Review of Volume 4 of Beddome's Sermons 1816

Twenty Short Discourses, adapted to Village Worship, or the Devotions of the Family. Vol. IV. Published from the Manuscripts of the late Rev. B. Beddome, A. M. Button and Son, and Hamilton. 8vo. pp. 175. Price 3s.

We are persuaded, that many of our readers, perhaps the greater number of them, know that three volumes of admirable sermons have already been printed, from the manuscript copies of the late venerable Beddome; and we entertain the hope, that not a few have them in their possession, and that they have read them with pleasure and advantage. The bare intimation, that this volume is in no respect inferior to either of the three preceding ones, will, we presume, be quite sufficient to induce those who have seen the former, to procure this; in doing which, they will furnish themselves with a fresh store of excellent family reading, for twenty succeeding sabbath evenings. They will probably conclude, and they may do it with perfect safety, that these discourses are too good to need any eulogium, and that the errors are too few, and too trivial, to require correction. But, as all our readers have not seen the former volumes, there must be some who cannot anticipate the merit of the present. It is principally for their information, that we proceed, in the following remarks, to give some account of this additional volume. Though we cannot honestly allow it to be supposed, that we consider these sermons free from mistakes, or that they could not have been better than they are, much less that they are the best we have ever seen; yet, in reviewing a posthumous work, particularly one which was not designed by the author for public inspection, we think, there can be no apology for criticising its faults, unless, either from their number, or magnitude, they possess a dangerous tendency, against which our readers should be put on their guard; and as, in the present instance, we conceive, this is not the case, we shall content ourselves with a brief notice of the general properties and excellencies of the discourses under consideration. Suffice it, then, to say, they are neither complex in their form, nor tedious in their extent; on the contrary, they are simple and natural in their plan, and short and pointed in their execution. In both these respects, they are select; so much so, as to render it very evident that the author's mind was more occupied in choosing, than merely in collecting, his materials. They abound with scripture quotation, interesting thought, sound divinity, deep experience, and pious feeling. They are plain, but not common-place; intellectual, but not abstruse; clear, but not cold; devotional, but not enthusiastic.

The general cast of sentiment, and the prevailing turn of thought, are at a considerable distance from what is termed moderate Calvinism, though they do not, by any means, compass the length and breadth of the hyper-calvinistic system. The practical addresses, of course, arc very far from being legal. There is no attempt to employ the hand of the formalist, whose heart is unaffected; the dread of a master's frown is not urged to produce the submission of a slave; nor is the idea of doing "God service," or the absurd notion of human merit, exhibited to engage the exertions of the proud Pharisee; neither is the discharge of spiritual duties enforced upon Christians themselves, by inadequate motives. The doctrinal parts are free from any tendency to antinomian licentiousness. There is nothing to countenance the inconsistency of those, who, while in words they acknowledge Christ, in works deny him; nothing to foster the fancied security of those "who are at ease in Zion;" nothing to apologize for the indolence of those who slumber and sleep, regardless of the bridegroom's approach; nothing to feed the pride of those who consider themselves as the favourites of heaven; nothing to encourage , the presumption of the man who says, "I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst." The prominent features of the sermons, then, are neither legal nor lawless. The practical addresses are evangelical, and the statements of evangelical truth are practical. The design of both is to remind believers that they are " not without law to God, but under the law to Christ," and to excite and strengthen the cheerful obedience of a dutiful son, by the smile of an affectionate father. The conduct which they require, and which they are intended to produce, would form a beautiful exemplification of the genuine effects of that "faith which worketh by love."

The style of the sermons is nowhere elegant, but always perspicuous, uniformly sententious, generally correct, frequently antithetical, and it sometimes assumes a kind of proverbial structure, which last property is peculiarly calculated to impress ideas upon the mind, and to print them upon the memory. In almost every page, there is a thought or two, printed, we were going to say, on the old-English adage type,— which mode of printing upon the memory was, probably, much more in use before the modern art of printing upon paper was invented, than it has been since.

We could give many very pleasing extracts, which would also confirm the various remarks which we have made; but we wish rather to refer our readers to the volume itself. We can assure them, that they will not regret the purchase of it; for, beside its intrinsic excellence, it has what, in these times, may be called the unusual recommendation of being cheap.

The sermons being originally designed for the author's use only, needed no titles; and, as they were written, so they are printed, without any. The texts are: Who is the beginning—Lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left—If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness, is born of him—I will give them one heart—Rejoice evermore—Pray without ceasing—In every thing give thanks—Quench not the spirit—Despise not prophesyings—Prove all things—Hold fast that which is good—Abstain from all appearance of evil—etc, etc.

Circular letter 1765

One of Beddome's few literary pieces was the "Circular Letter Of The Midland Association For The Year 1765". Here it is as reproduced in "The Primitive Church Magazine" in 1860.

 

The Circular Letter of the Elders and Messengers of the several Baptist Churches, meeting at Aulcester, Bewdley, Bengeworth, Birmingham, Bourton (on the water), and Stow (in the Wold), Bridgnorth, Bromsgrove, Hook-norton, Leicester, Leominster, Middleton-Cheney, Pershore, Sutton, Tewkesbury, Upton (on Severn), Warwick and Worcester; met in Association at Bourton-on-the-water, the 14th and 15th of August, 1765, and maintaining the doctrines of free grace, in opposition to Arminianism and Socinianism; and the necessity of good works, in opposition to Libertinism and real Antinomianism.

To the several churches they represent, wish a fullness of grace and spiritual consolation.

Dearly Beloved And Longed-for in Christ Jesus,— In the close of this, our annual convention, we with gratitude reflect upon the goodness of God towards us and can with pleasure inform you that our assembling together has been attended with fervent cries to the Almighty on your behalf, and, we hope, productive of some real advantage to our own souls. The spirit of prayer has, we trust in some degree been poured forth, accompanied with a humble sense of our sins and infirmities, our wants and necessities, and a thankful remembrance of Divine mercies.

Now that the profits of our meeting might not be confined to, or terminate in ourselves, we would, according to custom, tender you our cordial and affectionate advice, earnestly intreating that it might be received with a temper of mind suited to its nature and importance, and be productive of effects equal to our most ardent wishes and sanguine expectations.

Look well, then, to the foundation upon which you are built, and seriously and frequently examine your state Godward. See that you lay Christ at the bottom of your religion, as the support of it; that you place him at the top of it, as its glory; and that you make him the centre of it, to unite all its parts, and add beauty and vigour to the whole. Remember that growth in Christianity is growth in the knowledge of Christ. Seek that sorrow, that peace, that holiness, that establishment, which flow from Christ; let all your duties begin and end in Christ; for, as the great Dr Owen observes, "to take up mercy, pardon, and forgiveness, absolutely on the account of Christ, and then to yield all obedience in the strength of Christ, and for the love of Christ, is the life of a true believer." (On Psalm 130 in Volume 6). As Christ is the sum and substance of experimental, so he is the spring and source of practical religion; and the spiritual improvement of his blood by faith is as necessary for our sanctification and comfort, as the shedding of it was for our justification and acceptance with God.

Take heed lest your hearts be at any time hardened, through the deceitfulness of sin. One corruption favoured and indulged, has sometimes made dreadful havoc, even in the gracious soul. Take care of pride, passion, censoriousness, unmercifulness, and especially that inordinate affection to the things of this world, which, as it is an hindrance to duty, so oftentimes draws a cloud over the Christian's evidences, and fixes an indelible blot upon his character in the eyes of carnal men. A citizen of heaven should be a stranger upon earth.

Remember that where there is no relative religion, there is no real religion. Let your deportment, then, towards your children and servants, be grave, and yet pleasant; your instructions solemn, and yet plain; your prayers with and for them pertinent, and suited to their case; and your whole behaviour amiable and endearing. Moroseness and severity, even when attended with real piety, throw a gloomy aspect upon the ways of God, and have a discouraging influence, especially upon young persons. Bear with us, if we add one more direction under this head: - take care of stretching out family worship to an unreasonable length, or performing it unseasonably. Let it not be deferred too late in the morning, lest your hearts should be engaged in the hurries of business, and entangled with the cares of the world; nor put it off till the last thing in the evening, lest you should be overcome with drowsiness, and thus yawn out a prayer, instead of groaning out one.

Endeavour to maintain a reverential awe of God upon your minds, and be in his fear all the day long; which fear is not only consistent with an ardent love to, and steady dependence upon him, but will be an antidote against temptation, a preventive of hypocrisy, and give life, seriousness, and spirituality to all your religious duties; for to serve God in a formal and customary manner, is not to serve, but to mock him. Enter into your closets, as seeing him that is invisible; place yourselves in the assembly, as under his immediate inspection; and when called out upon particular occasions to be a mouth for others, seek not so muck the applause of men, as the testimony of your own conscience and the approbation of God.

Be just and honest in your dealings; impose not upon the ignorance or credulity of any; rather suffer by others than let them be sufferers by you; injure not your neighbour in any of his rights or possessions; make his interest your own; and what you would think it reasonable for him to do, that in a like case do to him. Nothing has ever brought a greater reproach upon Christianity than the tricking and fraudulent practices of those who are professors of it. (Footnote by 19th century editor: In this Arminian age, an indifference to practical godliness, and even common morality is frequently charged upon the advocates of free-grace gospel, or what is more popularly called Calvinism. Let those who are so forward to bring such a charge, furnish, if they can a purer morality than the above. Or, if they prefer it, let them compare the morality of modern England and its fashionable Arminianism with the state of public morals when a Calvinistic theology was the prevalent belief. Comparison would cover with a blush the cheek of many an admirer of religion based upon "the march of liberal ideas".) Attend, then, our dear friends, to that most excellent advice of the apostle Paul: "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things."

Be strict in observing the weekly day of rest, and, not content with attending upon public worship, let it be the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. Keep your children and servants much under your eye; insist upon their remembering something of what they have heard; put them upon reading the Scriptures; what is above their capabilities explain to them; and close the day with recommending them to God.

We would rejoice in that peace and harmony which prevail amongst the churches in general: do all that you can consistent with truth and a good conscience, for their preservation. Sacrifice private and personal interests for the public good. Endeavour after an intimate acquaintance, and keep up a Christian correspondence one with another. Walk in love, bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. In a word, labour, like the primitive Christians, to be of one heart and one soul, and let the communion of saints, which is a fundamental article of your faith, be a delightful put of your experience.

Be entreated frequently to look back to your first setting out in the ways of religion. Search your hearts, and pray to God to search them. Be not contented with the form of godliness without the power—a new name without a new nature—titular sanctity without real piety - an outward profession without a holy conversation; for if, like the foolish virgins, you want oil in your vessels, when like them, you seek to enter, the door will be shut. To conclude: carefully distinguish between the means and the end: bless God for a gospel ministry, but do not rest in it; practise duties, but do not depend upon them; attend upon ordinances, but be not satisfied with them, to Christ be the glory of your religion, and then your religion will be the glory of Christ.

Need any motives be added to enforce these exhortations? Are they not evidently calculated for your own advantage. By these things men live: in all these is the life of your spirit, and we are persuaded that a due attention to them will contribute to your increasing comfort and more extensive usefulness.

To live by faith on Christ is the most sweet and delightful, to live to the glory of God the most becoming and honourable, life in the world. "It is our low, loose, unequal walking in religion," says one, "that makes the sense of God's love, peace with God, and evidence for eternal life, so rare a thing amongst us." (D Rogers of Wethersfield)

And now may the adorable and everblessed Jehovah come leaping over the mountains of your sins and iniquities, and visit you with his salvation. May he pour down, in an abundant measure, his Holy Spirit upon you. May he bless and keep you, lift up the light of his countenance upon you, and be gracious unto you. Under his Divine influence, may you stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, and be strong. Forgetting the things that are behind, may you press towards them that are before, and labour that, whether present or absent, living or dying, in the flesh or out of it, prostrate before the throne of God's grace here, or standing before the throne of his judgment hereafter, you might be accepted of him. Finally, brethren, farewell: be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Thus desire and pray your affectionate brethren and servants for Jesus' sake,

(Signed on behalf of the whole Assembly, by the Moderator) John Ash, Bourton, Aug. 16, 1765.

Beddome OOP

There can be little doubt that Beddome has become an unjustly neglected figure. While never a giant of Particular Baptist history, he was certainly a shining light and the fact that hardly any of his writings are currently in print is an anomaly that ought not to continue. In an age when so much material from previous centuries is back in print, it is a shame that no-one has seen fit to produce a volume containing the best of his hymns and sermons. A full biography is probably not feasible or necessary but a long memoir accompanied by, say, the best one hundred of his hymns and the best 50 of his sermons and perhaps some extracts from his catechism and letters, with suitable annotations, (Holmes includes 6 letters from 1759, 1760 published in the Evangelical Magazine in his Appendix 23) would make a fine volume of interest chiefly to Reformed Baptists but also to all who love the Word of God as Beddome himself did.
This is the conclusion of the essay I wrote a few years ago on which this blog has so far been largely based. A fine Baptist historian has recently been in touch with me about pursuing the proposal and hopefully it will be possible to do something in the next few years.

Watch this space.

His Writings 03

Preaching
It is clear that despite early deficiencies, Beddome was a greatly used preacher and as he matured he was among the most acceptable Baptist preachers of his day. Robert Hall (1764-1831) spoke of there being ‘bone and sinew and marrow in them which shows a great mind’. (This is a marginal comment in a book of Beddome sermons quoted in a life of Hall by J W Morris. Cf Homes, 68. In an appendix he quotes Hall saying ‘I do not know any sermons of the kind equal to them in the English language’). Rippon’s Baptist Register (320) says of Beddome,
'Though his voice was low, his delivery was forcible and demanded attention. He addressed the hearts and consciences of his hearers. His inventive faculty was extraordinary and threw an endless variety into his public services. Nature, providence and grace had formed him for eminence in the church of Christ.’
And earlier,
The labours of this good man were unremitted and evangelical. He fed them with the finest of the wheat. No man in all his connexions wrote more sermons, nor composed them with greater care - and this was true of him to the last weeks of his life. In most of his discourses the application of a student and the ability of a divine were visible.
He also remarks on his wide knowledge of Scripture and his gift for apt quotation of texts to bolster his arguments. As for his theology he was, it says, opposed to Arminianism and to Antinomianism. He held that believers are delivered from the Law as a covenant of works but subject to it as a rule of life. (Cf eg Sermon XVI ‘The right use of the law’, Volume II, 134).
In his preface to the hymn collection of 1817, Robert Hall agreed. He favourably notes Beddome’s wide reading, deep learning, originality and his ‘chaste, terse and nervous diction’. He also observes how,
As a preacher, he was universally admired for the piety and unction of his sentiments, the felicity of his arrangement, and the purity, force and simplicity of his language, all of which were recommended by a delivery perfectly natural and graceful. (Robert Hall, Recommendatory preface, Hymns)
Brooks says
'His invention seemed almost unlimited; while the extent and correctness of his Biblical knowledge were evidently great .... In the pulpit he was emphatically at home. He completely overcame the defect of his early efforts; and by high and various endowments succeeded in arresting the attention and exciting the feelings of the most numerous auditories.' (Brooks, 61).
The Baptist Register says that he often took unusual texts but made them familiar and clear. With a familiar text he, ‘distributed it with novelty, discussed it with genius, and seldom delivered a hackneyed discourse.’ In his mature years he had great facility as an extempore preacher. A C Underwood, quoting Rippon, speaks of his ability to ‘sketch his picture at the foot of the pulpit, to colour it as he was ascending, and, without turning is eyes from the canvas, in the same hour, to give it all the finish of a master’. (A C Underwood, A history of the English Baptists, London, Kingsgate Press, 1947, 140).
A classic example occurred at a ministers’ meeting in Fairford, Gloucestershire. He did not use notes and for some reason as he came to preach he forgot what the sermon was to be. On the way from pew to pulpit he leaned over and asked the church’s pastor ‘Brother Davis, what must I preach from?’ Thinking it an odd remark Davis replied, in rebuke, ‘Ask no foolish questions’. Not understanding correctly, Beddome went on to deliver a ‘remarkably methodical, correct, and useful’ sermon on Titus 3:9 ‘Avoid foolish questions’! ( This sermon appears to be Sermon X in Volume V, see Beddomes’ One Hundred Village Sermons, London, Samuel Burton and Simpkin and Marshall, 1825, Volume V, 84).
He was appreciated not only by fellow Baptists. For example on August 7, 1776, John Sutcliff (1752-1814) was ordained to the Baptist church at Olney, Buckinghamshire. Beddome did not take part but was present and was prevailed upon to preach in the evening. He preached on Zechariah 11:12. John Newton, then vicar of Olney, was present and wrote in his diary ‘He is an admirable preacher, simple, savoury, weighty’. (Haykin, 167. Also found in Haykin’s biography of Sutcliff, One heart and one soul, John Sutcliff of Olney, his friends and his times, Darlington, Evangelical Press, 1994, 118-120). Newton had also heard him the previous June on 2 Corinthians 1:24. The sermon ‘gave me a pleasure I seldom find in hearing. It was an excellent discourse indeed, and the Lord was pleased to give me some softenings and relentings of heart. (Cf also Haykin, 167 and Haykin, Sutcliff, 118-120. The diaries of Newton are kept at Princeton University).

[This turn of events is gratifying because when, many years before, Newton was undecided in his mind, whether to go into the established church, or to join the dissenters he had heard Beddome at the Baptist meeting in Warwick and it had had 'a considerable effect on his mind to increase his disinclination to become a dissenting minister'.]
Between 1807 and 1820 a number of his sermons were printed in a series of eight slim volumes. They contain 20 sermons each (except for the last which has only 18) under the title ‘Short discourses adapted to village worship or the devotion of the family’. By 1824 one volume was in its sixth edition and by 1831 another was in its fifth. These volumes were also issued in larger combined form and in 1835 another set of 67 sermons was published. The sermons were undoubtedly popular. Spurgeon is one eminent 19th Century preacher who refers to them. (See references to them in his Treasury of David for example. According to J R Watson, Spurgeon also liked Beddome’s hymns. The Evangelical Library copy of the fourth edition of Volume 4, published 1817, has pencil markings suggesting that some sermons were read to congregations in the Sussex area between 1836 and 1862).
They are textual sermons, although there is a run of eight sermons on 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 in Volume IV and occasional pairs of sermons such as a pair on self-examination (from Psalm 139), another on Hebrews 12:14, on Acts 16:29-31 and a fourth on Revelation 3:20 The heavenly stranger and The heavenly stranger received. They cover a fairly broad range of Scripture, from Exodus 13:21 to Revelation 17:14 (the heavenly calling). There are awakening sermons such as that on ‘Views of death’ (Rev 6:7, 8) or ‘The sin and danger of delay in matters of religion’; evangelistic ones such as that on ‘Seeking the Lord’ (Matt 28:5) or ‘Free forgiveness’ (Lk 7:42); searching ones such as that on ‘The distinguishing character of Christians’ (Jn 17:16) or ‘On the folly of profession without forethought’ (Lk 14:28) and sanctifying sermons such as that on ‘The Christian’s pursuit’ (Ps 63:10) or ‘The duty of imitating God’ (Eph 5:1).
Brooks (61) says of the written sermons, ‘Admired for their evangelical sentiments and practical tendency, they are scarcely less pleasing in the simplicity and clearness of their style.’ The sermons are based on notes and so cannot properly represent the actual preaching. However, in recent years Peter Naylor (Picking up a pin, 59) has commended them as 'models of the art of preaching, displaying as they do a lively understanding both of Scripture and of the soul of man.'
He cites Beddome (60) as a living embodiment of his own dictum, 'All that ministers can do is to persuade; God must do the rest. Without his efficacious influence, all the force of reasoning, and all the charms of eloquence will be lost. Paul may plant, and Apollos water; but it is God that giveth the increase.'

His Writings 02

Hymns
Beddome is most remembered today as a hymn writer. Hymn singing had been something of a controversy among Baptists for much of the first half of the 18th Century. Michael Haykin notes the significance of the fact that John Beddome came out strongly on the side of the singers. (See Haykin, BPB 1, 169).

Keach had introduced hymn singing into his church, c 1673. Because of persecution, secret worship had made it inadvisable until c 1680. In 1690, Isaac Marlow wrote against the practice, Discourse Concerning Singing. Keach replied, 1691, with The Breach Repaired in God’s Worship, or Singing of Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs Proved to be an Holy Ordinance of Jesus Christ. The controversy continued but Keach and others persisted and it eventually gained general acceptance after c1710, thanks in large part to Watts’ Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707. Keach’s was probably the first Baptist church to sing hymns. They were first used only at the Lord’s Supper, c1673-1679. The practice was extended to days of public thanksgiving until c1703. Eventually the church, with some dissent, was persuaded to sing every Lord’s Day, but only after the sermon and prayer. Some dissenters would leave the building as they could not conscientiously stay. These eventually left and formed a separate non-singing congregation. When they left, Keach and his church resolved to ‘let their songs abound’. The new anti-singling church remained songless until 1793. The whole question turned on whether there was precept or example for the whole congregation, converted and unconverted, to join in singing as a part of divine worship. Some believed that those whom God had gifted to sing might do so, one by one, but only as the heart dictated the melody and not by use of rhyme or written note. Despite his enthusiasm for hymn singing and hymn writing, practically all of Keach’s hymns were of poor quality and only 1 or 2 of the 400 he wrote are ever sung today. He published two collections of his own hymns, Spiritual Melody (1691), Spiritual Songs (1701).

Benjamin Beddome loved to write poetry and when he became a minister himself he followed the practice of several other ministers of the period, producing a weekly hymn for the congregation to sing following his morning sermon. This was as a supplement to the hymns in Watts’ and Rippon’s Selections. There were no power point screens, OHPs or printed sheets or books for everyone then, of course, and so hymns were often ‘lined out’ two lines at a time by the clerk and sung in that fashion. Beddome wrote well over 800 hymns altogether as well as other poems.
The hymns circulated first in manuscript form. In 1769 The Bristol Baptist Collection compiled by John Ash of Pershore (1724-1779) and Caleb Evans of Bristol (1737-1791) was published. It included some 13 hymns by Beddome. In 1787, the influential London pastor John Rippon (1750-1836) produced his famous Selection. This contained some 36 hymns by Beddome. (Cf John Julian, Dictionary of hymnology, 2nd Edition, London, John Murray, 1907, 121. Article by W R Stevenson). The Selection eventually went through many editions.
Some hymns could also be found appended to printed sermons but it was not until more than 20 years after his death that the hymns were collected together and published in one volume. This collection of 830 hymns was published in 1818 by an anonymous editor with an introduction by Robert Hall Junior. It bore the title Hymns adapted to Public Worship or Family Devotion, now first published from the manuscripts of the late Rev Benjamin Beddome MA. It would appear that this collection was assembled chiefly by use of a fascinating collection of notebooks containing a fair copy of each one with dates. A number of loose copies in Beddome’s own hand and from his later years also appear to have been used.
(This material is in the archive at the Angus Library. A librarian has added a note suggesting that Hall’s wife was responsible for preserving these hymns in the ms notebooks. The editor himself mentions receiving the notebooks from the Beddome family and says that the descendants of a Rev W[illiam] Christian [d 1765], of Shepshed Baptist Church, Leicester, preserved other hymns. Presumably these latter are the loose papers in Beddome’s own hand (about 40). Other ms hymns exist in the college in Bristol.)
In the book, the editor has divided Beddome’s hymns into some 25 categories, from ‘Perfections of God’ through ‘Scripture doctrines’ and ‘Bible Societies’ through to ‘doxologies’. He begins by listing the first lines of every hymn and at the back gives scriptural and general indices. All this betrays the fact that Beddome wrote on a range of subjects.
As for their quality, the later hymn writer James Montgomery (1771-1854) spoke most appreciatively of these hymns as having one central idea ‘always important, often striking and sometimes ingeniously brought out’. In the preface to his Christian Psalmist, he quotes the first stanza of one of Beddome's hymns as follows,

Let party names no more
The Christian world o'erspread;
Gentile and Jew, and bond and free
Are one in Christ their head.

and makes the remark, 'His name would deserve to be held in everlasting remembrance if he had left no other memorial of the excellent spirit which was in him than these few humble verses.'

Hall wrote of his excellence as a religious poet having been long known and especially commends his variety and the ‘poetical beauty and elevation’ in some hymns and the ‘piety and justness of thought’ in them all. He also refers to ‘beautiful and original turns of thought’ and their experiential depth and breadth. David Breed placed Beddome ‘among the great English hymn writers’ and particularly liked the fresh evangelistic emphasis. (Breed, 149-153). He suggests that one of his best hymns is that which begins

God, in the gospel of his Son,
Makes his eternal counsels known (Hymn 371)

A modern writer says they are ‘noteworthy for their beautiful blend of doctrine and Christian experience. (Robert Oliver, Strict Baptist Chapels of England Vol 5 The Chapels of Wiltshire and the West, London, Fauconberg Press, 1968, 115).
Since Beddome’s time, the hymns have tended to be more popular in the United States than in the UK and no one hymn has ever become very widely known. Early in the 20th Century Julian’s Dictionary claimed that 40 were in current use and lists a further 69 under his entry. On this basis it declares that Beddome exceeds every other Baptist writer in popularity, including Anne Steele, the next most popular.
However, today there are just 8 hymns by Beddome in Grace Hymns (the same number as Anne Steele) and only 2 in Christian Hymns (Anne Steele has 9). Interestingly, New Christian Hymns keeps the two it had and resurrects ‘Who now shall God's elect condemn’ (NCH 630). Grace Hymns includes ‘Father of mercies, bow thine ear’ (Grace 496, CH 433, NCH 455), ‘God in the gospel of his Son’, (Grace 351 – the lone survivor in Praise!), ‘My times of sorrow and of joy’, ‘Let party names no more ...’, ‘Faith ’tis a precious gift’, ‘Witness ye men and angels now’ (Grace 470, CH 407, NCH 428) and the baptismal hymn ‘Buried beneath the yielding wave.

How beautiful is this (Grace 288)

So fair a face bedewed with tears!
What beauty e’en in grief appears!
He wept, he bled, he died for you!
What more ye saints, could Jesus do?

Enthroned above, with equal glow,
His warm affections downward flow;
In our distress he bears a part,
And feels a sympathetic smart.

The most thorough appraisal of Beddome as a hymn writer in recent years is the relatively brief one by J R Watson in his study of the English hymn published in 1999. (J R Watson, 198-202). He says that Beddome made use of both ancient and modern writers and his hymns were ‘more than usually dialogic or intertextual’, meaning that he was something of a plagiarist. Watson claims borrowings from Isaac Watts (1674-1748), George Herbert (1593-1633) and John Newton (1725-1807). He nevertheless praises his admirable and predictable clarity, quoting his baptismal hymn on ‘The signification of baptism’ (Hymn 621). Watson admires

Now we sink beneath the waters,
Emblem of our death to sin;
Thence ascending, grace has taught us,
We our lives anew begin.

He notes the shaping of the verse to the downward and upward movements in baptism, observing that the semicolon ‘signifies the point in the service when the body is actually under the water (it is the non-speaking moment of the verse)’. (Watson, 200). He feels that Beddome spoils himself, however, with an over-didactic fourth verse.

May we feel a change internal,
Wrought by power and grace divine;
Short of this, each form external
Will be found a fruitless sign.

He is happier with the paraphrase of Psalm 1 ‘God’s plantation’ and also admires the way Hymn 54 speaks of Christ.

He waded through the sea
Of overwhelming wrath
That wretched sinners, such as we,
Might be redeemed from death.

He is critical of Beddome’s clarity and balance but accepts that ‘a strong imagination’ is at work more akin to Newton and Cowper and an advance on Doddridge. Often predictable and homiletic, he rises above this elsewhere. Watson picks out the striking description of death in Hymn 777

The active limbs, the comely face,
Turned to a mass of rottenness;
The name forgot, the substance gone,
No more admired, no longer known.

Watson also likes Hymn 225 on self-denial

Saviour of souls, could I from thee
A single smile obtain,
The loss of all things I could bear,
And glory in my gain.

Watson sees Beddome as transitional, between the grandeur of Watts and the sensitivity of Cowper [see pics]. The last line, he says, looks back to Watts but the second is akin to Cowper.

His Writings 01

M Henry

The Catechism
In Beddome’s lifetime he published little. His Midland Association circular letters were published in 1759 and 1765 and some individual sermons and hymns also appeared in his lifetime. On February 27th, 1752, A scriptural exposition of the Baptist Catechism by way of question and answer was issued. (It was republished in 1776 and later again in 1814 and 1849 and is now available in a modern edition). Lamenting the demise of catechising in families and noting the success of a similar effort by Matthew Henry (1662-1714), (Henry’s Scripture Catechism of 1702. He also wrote A plain Catechism for children. Cf Holmes, 62). Beddome wrote,
'May the great God smile upon this faint attempt for his glory, and may that church especially, to which I stand related, accept it as a small acknowledgement of their many favours and a token of the sincerest gratitude and affection from their willing though unworthy servant.'

(Beddome, A scriptural exposition of the Baptist Catechism by way of question and answer, Bristol, W Pine, 2nd ed, 1776, iv).
Catechising, the use of questions and answers to teach Christian doctrine, has a long and honourable history. The early church had a high view of it and appointed catechists whose main work was to catechise men and women and children. Tom Nettles has spoken of the Reformation as ‘The Golden age of catechisms’, the Heidelberg and Westminster Catechisms having had most impact. (Nettles, Teaching truth, training hearts, the study of catechisms in Baptist life, Amityville, New York, Calvary Press, 1998, 17).
In 1680 Hercules Collins (d 1702) adapted the Heidelberg document for Baptist use under the title An orthodox catechism. (Probably connected with the Petty France congregation Collins was initially the respected minister from 1677 of a Baptist church at Wapping, London, that 10 years later moved to Stepney. He had few educational opportunities but authored several books. He suffered imprisonment for Baptist beliefs 1684. He was buried in Bunhill Fields.)
Henry Jessey (1603-1633) another eminent early Baptist, produced a threefold catechism aimed at various levels and called it A catechism for babes or little ones. The simplest of these contained only four questions – what man was, is, may be and must be! See here. (Highly regarded as a scholar, author and humanitarian, Yorkshire born Jessey was a Cambridge graduate. He left parish ministry for London, 1635, and pastured the persecuted church gathered by Jacob and Lathrop from 1637. It divided, 1640, Jessey’s church moving increasingly to a Baptist position. Following a split with Kiffin, 1644, Jessey was baptised as a believer. Despite being identified with Fifth Monarchists at times, he was orthodox. Troubles increased after the Restoration and for a short spell he was in Holland. On returning he died, September 4, 1663. Thousands attended his funeral.)
Several other Baptist catechisms, including one by John Bunyan (1628-1688), have appeared down the years but the one that was to become most popular among Particular Baptists was that based on the Westminster shorter catechism and known as Keach’s catechism. (Among General Baptists, Nettles reveals, Thomas Grantham’s 1687 St Paul’s Catechism was popular and Dan Taylor’s later A catechism of instruction for children and youth which had gone through 8 editions by 1810.) Nettles goes as far as to say ‘Perhaps more than all others combined, this catechism defined what it was to be a Baptist throughout the eighteenth century and for some years into the nineteenth.’ (Nettles, 47). The catechism was prepared around 1693, the year in which a general assembly of Particular Baptist churches took place in London and where it was agreed
'That a catechism be drawn up, containing the substance of the Christian religion, for the instruction of children and servants; and that Brother William Collins be desired to draw it up.' (Nettles, 49).
This (unrelated) Collins was co-pastor with Nehemiah Cox of a church in Petty France, London, from 1673 until his death in 1702. With Cox he had been responsible for publishing the Confession of faith of 1677, the confession ratified in 1689 and known as the Second London Confession. No-one knows why the name of ‘Famous Mr Keach’ is so firmly connected with the catechism. Benjamin Keach (1640-1704) was certainly the leading Baptist of his day. Originally an Arminian, he became a pastor first in his native Buckinghamshire and then in 1668 at Horsley Down, London. A prolific author, in 1664 he had published The Child’s instructor or A new and easy primer. For this he was arrested, jailed, twice pilloried and ‘saw his book burnt under his nose’. (Nettles, 50).
What Beddome’s version of Keach does is to give supplementary questions and Scripture texts for each of the original 114 questions. This catechism was widely used and was reprinted in 1776. In his letter to the Midland Association in 1754 reporting on the church Beddome mentions the successful use of the catechism with all ages. Holmes suggests that it was part of the key to his earlier success in Bourton and points out that later decline coincided with the fall off of its use. (Cf Holmes, 62. He highlights Wilkins’ refusal to engage in catechising due to other engagements. He also notes, 145, that on at least two occasions, 1753 and 1786, the church purchased catechisms for distribution to the poor.) The catechism reveals Beddome to be no Hyper-Calvinist or antinomian but a Strict and Particular Baptist and a Sabbatarian in the best sense.

Beddome's catechism has recently been republished as stated elsewhere in this blog.

An interesting page on Baptist catechisms appears here.