Besides the eight volumes of Beddome sermons published under the title
Short discourses adapted to village worship or the devotions of the family a further large volume was later published with a memoir and 67 sermons printed from the manuscripts. These contain several references to other writers, as follows.
Sermon 17 Revelation 17:14
Thomas Goodwin (1600-1680)
Wicked men may give their assent to this or the other evangelical doctrine, and have some confused notions about the work of the Spirit upon the heart of a Christian; but having no spiritual perception of these things, they are ever fluctuating and wavering, and will sooner renounce the truth than suffer for their adherence to it: nay, Dr.Goodwin, that truly evangelical writer, has a whole chapter to prove that the principles of religion are not really believed by carnal men, which seems agreeable to that of the apostle: "If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
Sermon 18 Galatians 1:16
William Romaine (1714-1795)
(Beddome calls him a reverend divine of the Established church and quotes his sermon on Mark 12:28)
By the Son here, we are certainly to understand the Lord Jesus Christ: some suppose this to be only a mediatorial or official title. "The right knowledge of God," says a reverend divine of the Established Church, "consists in believing that in Jehovah, the self-existing essence, there are three coequal and coeternal persons, between whom there is no difference or inequality but what is made by the covenant of grace. Their names, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are not descriptive of their nature, but of their offices. They are not to teach us in what manner they exist in Jehovah; but they are covenant names belonging to the offices which the divine persons sustain in the covenant. They are used to teach us, not how they exist, but how they act, and how they stand related to the heirs of promise."
Sermon 27
Augustine (354-430) (Confessions)
None continue the slaves of sin and Satan, but with their own consent; and if they are bound with chains, it is of their own choosing. Hence that saying of St. Augustin, "Ligatus eram non alieno ferro, sed mea ferrea voluntate:" I was bound not with a chain imposed by another, but by my own stubborn will.
Sermon 28 Luke 13:21
Huss, Jerome, Wickliffe, Luther, Calvin and the other reformers
Leaven is not only sour and disgusting, but penetrating and diffusive; and so is false doctrine. "It eats," says the apostle, " as doth a canker," or, as the word might be rendered, a gangrene; which, beginning in the extremities, soon reaches the vitals, carrying with it inevitable disorganization and destruction. Now, had not this gangrene, this leaven "hid" by Antichrist, and disguised by plausible appearances, or mingled with some important truths, at one time infected and corrupted the whole visible church, till God raised up Huss, Jerome, Wickliffe, Luther, Calvin and the other reformers? Thus the apostle Peter speaks of persons bringing in "damnable heresies," and adds, "many shall follow their pernicious ways." Thus some apply the words of my text to a general defection from the way of truth and righteousness.
Sermon 29 Jeremiah 4:18
John Chrysostom (347-407)
Of this we have an instance in the thief upon the cross: when his body was half dead, his soul was made alive to God, and he became a humble suitor to him whom he before despised; and now, instead of revilings and blasphemy, his broken accents are, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom! His hands and his feet were nailed to the cross, but his tongue was at liberty, and this he employs for Christ, both in pleading with him and for him, and reproving those who spoke against him. Nor was it a temporal salvation that he desired, but one that is eternal; he prayed not to be delivered from the cross, but to be admitted into heaven. St Chrysostom calls this a greater miracle than the darkening of the sun, the trembling of the earth, or the rending of the veil of the temple. Surely this is also a brand plucked out of the fire. ...
Thus, when Solomon would express his abhorrence of a sin into which he had fallen, but now repented of, he speaks of it as "more bitter than death;" and it is probable he would rather have suffered the most painful death, nay, a thousand deaths, than again wound his conscience and provoke God. When Eudoxia, the empress, threatened Chrysostom with death, his bold answer was, "I fear nothing but sin."
Sermon 35 Psalm 72:15
John Owen (1616-1683) (on Hebrews 7:23-25)
“It is” says Dr. Owen, “no ways unbecoming the human nature of Christ, in its glorious exaltation, to pray to God; for this seems to be one condition of the advancement of his interest as mediator. "Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession."”
Sermon 40 Isaiah 11:10
Ebenezer Erskine (1680-1754)
"Faith in its justifying act" says Mr Erskine (in his sermon on Christ in the believer's arms) "is not a working but a resting grace, it lays its help where God has laid it and expects all the blessings of salvation from him in whom it hath pleased the Father that a fulness of them should dwell."
Sermon 46 1 Thessalonians 2:15
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
The seed of the serpent will still retain its enmity to the seed of the woman, and Cain, as Luther expresses it, will kill Abel to the end of the world. It is the glory of the gospel to turn the lion into a lamb; but where the light of the gospel is not come, nor the power of it felt, the savage disposition of the lion still remains.
(Also quoted in another sermon referenced elsewhere)
Sermon 59 Proverbs 18:24
Edward Young (1681-1765) Night Thoughts (the first line is from elsewhere in the poem)
Friendship's the wine of life:
A friend is worth all the hazards we can run.
Poor is the friendless master of a world:
A world in purchase for a friend is gain.
