happened to it, but it is a gold mine waiting to be discovered if it has not been so up to this time. More than likely it has, since a splendid church historian, Barry White, has been a recent principal of Regents Park College [principal 1972-1989, not aware he or his successors have been able to do much - Paul Stuart Fiddes 1989-2007 and Robert Ellis the current principal].

A manuscript book by Richard Hall

It seems that Richard Hall wanted to add to his first book with more of the same. The Angus Library has a ms book of quotations, some from the 1771 book, some not. A note dated 1794 reveals that Hall had a sequel in mind that does not appear to have been published.

Letter from Beddome to Hall

In the archive at the Angus Library there is a letter from Beddome, dated February 18th, to ‘Richard Hall, hosier, of Red Lion Street, Southwark’. Written on a Saturday afternoon, this friendly letter asks Hall to purchase stock to the value of £100 and also mentions Mr Snooke. It has the greeting ‘to my good friend Mrs Hall’ and contains a hymn for her ‘By night, by day, at home, abroad’. Presumably Beddome had just completed it for singing the next day. The hymn is Hymn 498 in the posthumous hymnal.

It begins "I think my Account makes you Debtor ...". After the business part he writes

It being Saturday afternoon and my Head indisposd for thinking You will excuse my enlarging but I will send a few lines to my good friend Mrs Hall which I made at least the greatest part one Night after I was a bed not upon any particular Text but as expressive I hope of the Language of my own soul."

Six stanzas follow.

He ends "Thus I have almost filld up my Paper but cannot conclude without wishing You and your dear Spouse Soul prosperity & all Manner of spiritual Blessings Light in Darkness Peace in Trouble and mush of Heav'n upon Earth."

He then adds his wife's greetings to his own and concludes.

A Cheare for Beddome

Michael Haykin blogged this some time ago here and I missed it.

Benjamin Beddome ... had an excellent library, which contained numerous Puritan works, to whom he was deeply indebted. A good portion of that library is housed today as the “Beddome Collection” in the Archives of the Angus Library at Regent’s Park College, the University of Oxford. That indebtedness can be seen in the occasional comments he made in these precious volumes.

In his copy of Abraham Cheare’s Words in Season (London, 1668) [Cheare was a Baptist minister in Plymouth] — for instance, Beddome noted of Cheare’s work:

“Many excellent Things in it especially in 2 first Discourses. The Author seems to have a great Depth & Reach of Understanding—& very pertinent Manner of applying Scriptures.”

Many of the Baptist works of the 17th century, like this one by Cheare, were never reprinted. And yet it is clear that they continued to influence divines in the 18th century.

Sources - what's where

I have now been able to visit both the Angus Library, Oxford, and the Bristol Baptist College Library, where most of the primary source materials for Beddome are housed. Both have printed copies of his catechism.

The main things the Angus Library has are

1. Beddome's printed sermons in several volumes

2. The relevant Bourton on the Water Baptist Church books

3. A copy of Beddome's will (and perhaps the will itself)

4. A letter from Beddome to Richard Hall

5. Beddome's Library of 600 or more volumes

6. Manuscript hymns

7. Notes to an unpublished sermon

8. Memorabilia belonging to and compiled by grandson Samuel Beddome in an informative notebook

9. Letters by Beddome (?)

10. A copy of his son Benjamin's thesis in Latin

11. Minutes of the Midland Association for the appropriate period

 

In Bristol the main things are

1. A letter from Beddome's parents when he was studying in London

2. Three volumes of manuscript hymns plus some others loose

3. Three books of lecture notes donated to the library by him in 1794

4. A family tree

Bristol also has two letters to John Beddome and Bernard Foskett and what looks to be a fascinating 1755-1790 diary by Mary Jackson nee Ludlow (1738-1807) a member of John Beddome's congregation in Bristol.

A copy of Brooks' history of the Bourton Church can be found in the Dr Williams Library here in London. This is also now available online through Google Books.

At the Gloucestershire Record Office transcripts of four diaries of William Snooke can be found with several references to Beddome.
There are also some few letters by Beddome in the National Library of Wales Mann collection.

The Angus Library

I made a long promised trip to Oxford to check out the Beddome archive recently. This is in the Angus Library of Regents Park College.
The current librarian (Rev Emma Walsh) is new to the job so, understandably, isn't yet as knowledgeable as the previous librarian (Mrs Mills) but she was very helpful indeed. There is something time transcendent about a good library. What a joy!
I had no time for the Bourton church minute books but consulted his will, a letter he wrote, a manuscript notebook compiled by his grandson (?) and one or two other things. I noticed again that there are around 30 or 40 of his hymns written in his own hand on scrap paper in a bundle and a set of notebooks (in another hand) containing hymns he wrote with texts and dates, which I must consult further some time (there are also notes to an unprinted [?] sermon).
I also consulted the volumes containing all 225 printed Beddome sermons (several of which I do not have access to at present) and wrote down the texts. I also looked through the catalogue of his library, which is also housed in the Library. He had around 600 volumes, mostly in English but with some in Latin (and at least one in German). Puritan authors predominate - Arrowsmith, Owen, Goodwin, Sibbes, etc. I also noted polemical publications (from both sides) connected with the baptism debate and commentaries by Calvin. He had two works by Richard Bernard who I am also interested in so I took out Beddome's copy of Bernard on conscience - Christian see to thy conscience. It is an original 1631 edition. Beddome has added his name in two places near the front. These words also appear which I am unable to attach a meaning to as yet "perlect minse Junie 1776" [It simply means having read in the month of June 1776"]. Beddome would have been 59 in this year. Anyway with nearly 20 pages of notes I've got plenty to keep the site going for a little while. Watch this space!