Extant Letters To Beddome

1. John Beddome Undated (part) After Beddome's baptism (Brooks, Pictures of the Past)
2. John and Rachel Beddome (Parents) Monday May 26 1740 While he was a student in London (Bristol Baptist College and reproduced in part in Brooks)
3. John Beddome Thursday May 17 1742 (part) Beddome's preaching (Brooks, Pictures of the Past)
4. John Beddome Friday August 6 1742 (part) Beddome's preaching (Brooks, Pictures of the Past)
5. John Beddome After July 1743 (part) Concerning Warwick or Bourton (Brooks, Pictures of the Past)
6. John Beddome September 1743 (part) Expressing regret at missing Beddome's ordination (Brooks, Pictures of the Past)
7. John Beddome Monday October 28 1748 Urging Beddome to come and work in Bristol (Brooks, Pictures of the Past)
8. Church at Goodman's Fields Wednesday November 11 1750 Call to pastorate (Brooks, Pictures of the Past)
9. Daniel Turner Saturday September 4 1762 Trying to help Beddome in a spiritual difficulty (Baptist Quarterly)
10. John Reynolds Tuesday December 12 1786. (NLW)

(8 in Brooks, 1 in NLW, 1 in Bristol, 1 in BQ; 6 from 1740-1743; 2 from 1748 and 1750 and 2 from 1762 and 1786)

John Reynolds

In a book on Bunhill Fields John Andrew Jones notes that among the dead there is John Reynolds, of whom he says

To the memory of the Rev John Reynolds, M.A., who, after having been many years pastor of a Protestant Dissenting Church, near Cripplegate, with hope of a glorious resurrection slept in Jesus, Feb. 6th, 1792, in the 63rd year of his age.

“An angel's arm can’t snatch me from the grave; 

Legions of angels can’t confine me there.” 

John Reynolds was born January 5th, 1730, in the parish of Farmington, near North Leach, Gloucestershire. His father, Thomas Reynolds, was a farmer at Little Rissington, in that county. His first impressions of divine things was when he was only twelve years of age, under the ministry of Mr Benjamin Beddome, of Bourton-on-the-Water. At 18 years old, he went to the Baptist Academy at Bristol, under the tuition of Mr. Bernard Foskett. He first laboured as an occasional preacher, chiefly at Bromsgrove, Bratton, Cirencester and Cheltenham but more constantly at Oxford, where he continued nearly four years. The Baptist Church at Curriers' Hall, Cripplegate, being deprived by death of their pastor, Mr. John Brine, invited Mr. Reynolds to pay them a visit, which he did in April, 1776. He was ordained as pastor of this church, in October the same year. Dr. Gill gave him his charge from 2 Tim. i. 13 Hold fast the form of sound words, &c. It was printed, and, a solemn charge it is. Mr Benjamin Wallin preached to the church from 1 Cor. xii. 25, That there should be no schism [or division] in the body. This sermon was also printed, and is truly excellent.

Mr Reynolds' success among his people, was far from being equal to his wishes, but probably greater than his own modest opinion would suffer him to judge. He had a peculiar solicitude for the conversion of souls; and was distinguished for prudence. No man, amongst his brethren, was more frequently consulted in cases of difficulty than himself; and he was deservedly esteemed by Christians of different denominations. In 1770, he received from the college of Rhode Island, the degree of Master of Arts.

For some months previous to his death, Mr Reynolds, felt a general languor overspread his frame, which often detained him from the house of God. But, in the midst of his debility, he went and preached his farewell sermon to his flock from Psalm xxiii. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil and he meant, if he had been spared to go out again, to have considered the remainder of the text, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Through his illness he was serene and happy. 1 Cor. xiii. 10, was a pleasing scripture to him, But when that which is PERFECT is come, then that which is IN PART shall be done away.

Mr. Giles, pastor of the church at Eythorne, in Kent, coming to see him, on Thursday evening, in the last week of his life, and mentioning to him Mr Rogers's saying, “I have been the Lord's working servant, and I am now his waiting servant;” Mr. Reynolds replied, “I trust with an honest heart 1 can say the same.” On Mr. G. remarking that, “Death was a solemn subject to the people of God in health; but, he supposed it must appear much more so in the prospect of one's own dissolution.” Mr Reynolds replied emphatically, “It is really so;” and added, “I have sometimes been entertained with elegant compositions of divinity, and with such sermons as have displayed a good taste, and full of argumentation and genius.” Here he paused and panted for breath, and then said, “But none of these things will do Now ; nothing short of the good old plain truths of the Bible. The unchangeable love of God, and the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, are the foundation of my faith and hope.” And then, with a peculiar accent he added, “Here is terra firma;” and repeated, with much exertion, “I say Mr Giles here is terra firma for a dying man.”

Mr. Reynolds departed this life Feb. 6, 1792, aged 62 years and one month; and was buried in Bunhill Fields, near to his predecessors, Mr Skepp and Mr Brine. Mr Abraham Booth delivered the address at his grave, and preached the funeral sermon to his bereaved church from John xiv. 2: In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. - W. and I.

Letters in the National Library of Wales

I was able to see the Calendar of Letters in the National Library mentioned elsewhere, today. The 201 letters (NLW MS 1207E) have been bound in a thick volume with an appropriate frontispiece. Divided between ministers and missionaries, the letters appear alphabetically by author. In some cases prints of the relevant men have been inserted at the appropriate point. It would be good to look at other letters in the volume.

I was easily able to locate the two Beddome letters and the one sent to him by John Reynolds in 1786 with regard to the Seward Fund. I hope to report on these three letters in due time. They are (in order of date)

1. Beddome to Henry Keen[e] (November 14, 15, 1772). Henry Keene (1726?-1797) was the leading deacon at Maze Pond, Southwark, where Beddome was once a member. He was a philanthropist and involved in the anti-slavery movement.

2. Reynolds to Beddome (December 12, 1786). John Reynolds (1730-1792) is mentioned elsewhere on this blog.

3. Beddome and his deacons to the Association meeting in Evesham (May 31, 1789)

Calendar of Letters 02

Letter 35

On (Tuesday) December 12, 1786, John Reynolds (1730-1792), London, wrote a letter to Bourton conveying the views of Dr (Samuel) Stennett on the distribution of money left for the poor by Mrs Seward. A side note shows the letter to have been passed on to Mr Reynolds' Church.

[John Reynolds, now aged 56, had followed Brine at Cripplegate. He was, of course, baptized at Bourton by Beddome, and in 1770 had received an honorary AM from Rhode Island. Mrs Seward, of course, is the great Baptist benefactor and friend of George Whitefield.]

1769

Owing to the brevity of Snooke's 1769 diary (the first nine month's entries have been removed from the original) there is little to learn about Beddome, who turned 52 at the beginning of this year. Presumably Beddome went to the association meetings in Upton on Severn, north of Tewkesbury, a similar distance from Bourton as Bromsgrove is. The preachers were Thomas Skinner of Towcester  (1753-1795) and Daniel Turner of Abingdon (1710-1798); the moderator was Joshua Thomas of Leominster (1718-1797).

Reynolds was down from London late October and most of November, though not to preach. Beddome took 12 of the 13 Sundays recorded, the only visitor being John Butterworth from Coventry (1727-1803). There was also the double lecture on Wednesday, November 13, when the preacher was Thomas Hillier (d 1790) at that time from London (later Tewkesbury) on Hebrews 13:14. On Christmas Day, Thomas Davis (c 1730-1784), the long serving minister at Fairford, rode cross country to preach on Romans 13:14. Beddome was at home and entertained Snooke and others.

Beddome's Sunday preaching was mainly on Matthew 25, Acts 16, John 14:6 and Luke 16:1, 2. On Fridays he worked his way through Psalm 7:1-11. The last one of the year was quite poorly attended, it seems.

The birth of Beddome's son Richard must have taken place in this year but it is not mentioned. There were also deaths. On October 7, a Thomas Palmer of Olney died. This is probably the one who had married Mrs Beddome's sister Hannah just four years before (January 3, 1765). There was also the death of a child in the Hyatt family, prompting Beddome to preach on Matthew 18:3 on Sunday, October 8. Tea with the Snookes on Mondays was still the pattern and happened most weeks, although on November 9, it was at the Palmers. Snooke himself called on the Beddomes, November 18 and 20, though Beddome appears not to have been at home. Reynolds was there the second time.

A reminder that even then all was not sweetness and light comes with a statement by Snooke that a Dr Clark of Cheltenham had taken some highwaymen at nearby Stow.*

*Cheltenham is a spa town and many medical men were based there. In the Kent Gazette for [Tues] Dec 19, 1769 this paragraph appears

On Thursday morning [Dec 14?] Mr. Anthony Clarke, Surgeon, in Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire, was stopped upon the road near that place, by a single highwayman well-mounted, who presented a pistol to his breast, and robbed him of about 20s[hillings] in silver, his watch, and a piece of blue stone. Mr. Clarke immediately gave alarm, and after a brisk pursuit, the highwayman was taken in bed at a public house in Stow on the Wold, in Gloucestershire, about one o'clock on Friday morning. The watch and blue stone were found in his pocket:

(Perhaps he was found in The Porch House which claims to be England's oldest inn).

1768

We know from Brooks that although 1767 had been a good year, there were no baptisms in Bourton in 1768 (although we know from elsewhere that William and Henry Collett were baptised in Upper Slaughter). Other things went on, however, including a mild earthquake on Wednesday, December 21! The British Geological Survey describes it as “little-known”. It was felt fairly strongly in the Gloucester-Droitwich area and in Oxfordshire and as far east as Reading. The western limit was Stoke Edith, near Hereford; the north-south extent is obscure. In Gloucester many people ran from their houses, but in some parts of the city it was less noticeable.

January 1, 1768, was a Friday. Preparation day meetings should have taken place but there was snow so that did not happen. In fact, on the Sunday, a communion Sunday, it was so cold that the evening meeting was cancelled. The snow continued into the second Sunday of the year when, although both services in Bourton took place, the scheduled afternoon meeting at Stow was cancelled (twice a month an afternoon meeting was held at Stow).

As the weather improved various church members put on new year's entertainments at their homes (Richard Boswell, Beddome's father-in-law; Mr (Henry) Collett, Dr Paxford, Mr (Samuel) Palmer*). Which ones Beddome attended we do not know nor do we know how he celebrated turning 51 on January 23.

We do know, however, that Mrs Beddome had given birth to Joseph on December 9, 1767. Snooke, Boswell and Palmer paid her a visit on February 3, 1768. She had been unable to be at the first tea party for two months at Snooke's, where Beddome, Collett and Polly Palmer had come together the day before.

February was a better month weather-wise and on Sunday 14, Mrs B was able to borrow the Snooke sedan chair and go out for the first time in weeks. She remained at home when tea was served at the Snookes again the next day, though Beddome went. The same thing happened the next Monday too and on the last Monday of the month of that leap year they all gathered at the home of Mrs B's father, Richard Boswell.

On Sunday, February 19, Farmer Penny died. Beddome preached from Isaiah 40:8 at the funeral the following Wednesday. From February 27-March 1, a Thomas Skinner (d 1782) was around. He had tea with Beddome on Saturday, 27 and breakfast with him on Tuesday, March 1. Beddome and Skinner were also at Snooke's for tea on Sunday, when Skinner preached (2 John 5:4, John 10:27). This is not the Devonshire Skinner (1752-1795) who eventually ministered in Clipstone, Towcester (1783-93) and Newcastle and who first studied in Bristol but the minister of Alcester, 1766-1782. He was not actually ordained until September 7 of this year, 1768.

The rest of March was unremarkable, then Snooke was in London, Monday, March 28 – Wednesday, May 17.** (This was the day, apparently when Richard Haynes, over at Bradford on Avon suddenly died. Summing up his ministry many years later William Hawkins wrote that "He was ordained on the 25th April, 1750. He appears to have been sound in the faith and consistent in discipline. His ministry was greatly honoured for eighteen years, when he suddenly died, having been called from earth to heaven while at his dinner on the 17th May, 1768.") Snooke was back in time for the preparation day and the funeral of “Dame Collett” on the Sunday. Beddome preached from 2 Chronicles 24:15, 16.

The next day Beddome himself set out for the Association meetings in Bromsgrove. The distance is around 40 miles and he probably stopped overnight somewhere – perhaps in Alcester but not with Skinner who preached again at Bourton, Sunday May 29 (Rom 8:28, Luke 11:13). That day a Mr Cresser died, probably Jeremiah, a deacon and the father of a later deacon, Thomas Cresser (d February 25, 1808). Skinner set off back to Alcester early the next morning and Beddome was back by the evening. On June 2 Cresser was buried, Beddome preaching on Job 42:17. Four days later (June 6) there was a wedding. Ann Collett (1741-1811), twin of John, married James Beale of Stow. (They eventually had seven children altogether).

At the Association Beddome would have heard Benjamin Whitmore (pastor of Hook Norton 1754-1786) and John Poynting (1719-1791) of Worcester preach. He shared their sermons at the subsequent Friday meetings (Ephesians 2:5 and Psalm 102:16 respectively). The minister of Chipping Campden, the predecessor to Elisha Smith, was present on the latter occasion. (This would be David Davis),

July was difficult for Beddome. Although he preached on the first Sunday and part of the second, by the second service on July 10 he was very poorly with rheumatism and could not preach. Unusually he had not been able to write his own hymn on Matthew 25:31 that week either. By the following week he was well again for a communion Sunday. On Thursday July 21 he and Mrs B had tea at her father's with Snooke and others. That day Beddome Senior's successor at the Pithay church, John Tommas (1724-1800) arrived at the Beddomes (Snooke stabled his horse) and the next day the Beddomes were with Snooke for tea when Tommas preached on Psalm 73:25, leaving for Bristol early the next day. Beddome preached on the communion Sunday (July 24) but was again ill the next day when Snooke and others came for tea.

On Friday August 3 most of the Beddomes were at the Snookes with the Palmer family enjoying fresh fruit and on Monday August 22 and Thursday September 22 the Snookes visited Mrs B. At this time the Beddome children were 18, 12, 10, 5, 3 and nearly 8 months. Ten year old Foskett was not there on this occasion.

From Monday, September 26-Monday, October 13, Beddome went up to London. We do not know any details but, presumably, he preached on October 2 and 9, somewhere. In Bourton, either John Butterworth (1727-1808) from Coventry or, more likely, his brother Lawrence Butterworth (1741-1828) from Evesham and former member John Reynolds (1731-1792), then in London, stood in. Nathanael Rawlings (1733-1809), another former member, came up from Trowbridge for the meeting on Friday, October 7. Reynolds and Rawlings both arrived in Bourton on Tuesday October 4.

On Sunday October 17, Beddome shared his pulpit with John Martin (1741-1820), who had fairly recently gone to Sheepshead in Leicestershire.

The rest of the month and into November was more routine with more Monday teas at the Snookes. On Wednesday, November 16, John Poynting preached (Hosea 12:3,4a). Snooke says that on Sunday 27 he acted as clerk as Mr (Jasper) Bailey (d 4 July 1782) was ill. Clerk was apparently the term used for the precentor. December 25 fell on a Sunday in this year. Beddome preached in the morning on Mark 3:27 (No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house) and in the second service carried on with his series in Acts 16.

*The names Paxford and Palmer are illustrious as (according to Ivimey) Dr Paxford was the son of Thomas Paxford of nearby Clapton, of whom Calamy wrote "Though he was not bred a scholar, yet he had good natural parts, and preached and prayed well, and sometimes officiated for Mr (Anthony?) Palmer at Bourton-upon-the-water. After his ejectment, he became an Anabaptist and fell under some censures as to his morals; which I the rather take notice of, because of an intimation of Dr Walker's, as if some of the ejected were therefore passed by, because they were such as partiality itself could not speak well of." Mr Palmer, after mentioning the above adds, "Crosby has nothing more than this quotation from Calamy, except abuse of the Author for relating this last circumstance, which he does not attempt to disprove". Ivimey defends Paxford who was obviously held in high esteem in Bourton. Presumably the Palmers were connected to Anthony Palmer. Henry Collett was also of good nonconformist stock no doubt.
** In April Samuel Burford c 1726-1768, Pastor of Little Prescott Street, died. He was succeeded that same summer by Abraham Booth who had published his Reign of grace the April before.

Hayden 07a

On pages 89-92 Hayden looks at who went into the ministry through Beddome. We have a post on this here. He does add a little information.

1. Richard Haines - Hayden says his death was on May 17, 1767. He was baptised May 15, 1741. He gives the 1747 note about calling him. Haines pastored in Bradford-on-Avon 1750-1767. Hayden gives the note from the Bourton church book on his death mentioning a work started by him in Bath in 1755.

2. John Ryland Senior is only mentioned in passing.

3. Richard Strange (Stratton, Wiltshire). Not mentioned by Hayden.

4. John Reynolds (1730-1792). There is quite a bit on him. Hayden quotes the Bourton church book but can cast no light on the period before the call to Cripplegate 1766 and ordination, which involved Gill and Stennett, with Benjamin Wallin the preacher (no Bristol men involved). Hayden mentions the unfortunate accidental swallowing of his shirt studs that impaired his voice forever after. He mentions a friendship with former Bristol student John MacGowan and says that Reynolds one published sermon was a 1782 address to the annual meeting of the Bristol Education Society.

5. Nathanael Rawlings (1733-1809) was baptised March 24, 1750. Hayden gives some further background on this man who ministered in Trowbridge and Broughton (Broughton Gifford near Melksham or Borughton in Hampshire?).

6. William Wilkins. Hayden mentions Beddome's Bristol trained assistant from Horsely here.

7. Alexander Paine. Not mentioned by Hayden.

8. Thomas Coles, Beddome’s eventual successor. Not mentioned by Hayden.

Hayden 01

Bristol trained ministers who served in Midland Association churches (See footnote page 44).

John Ash (1724-1779) Pershore (followed Cooke)
Benjamin Beddome (1717-1795) Bourton
Edward Cooke (fl 1746-1770) Pershore
John Poynting (1719-1791) Worcester
Isaac Woodman (1715-1777) Warwick; Sutton in Elms, Leicester

Could add
Samuel Pearce (1766-1799) Birmingham
John Reynolds (1731-1792) Cirencester 1750-61, went on to London
John Ryland Jr (1723-1792) Warwick 1746-59, went on to Northampton
Elisha Smith (1754-1819) Campden and Shipston then Stow

Character and influence

There appears to be no portrait of Beddome in existence and no physical description of the man. We get some idea of his character from the description given by the scholarly and eloquent Robert Hall Junior (1764-1831) in his preface to the collected hymns. We should bear in mind, however, that this is a young man’s description of an eminent man of an older generation.
Hall speaks of his personal acquaintance with Beddome but he was only 31 when the latter died, there being an age gap of nearly 50 years. No doubt the input of Hall’s father, Robert Hall Senior (1728-1791) is significant. The Preface is simply signed R Hall, Leicester and it could possibly be the work of Richard Hall but the former suggestion seems far more likely. Hall was pastor at Harvey Lane, Leicester, 1806-1826. The frontispiece includes ‘Rev R Hall AM’ the same form used in his collected works. Hall gained his MA from King’s College, Aberdeen. The memoir with the works is by Olinthus Gregory, [see pic] mathematician and father-in-law to Samuel Beddome, Benjamin Beddome’s grandson.
'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; and where the stamina were the same as other men’s, (as must often be the case with the most original thinkers) a peculiarity marked the mode of their exhibition .… Though he spent the principal part of his long life in a village retirement, he was eminent for his colloquial powers, in which he displayed the urbanity of the gentleman, and the erudition of the scholar, combined with a more copious vein of attic salt than any person it has been my lot to know.'
(Robert Hall, Recommendatory preface, Hymns adapted to public worship or family devotion, London, Burton & Briggs and Button & Son, 1818)
As for Beddome’s abiding influence, besides his later published hymns and sermons and his immediate influence on the Bourton congregation (Brooks, 63, ‘As a pastor Mr Beddome seems to have been no less excellent than as a preacher’) and beyond, there was that which came in the shape of men converted under his ministry who later became ministers themselves. As Derrick Holmes remarks (42) the extent of Beddome’s influence on each individual we are about to mention cannot be properly ascertained without more information than we presently have but he must have had some influence on each of the following.
Richard Haines from Burford was converted, shortly before Ryland, who we mentioned in an earlier post, in the 1741 awakening. He began to preach in 1747 and went on to pastor at Bradford-on-Avon from 1750. (The letter of dismissal is in the Bourton old church book, 43. See Appendix 12 in Holmes. Haines ministered at Bradford until his sudden but not wholly unexpected death, 1768. The final year was particularly blessed with some 24 being converted.)
John Ryland Senior became ‘a master preacher’ and ‘a giant in the land’. He was set apart to the ministry in 1746. Following studies in Bristol, he pastored the Castle Hill church, Warwick, where Beddome had once been a frequent visitor. In 1750 he moved to Northampton where he ministered with much success until retirement to Enfield, 1785, where he had a school originally begun in Warwick and carried on in Northampton. (Peter Naylor, John Collett Ryland (1723-1792), BPB 1, 200, 201)
There were several others. Richard Strange became pastor at Stratton, Wiltshire in 1752. Little is known of him. (Presumably he was son to deacon Joseph Strange, mentioned by Holmes, 60, 61. Was Nanny his sister? Cf fn 43).
John Reynolds (1730-1792) from Farmington, baptised in 1743 aged 14, studied in Bristol and for several years often deputised for Beddome. In this period his more settled ministry appears to have been at Cirencester, Cheltenham and Oxford. (Holmes, 46). In 1766 he became minister at Cripplegate, London. He succeeded High Calvinist John Brine (1703-1765) and is buried next to him in Bunhll Fields. Of Reynolds’ ministry The Baptist Register 1794-1797 says ‘Nothing very remarkable attended’ it but he had a marked ‘solicitude for the conversion of souls’, 44. Like Beddome and Ryland he was awarded an MA by the college in Providence, Rhode Island. His father, John Reynolds Senior, who died in 1758 was ‘the oracle of the town’. (Cf Holmes, 60, 61n).
We have mentioned Nathanael Rawlings, from Moreton-in-the-Marsh, baptised in 1750. Another Bristol student, he became pastor in Trowbridge in 1765. His call seems to have been a rather drawn out affair lasting from 1763-1766. He also seems to have had financial difficulties getting through college. See Holmes, 47-49. Rawlings ministered in Trowbridge, 1765-1771, when there was a disruption, and again from 1778 until his death, 1809.
Alexander Paine was a former Methodist preacher who joined the Bourton church in the Autumn of 1775, the same year that he was baptised at Fairford by Mr Davis. His name first came before the Bourton church in 1778 but there was no call until 1780, there clearly being some doubts over his suitability. The church at Bewdley considered calling him for some while but he eventually became minister at Bengeworth from November 1780. (One wonders if the Bengeworth congregation were better able to cope with the remaining Methodist traits in Paine).
Thomas Coles, Beddome’s eventual successor, was baptised and joined the church at the age of 15 or 16. He headed off to study at Bristol 10 days before Beddome died. He went on to gain an MA from the Marischal College, Aberdeen, in 1800. He eventually succeeded Beddome the following year and pastored the church until 1840. (In the intervening period he turned down a call to Cannon Street, Birmingham and worked with Abraham Booth 1734-1806 at Prescott Street, London). His youth does not rule out Beddome’s influence. Even at the age of 11 he was taking extended notes of Beddome’s sermons and at 13 was reading them back at the midweek meeting (Cf Brooks, 82).