Night Thoughts by Edward Young

Joseph Highmore, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

It would be difficult to overstate the impact on Beddome of Edward Young's long poem Night Thoughts, which first appeared when Beddome was in his twenties. Beddome often quotes from it in his sermons. One of the most popular poems of the century, it influenced Goethe, Edmund Burke and many others. The poem, full title The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, is best known simply as Night-Thoughts. It was published in nine parts ("nights") between 1742 and 1745. It was later illustrated with notable engravings by Blake in 1797.

The poem is written in blank verse and describes the poet's musings on death over a series of nine "nights" in which he ponders the loss of his wife and friends, and laments human frailties. The best-known line in the poem (at the end of "Night I") is the adage "procrastination is the thief of time", which is part of a passage in which the poet discusses how quickly life and opportunities can slip away. Night-Thoughts had a very high reputation for many years after its publication.

The nine nights are each a poem of their own. They are

"Life, Death, and Immortality" (dedicated to Arthur Onslow)

"Time, Death, Friendship" (dedicated to Spencer Compton)

"Narcissa" (dedicated to Margaret Bentinck)

"The Christian Triumph" (dedicated to Philip Yorke)

"The Relapse" (dedicated to George Lee)

"The Infidel Reclaim'd" (in two parts, "Glories and Riches" and "The Nature, Proof, and Importance of Immortality"; dedicated to Henry Pelham)

"Virtue's Apology; or, The Man of the World Answered" (with no dedication)

"The Consolation" (dedicated to Thomas Pelham-Holles)

In his 1791 book, Life of Samuel Johnson, Boswell called the poem "the grandest and richest poetry that human genius has ever produced".

Edward Young (1683-1765) took holy orders, and wrote many fawning letters in search of preferment, attracting accusations of insincerity. His father, also Edward, became Dean of Salisbury. The son was born at his father's rectory in Upham, near Winchester. Educated at Winchester College, he matriculated at New College, Oxford, 1702 and later migrated to Corpus Christi. In 1708 he was nominated by Archbishop Tenison to a law fellowship at All Souls. He took his degree of Doctor of Canon Law in 1719.

His first publication was an Epistle to ... Lord Lansdoune (1713). This was followed by a Poem on the Last Day (1713), dedicated to Queen Anne; The Force of Religion: or Vanquished Love (1714), a poem on the execution of Lady Jane Grey and her husband, dedicated to the Countess of Salisbury; and an epistle to Joseph Addison, On the late Queen's Death and His Majesty's Accession to the Throne (1714), in which he rushed to praise the new king. The fulsome style of the dedications jars with the pious tone of the poems, and they are omitted from his own edition of his works.

About this time he came into contact with Philip, Duke of Wharton, whom he accompanied to Dublin in 1717. In 1719 his play, Busiris was produced at Drury Lane, and in 1721 his The Revenge. The latter play was dedicated to Wharton, to whom it owed, said Young, its "most beautiful incident". Wharton promised him two annuities of £100 each and a sum of £600 in consideration of his expenses as a candidate for parliamentary election at Cirencester. In view of these promises Young refused two livings in the gift of All Souls College, Oxford, and sacrificed a life annuity offered by the Marquess of Exeter if he would act as tutor to his son. Wharton failed to discharge his obligations, and Young, who pleaded his case before Lord Chancellor Hardwicke in 1740, gained the annuity but not the £600. Between 1725 and 1728 Young published a series of seven satires on The Universal Passion. They were dedicated to the Duke of Dorset, George Bubb Dodington, Sir Spencer Compton, Lady Elizabeth Germain and Sir Robert Walpole, and were collected in 1728 as Love of Fame, the Universal Passion. This is qualified by Samuel Johnson as a "very great performance", and abounds in striking and pithy couplets. Herbert Croft asserted that Young made £3000 by his satires, which compensated losses he had suffered in the South Sea Bubble. In 1726 he received, through Walpole, a pension of £200 a year. To the end of his life he continued to seek preferment, but the king regarded his pension as an adequate settlement.

Young, living in a time when patronage was slowly fading out, was notable for urgently seeking patronage for his poetry, his theatrical works and his career in the church: he failed in each area. He never received the degree of patronage that he felt his work had earned, largely because he picked patrons whose fortunes were about to turn downward.

Though his praise was often unearned, often fulsome, he could write, "False praises are the whoredoms of the pen / And prostitute fair fame to worthless men."

In 1728 he became a royal chaplain, and in 1730 he obtained the college living of Welwyn, Hertfordshire. In 1731 he married Lady Elizabeth Lee, daughter of the 1st Earl of Lichfield. Her daughter, by a former marriage with her cousin Francis Lee, married Henry Temple, son of the 1st Viscount Palmerston. Mrs Temple died at Lyons in 1736 on her way to Nice. Her husband and Lady Elizabeth Young died in 1740. These successive deaths are supposed to be the events referred to in the Night-Thoughts as taking place "ere thrice yon moon had filled her horn."

Sermon Volume 5:8 (Ezekiel 34:17)

Sonia Sevilla, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Here is an outline of the eighth sermon in Volume 5 of the sermons. It is 8 pages.

Ezekiel 34:17 And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.

In this tender and alarming manner did the God of Israel address his ancient people: And his language is still the same to them that love him. All real saints are his flock and the sheep of his pasture. The number is small compared with the wide world; but collectively considered, they are a multitude which no man can number. When he shall gather together his saints which have made a covenant with him by sacrifice, they shall come out of all nations and from the uttermost parts of the earth. What was promised to the natural seed of Abraham shall be more abundantly verified in his spiritual seed; they shall be more numerous and the stars of heaven or the sand upon the seashore.

I. Consider the objects of the divine discrimination 

1. He will judge between the Church of God and its enemies, the genuine professors of religion and its opposers 

2. The Lord will distinguish also between the hypocrite and the sincere believer 

3. A distinction will likewise be made between saints and saints; for the Lord shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he made judge his people 

II. The manner in which these various characters shall be distinguished: "I will judge between cattle and cattle".

1. Judgment sometimes signifies the same as discernment as when it is said "Gthd judges the righteous and is angry with the wicked every day - The spiitual man judgeth all thngs, yet he himself is judged ofh no man 

2. It implies correction or judging in a way of punishment 

3. Though the Lord often makes a wider distinction between the righteous and the wicked in the present life, yet he will do it more effectually and more awfully in the last great day 

Let us then anticipate this awful scene by erecting a tribunal in our own breasts. Let us judge ourselves that we may not be condemned with the world. Oh reader, oh hearer! let not a day pass over thy head without thinking of that day for which all other days were made.

"The last in nature's course, the first in wisdoms thought." (Night Thoughts, Young)

The trumpet's solemn sound

The lightning's spread abroad

(The) Opening skies, the shaking ground

Proclaim a coming God

Behold the Judge descend (at hand)

With majesty and power

(Sinners and saints) Tribes of men before him stand

Some tremble, some adore

Each action, word and thought

Now stripped of all disguise,

(To) The impartial test is brought,

(Of his discerning eyes) Exposed before his eyes.

Now causeless fears subside

False hopes no more beguile

(Whilst) His unerring hands divide

The precious from the vile

The one he calls by name

And seats them near his throne

(The) Other (dooms to endless) fills with grief and shame

And (miseries) dooms to woes unknown

Then be it all my care

Each hour to watch and pray

Oh may sovereign grace prepare

For that tremendous day.

(May Jesu's lovely face

No frowning aspect wear

When I, the vilest of our race,

Before his bar appear.)

(803 where 6686 becomes 6676)

Austin Walker on Robert Hall Junior

The Theology of Robert Hall Jr.: The Undermining of Calvinism among the English Particular Baptists (Studies in Baptist History) Paperback – 20 Feb 2024 by Austin Walker, 266 pages, H&E Academic ISBN 1774841398

This really is an excellent work in Reformed Baptist history, looking at a well known but rather obscure figure, a younger contemporary of Beddome, who always spoke well of the older man. It well deserves the honorary doctorate it is rumoured to have received. Rather than giving us a straight chronological account, Dr Walker walks us around the subject several times but without repetitioin, enabling us to see the subject from several different angles. This work is the result of long and careful research. Robert Hall Jr is difficult to write about as his theological positions were not always predictable or stable. He appears to have rejected federal theology early on but come back to it but never to have properly embraced a full orbed Particular Baptist position. His open communion views are better known. Dr Walker's thesis that Hall and his teaching had a powerful and detrimental affect on Particular Baptists stands up well and his final warning is worth hearing.

Review Sermons Vol 2 1807 ER - a real treasure

From The Eclectic Review June, 1807

Twenty Short Discourses, adapted to Village Worship, or the Devotions of the Family. Vol. 11. Published from the MSS. of the late Rev. B. Beddome, A. M. 8vo. pp. 187. Price 2s.- fine: 3s. Burditt, &c. 1807.

We are pleased to meet with a second volume of these excellent discourses as it intimates that the first has been received with approbation by the religious public and the extensive circulation of such writings is a general benefit which demands our congratulations. Our notice of the first volume (Ecl Rev vol i p 948) was from circumstances brief and cursory though it was the result of an attentive perusal. Our opinion of both the volumes therefore is nearly the same but a just sense of our duty requires of us in the present instance a little more detail in the expression of it. In these synopses of the sermons which the author delivered in the course of his ministerial services there are abundant evidences of a rich and vigorous mind, intimate acquaintance with human nature and perfect familiarity with the sacred Scriptures. His sentiments unquestionably indicate the sacred source from whence they were derived and the extensive observation and experience by which they have been applied explained confirmed and exemplified. His style, likewise, is deeply tinctured with scriptural phraseology; it abounds with quotations, illustrations, allusions and metaphors from the inspired writers, yet at the same time it often rises to a freedom. an elegance and a dignity of which contemporary productions do not afford many parallels. His plans are often elegant and his manner unites in some measure the solidity of the old school with the charms of the modern. The author's talents as a writer we are confident would have appeared to much advantage in regular and elaborate composition, his ear seems to have been very susceptible of rhythmical harmony and his best devotional hymns now dispersed among different collections may be ranked with those of Addison, Watts, Merrick, Doddridge and Cowper. In theology, he was of the Calvinistic school approaching perhaps even to hyper-calvinism but he often loses sight of any rigour that might be imputed to his system in the energy of expostulation and pious intreaty and affords ample proof by numberless passages of his utter aversion from antinomian principles. A reverence for the memory of a good and great man is our reason, not our apology, for adding that he presided nearly sixty years over a Baptist congregation at Bourton in the Water, Gloucestershire, where he died in his 78th year, Sept 3 1795. Some of our readers probably could give their testimony to the excellence of his pastoral character and to the ingenuity, the fervour and the pathos of his oral addresses.

These discourses are in some degree sui generis. They are far from being finished sermons and perhaps as far from naked skeletons. We should rather compare them to concentrated essences which the reader and especially the preacher might use at his discretion, diluted into a more acceptable and serviceable form. Hence, though their length would render them very suitable for family worship, they may prove too solid and strong for feeble intellects. As a foundation for serious reflection and for discourses from the pulpit, they are excellent. To young ministers especially, they must be a real treasure not merely as a help in official services but as a copious fund of religious instruction.

It is unnecessary to enumerate the titles of these sermons. We shall give an extract or two, though we are aware of the disadvantage under which incomplete specimens appear.

The fifth and sixth sermons on Rev iii 20 Behold I stand at the door and knock, &c are in our esteem among the best in this volume; they are indeed the most amplified. In explaining the words, the author observes

Christ desires to have the soul with all its powers and faculties delivered up to him that he may take possession of it and fix his residence there forever and herein he is influenced by a regard to our interest as well as his own glory. Our peace and safety in this world as well as our happiness in the next depend upon a compliance with his solicitation. If the heart be opened to Christ, heaven will be opened to us but if the heart be shut against him heaven will be shut against us.

Christ's manner of knocking is various. Sometimes he does it more faintly, at others more strongly; sometimes more silently, at others more loudly; sometimes with a longer intermission and at others with a constant succession, one application after another. If one sermon will not do, another shall; if one conviction be stifled, another shall arise. And as the manner, so the means are various. Sometimes he knocks by the law. The commandment came, says the apostle. Is not my word, saith the Lord, like a fire and like a hammer which breaketh the rock in pieces. Sometimes by alarms of conscience, which says, as Nathan to David, Thou art the man! When conscience speaks by commission from God, it will make the deaf to hear. Those who will not hearken to the voice of parents, ministers, law or gospel, shall be made to hear the voice of conscience and in the great day it will speak so loud that both heaven and earth shall hear. Sometimes Christ calls by his providences, especially those of an afflictive nature. Of this we have the remarkable instance of Manasseh under the Old Testament and of the Prodigal Son under the New. Ministers also are instruments in the hand of Christ to alarm and awaken sinners as well as to comfort and establish saints. Knowing the terrors of the Lord they persuade men and use every means to fix conviction upon their hearts urging every motive and addressing every passion of the human mind to bring them to serious reflection and concern about their eternal interests. Pp 37 38

It is indeed a wonderful patience that can bear with such repeated slights so many repulses and provocations and not so resent them as to give us up entirely to our own depraved hearts and suffer us to reap the fruit of our doings Such wonderful forbearance is not owing to the want of power to execute his anger but to a power over his anger arm is not so short that it cannot reach us nor his hand so feeble that it cannot strike us p 39

All this must be considered as the fruit of free and unmerited grace. Here we have a remarkable and undeniable instance that God's thoughts are not as our thoughts nor his ways as our ways. When injured and offended we find it difficult to pass by the affront when overtures of reconciliation are rejected, we are seldom disposed to renew them, especially if the opposite party were most or altogether to blame but it is otherwise with the great God. We are for war but he is for peace; we begin the quarrel but he puts an end to it. He seeks us before we seek him and continues to seek notwithstanding the slights we put upon him. Well may the word behold be prefixed to our text. It is as if he had said, Wonder oh heavens and be astonished oh earth! Let it be considered as a singular instance of my grace and love, let it be remembered in time and to all eternity. I the justly incensed God, the affronted and abused Saviour, whose laws they have broken, whose mercy they have despised, whose blood they have trampled upon and whose wrath they have deserved, yet I stand at the door and knock. I have often done it before and now do it again. I do it this day, this hour, in this sermon. I am now calling to you by my word and knocking at the door of your hearts. Notwithstanding all your ignorance obstinacy and unbelief, I still persist in my gracious design and would fain win those to a compliance from whom I have met with so many neglects and denials p 41

We shall only refer to another sermon on the encouragement to hope, which likewise we select for its comparative freedom and copiousness. Joel ii 14 Who knoweth but he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him.

The kind of hope here implied is indeed far from being what is called the full assurance of hope or a confident persuasion that the blessing hoped for shall certainly be received, for it rises no higher than a peradventure. A peradventure lest they should sink into despondency and a peradventure only lest they should give way to presumption and carnal security. Their hope must be mixed with fear and their joy with trembling. There are other instances in which the hopes of the godly are thus expressed and thus supported such as the following, It may be that the Lord will work for us for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not. Seek ye the Lord, seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. 1 Sam xiv. 6, Amos v.15, Jonah iii.9, Zeph ii.3. A possibility and much more a probability of obtaining mercy at the hand of God is a sufficient encouragement to a poor perishing sinner to seek to trust in and wait for him. Self-destroyed and self-condemned, destitute of all help in himself and despairing of all help from creatures. Who knows? This is his last refuge and perhaps for a time his only one. A possible hope in such a situation as this affords a motive to activity and a strong inducement to apply for mercy. If, said the starving lepers at the gate of Samaria, we say we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city and we shall die there and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come and let us fall into the host of the Syrians; if they save us alive, we shall live and if they kill us, we shall but die. The most profligate of characters whose former lives have been one continued scene of wickedness and rebellion, when they come to be seriously concerned about their souls may reason like these lepers. Our present condition is desperate, if we continue in it we must unavoidably perish. There is a possibility that God will save us, for he is able. And the first attribute upon which such generally fasten is the divine power. Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. This is also represented to sinners as a ground of hope. Trust in the Lord for ever for, in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. And as God's power creates a possibility so his mercy creates a probability, especially that mercy which is manifested in the gift of his Son. There is forgiveness with thee, says the humble penitent, prostrate before the divine throne. I have no merit, thou requirest none, I can do nothing thou art able to do all. Others have found favour in thy sight, why may I not hope for it. To thee then will I come, at thy feet will I bow and if I perish, I perish. Pp 82 84

The conclusion of this sermon is striking.

Does any one obstinately persist in an evil course to gratify his lusts at all adventures on the presumption that he may find mercy at last? Let him remember what is written, If it come to pass when any one heareth the words of this curse that he bless himself in his heart saying, I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst, the Lord will not spare him. But then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. Deut xxix 19, 20. If any should say: who knows, according to the text which I have heard today, but God will return to me though I do not return to him, who knows but he may pardon my sins, though I do not repent of them, may accept me through Christ; though I do not believe in him, may grant me repentance and faith as he did the dying thief when I am on the verge of an eternal world. … Who knows, do you say? Why, I know. And tenderness as well as faithfulness to thy soul constrains me to let thee know that this can only be the language of a resolute and obdurate sinner whom God will not spare but will pour out upon him the vials of his wrath and indignation. Oh sinner, if thou goest hardened through the world, thou art likely to go hardened out of it and wilt be miserable forever. God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses pp 90, 91

The wish we formerly expressed that the sermons might be longer in the present volume is partly gratified. It is consequently the better suited of the two without any amplification from the reader for the purposes specified in the title. We cannot close this critique without adding our approbation of the cheap and disinterested manner of publishing the work, a little management justifiable by modern usage might easily have doubled the cost. A new edition of both volumes is, we find, in contemplation and we hope the treasury of MSS is not yet exhausted.

Pickles Book 2 Review

Stephen Pickles Cotswolds Pastor and Hymn Writer: The Divinity of Benjamin Beddome (Upham, Southampton, England: The James Bourne Society, 2025, hardback), 718 pages

Beddome studies are enjoying a welcome renaissance and Gospel Standard pastor Stephen Pickles has now produced the promised second follow up volume, following his initial largely biographical tome of 2023. Again a handsome presentation, this lightly illustrated volume is even longer than the first and is enhanced by an index at the end and a 51 person dramatis personae with pen pictures of each at the beginning. There is also an appendix and an addendum.

Like the first volume, this one is also divided into parts, this time eight unequal parts. The first four parts are fairly uncontroversial as Mr Pickles seeks to systematically take us through Beddome's theology as revealed in his sermons, hymns and his catechism. First, in three parts, there is his doctrine of God, then second his soteriology, covered in nine sections, from original sin via new birth to salvation being wholly of God. The third part is on a Christian's walk and conversation in another nine sections, including sanctification via Christian conversation to the observance of the Lord's Day. The fourth part is on the means of grace, that is preaching and the sacraments. So, nothing on ecclesiology or eschatology but a good sweep otherwise. As in the previous volume, there is a tendency to quote Beddome at length and there is little attempt to integrate what has been found, which is probably a fault.

It is when we come to the other four sections of the book that things become more controversial. Under the heading “Religious controversies” we have something first on Socinianism, a real threat in Beddome's lifetime. Joseph Priestley, whose portrait adorns page 372, was the leading opponent of orthodoxy and was opposed by Benjamin Francis, Caleb Evans, John Fawcett, Samuel Rowles and others with whom Beddome would have been in agreement.

Mr Pickles then goes on to the law. This material extends over several parts. Given his pedigree, it is no surprise to see that Mr Pickles spends a long time on this question. He looks at Beddome himself, an attack on the Midland Association by a man called John Bradford and William Huntington's dispute with Caleb Evans. This is all very interesting and helpful and ends with a final attempt to reconcile the antinomian view and the more orthodox one.

Finally, in this section, there is something on self-examination and the marks of grace and on ministerial education.

Part 6 is headed “Dr Gill, John Brine, Andrew Fuller & the Bristol Divines”. Gospel Standard Baptists have long been unhappy with Andrew Fuller and his work Gospel worthy of all acceptation which caused something of a revolution among Particular Baptists at the time. There were two editions of the latter book and it is suggested that there is a marked difference between the two. Mr Pickles posits a sharp difference between Fuller and the Bristol Divines, including Beddome. The section also includes material on Caleb Evans. With the necessarily selective quotations from Fuller and others, it is difficult to be sure whether Mr Pickles has been fair and therefore whether he is right in his contentions. He is eager to keep Beddome on his side and so to say he was at variance with Fuller. Not all will agree.

He seems to be on surer ground in the seventh section when he chooses to disagree with Dr Michael Haykin on the matter of whether Baptists experienced revival in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Once again, he shows himself more than familiar with the content of the Bourton-on-the-Water church book and quotes it several times. He adds a sermon by Beddome on Revelation 2:5,6 which does nothing to resolve the question but is good to read.

The final eighth section uncontroversially sums up the enduring legacy of the great Benjamin Beddome.

An appendix suggests that Andrew Fuller and George Whitefield differed in their theology with regard to the atonement but, as with the contrasting of Fuller and the Bristol divines, it is not entirely certain that Mr Pickles has made his case.

The addendum responds to the recently published book on Robert Hall Junior by Austin Walker (The theology of Robert Hall jr. The undermining of Calvinism among the English Particular Baptists). Strictly speaking, this has nothing to do with Beddome but one understands the desire to make some comment on such an important and otherwise germane book.

Mr Pickles has given us the fruits his labour of love and anyone who has an interest in Beddome will not fail to benefit from what has been published. Whether Beddome has been rightly understood or not will be hotly debated for some time to come.

Sermon Volume 5:7 Christians a Wonder (Zechariah 3:8)

Simon Koopmann, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>,
via Wikimedia Commons

Here is an outline of the seventh sermon in Volume 5 of the sermons. It is 9 pages.

Zechariah 3:8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.

Joshua and his fellow worshippers were wondered at, both by the idolatrous Chaldeans and the unbelieving Jews, for their faith in the Divine predictions during the period of their captivity; that Jerusalem should be rebuilt, the temple worship restored, and that they should return again to their own land. Good men are not less an object of wonder now than they were then. There is something in their principles and pursuits which men in general cannot easily understand, and they know not to what cause it should be ascribed.

1. Ministers of the Gospel are often a wonder both to themselves and others. It is wonderful that God should condescend to employ weak and sinful creatures in so sacred a work as publishing articles of peace between heaven and earth. Infinite wisdom saw fit to lodge this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God, and not of us. Considering likewise the mean opinion which good men entertain of themselves, the treatment they are likely to meet with, the difficulties and trials to which they will necessarily be exposed, it is not a little remarkable that they should be induced to engage in the work of the ministry. Yet it is wonderful how such are carried through their work, and enabled to persevere, notwithstanding all the discouragements they meet with, from within and from without. The success that at any time attends the ministry may very properly be regarded as matter of astonishment.

2. The same sort of singularity attaches to all real Christians who walk in newness of life, and exemplify the genuine spirit of the Gospel.

(1) They are a wonder unto angels. They are struck with amazement at the love of God, manifested to such sinful and unworthy creatures.

(2) They are a wonder unto devils, who cannot but be surprised to see the spiritual temple, which is to endure throughout eternal ages, rising out of the ruins of the Fall. The fallen spirits wonder to see all their plots frustrated and their evil designs overruled for the Divine glory.

(3) Real Christians are a wonder to themselves. What reason can be rendered for such distinguishing grace and love? The conversion and salvation of a sinner is a more surprising work than the creation of a World.

(4) They are a wonder to one another.

(5) They are a wonder to the world. Nor is it strange that it should be so, since they are followers of Him whose kingdom is not of this world.

3. There is something in the very nature of religion that is mysterious and strange.

(1) The manner in which grace is implanted in the soul is so. The work of the Spirit upon the heart is one of the deep things of God.

(2) The way in which grace operates is equally wonderful. The Christian's life is a hidden one.

(3) The fruits which grace produces in the life of a true believer are not less remarkable. Those who walk by sight cannot understand how others walk by faith. How then can the Christian be ashamed of his high calling, even though it should make him a gazing stock to angels and to men? Thou art now a wonder to the world, believer, but what a wonder wilt thou be in that solemn and decisive day, when Christ will come "to be glorified in His saints and admired in all them that believe."

Sermon Volume 5:6 The Easy Yoke (Matthew 11:30)

Pearson Scott Foresman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Here is an outline of the sixth sermon in Volume 5 of the sermons. It is 8 pages.

Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

The term here used by our Lord to express the nature of his religion is often employed in the scriptures to point out other objects which include, subjection to the power or authority of another.

1. Sin is called a yoke, a heavy and goring yoke, which Satan binds upon the necks of all his subjects.

2. The ceremonial law, consisting of ritual institutions so numerous and expensive that the Israelites groaned under them is called a yoke, a yoke of bondage which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear.

3. Affliction and adversity are also denoted by this expression; hence it is said to be good for a man to bear the yolk in his youth.

4. The yoke of obedience is no doubt principally intended in the text; for Christ's yoke is no other than the service of Christ, which includes repentance and faith, with a universal subjection to his authority.

I. Enquire in what respects the service of Christ may be compared to a yoke

1. Because it imposes a restraint on every propensity which you would be improper to indulge. Grace both binds and sets free.

2. The yoke of Jesus not only binds and restraints but it binds together.

3. The yoke implies an obligation to labour, and is imposed for that very purpose; it it is not for ornament but for use.

4. It is disagreeable to unconverted man who are like bullocks unaccustomed to the yoke.

5. All Christ's commands make but one yolk, which must be either wholly received or rejected.

II. Notice the commendation given of Christ's service "My yoke is easy".

He himself is the best judge of the nature of that service to which he invites his followers; he is the supreme Head and the Lawgiver of his church and has left us an example that we should walk in his steps

1. The yoke of Christ is easy when compared with every other.

2. Christ's service is easy in itself and carries with it its own recommendation.

3. If there were any difficulty in Christ's service, grace can make it easy; that is always sufficient for us and out of weakness he can make us strong.

(1) A new nature or a divine principle implanted in the soulmakes everything easy and pleasant.

(2) Divine commands are accompanied with promises and this makes the duty sweet.

(3) There are not only promises given for our encouragement but strength also imparted for the performance of duty and this makes the yoke to be easy and the burden light.

(4) True obedience has the prospect of reward and this makes the labour sweet.

Improvement

If any should say, how can these things be? The answer is, Come and see. Make the experiment, take his yoke upon you and you will be convinced that the description has fallen far short of the real truth. You will then find that the delusive pleasures of sin are not worthy to be compared with the substantial joys of religion, that the Christian is the only happy man in this world as well as in the next. ...

Let those who bear Christ's yoke be careful to recommend it. Let them not put on a sorrowful countenance and be always mourning and complaining; for by this means they would give an unfavourable impression of the religion of Jesus and injure the cause they wish to see promoted. ...

All ye who love the Lord

His just commands obey

Submissive bear his easy yoke

And humble homage pay

Give him the honour due

To his exalted name

Sing of his truth and righteousness

And all his love proclaim

Not by your words alone

But by your actions show

How much from him you have received

How much to him you owe

His mercy then will crown

The remnant of your days

He'll be your guardian e'en to death 

And your eternal praise.

(502)

The Five Books

1. A lovely compact leather bound second editon of the catechism published by W Pine in Bristol in 1776 and sold to Derrick by the late John Brencher (1936-2020) in 1979 it appears

2. An 1807 edition of the first two volumes of the sermons; volume 2 follows volume 1 strangely;  printed by J W Morris in Dunstable

3. A very interesting book published in 1825 and presented as Beddome's one hundred village sermons. These are in fact five of the eight volumes of village sermons, omitting Volumes I, VI and VIII.

4. A lovely 1833 edition of the final volumes of the sermons, volumes 5-8, printed in London

5. An 1835 (first?) editon of the collection of 67 sermons published after the eight volumes of short discourses with a memoir

Interesting Parcel

I have just taken delivery of a very precious parcel, kindly sent to me by the family of Derrick Holmes, now living down in Devon. Derrick has had a life long interest in Beddome and the Bourton on the Water church and wrote a many years ago called The Early Years (1655–1740) of Bourton-on-the-Water Dissenters who later constituted the Baptist Church, with special reference to the Ministry of the Reverend Benjamin Beddome A.M. 1740–1795. Sadly, Derrick is now in a home and suffers dementia. There are five books in all. I will describe them in a later blog.

Sermon Volume 5:5 Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:29)

Pieter Lastman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Here is an outline of the fifth sermon in Volume 5 of the sermons. It is 9 pages.

Acts 8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

All we shall attempt will be to offer a few general observations on the subject with the view to our own edification and improvement.

1. It appears from this passage that the Holy Spirit is a divine and distinct person in the godhead issuing his commands, exercising supreme authority

2 it is a great mercy for any, especially ministers of the gospel, to act under the influence and direction of the Spirit of God

3. God will make all means subservient to the purposes of his grace however opposite they may seem to our wishes and designs

4. In the conversion of the Eunuch we see there are some in high life who are made partakers of the grace of God though not many mighty, not many noble are called

5. Though the conversation of a sinner is of God and all events are under his superintendents it is good to be found in his way for there he has promised to meet with us and to bless us

6. Though the reading of the scriptures is a necessary and profitable exercise, yet it is more especially the word preached that is rendered effectual; for it pleaseth God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe

7. From the example before us we are taught to embrace every opportunity of doing good and even to instruct those who we may happen to meet with on a journey

Come Jesus heavenly Teacher come

And set thy known instructions home

What mortals utter but in vain

Do thou with power speak o'er again 

Oh let me hear that cheering voice

At which the angelic host rejoice

That voice which winds and waves controul

And gives new life to dying souls 

Call me,oh call me, to thy feet

And there transported may I sit

With joy thy heavenly features trace

And feast upon they richest grace

When e'er I hear or read thy word

With every sentence ligh afford

Thy sacred truths to me reveal

Unfold the book and loose the seal

(128 Come Jesus, heavenly teacher, come

Convey thine own instructions home

While men thy sacred truth impart

'Tis thine alone to reach the heart

Whene'er I read or hear thy word

Thine inward teachings Lord afford

To me thy holy will reveal

Unfold the book and loose the seal

Call me, oh call me to thy feet

There transported may I sit

Joy thy heavenly features trace,

Feast upon thy richest grace )