Questions on Beddome

These are some of the questions students on certain courses at Southern Baptist are getting their teeth into. See here.

Benjamin Beddome, The Nature and Authority of the Christian Ministry (in Sermons printed from the manuscripts of the late Rev. Benjamin Beddome, A.M. [London: William Ball, 1835], 302): What should a minister of the gospel aim at?

Beddome, Nature and Authority of the Christian Ministry (Sermons, 303): Why does Beddome spend time outlining the “circumstances of men before conversion”?

Beddome, Nature and Authority of the Christian Ministry (Sermons, 303–304):

a. How are men converted?

b. What does the section I.2 tell you about Beddome’s view of preaching?

Beddome, Nature and Authority of the Christian Ministry (Sermons, 304–305):

a. What does being a “fisher of men” require?

b. What do you think Beddome means by “Fisherman have their wiles and stratagems, and so have ministers”?

c. How does Beddome view pastoral ministry according to the section on “Diligence”?

 Beddome, Nature and Authority of the Christian Ministry (Sermons, 305):

a. What theological conviction underlies the statement that the “most faithful and zealous, the most skilful and industrious, are not always the most useful”?

b. What reasons does Beddome give for this assertion?

c. Do you agree with Beddome? Why or why not?

Beddome, Nature and Authority of the Christian Ministry (Sermons, 305–306): How does Beddome view conversion?

Beddome, Nature and Authority of the Christian Ministry (Sermons, 306–308):

a. In what five ways is a minister “entirely indebted to Christ”? Would you agree with Beddome?

b. Christ “puts the light of divine knowledge into [the] heads” of ministers and “implants the seeds of holiness in their hearts”: why does Beddome believe both of these things are necessary for pastoral ministry?

c. How is a man actually called to be a pastor?

Beddome, Nature and Authority of the Christian Ministry (Sermons, 308–309):

a. What points of application does Beddome make with regard to ministers of the gospel and their congregations?

b. Which of these points do you think is especially necessary to make in our day and why?

The men God uses

In 2004 the Founders Journal carried an article on The kind of men God uses surveying some early Baptist voices by Bill Moore. (See here). He refers to Beddome as below:

Benjamin Beddome also noted “the precariousness and uncertainty of success,” and yet such uncertainty was not to diminish the intensity of the labour. Beddome wrote, “‘We have toiled all the night,’ say the disciples, ‘and caught nothing;’ and thus may ministers do, nay, many nights and days; but one happy draught, at last, will be a sufficient recompense for all their labour.” Beddome noted that “sometimes the gospel makes astonishing progress,” but such a harvest is not usual. “In general, ministers fish as with an angling rod, and it is but now and then that they win a soul to Christ.” He maintained that “the most faithful and zealous, the most skilful and industrious, are not always the most useful.” Continuing the fishing analogy, he illustrated, “The net or hook sometimes breaks, and the fish which seemed to be caught makes its escape; and thus it is in fishing for souls.”

He applied the illustration to contemporary ministry: “Convictions are lost and impressions wear off, hopeful prospects vanish,and those who seemed to have escaped the pollutions that are in the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, return like the dog to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” [*]

Ministers were required to exercise faithfulness: God would take care of the outward success.

* Benjamin Beddome, Sermons Printed from the Manuscripts of the Late Rev. Benjamin Beddome, A.M. of Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire (London: William Ball, 1885), 305. Similarly, in a charge delivered in 1796 at the ordination of W Belsher in Worcester, John Ryland maintained, “We cannot ensure the fruit of our labours, but he can do it infallibly; and he will accept, and reward, those whom he makes faithful, whether their success equal their expectations, or not.” John Ryland and S. Pearce, The Duty of Ministers to be nursing Fathers to the Church; and the Duty of Churches to regard Ministers as the Gift of Christ (np, 1797), 33.