Benjamin Beddome (1717-1795)
September 3rd, 1995 marked the 200th anniversary of the death of a largely forgotten English Baptist. Benjamin Beddome is remembered today, if at all, as a hymn writer. His life's work was as pastor of the Baptist church meeting at Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds for nearly 55 years.
Background and Conversion
Benjamin was a son of the manse. His father John first ministered in Warwickshire, where Benjamin was bom on January 23, 1717. When he was seven they moved to Bristol, where John became co-pastor at the Pithay church. There Benjamin was duly apprenticed to a surgeon apothecary. He enjoyed this and never lost interest in things medical.
He had made no profession of faith up until this time but in August 1737 a visiting preacher spoke on Luke 15:7. For the first time he was deeply impressed by God's word. Weeping, he hid in a quiet corner of the chapel. He later wrote,
Lord, let me weep for nought but sin.
And after none but thee
And then 1 would - O that I might -
A constant weeper be.
He found relief in the Scriptures and was soon converted.
Preparation for the ministry
When his apprenticeship came to an end he began studies at the Baptist Academy in Bristol under Bernard Foskett, a good family friend. A year later he moved to London and completed his studies at the Independent Academy. He went to Little Prescott Street church, Goodman's Fields, pastored by Samuel Wilson. Wilson baptised him in Autumn 1739 and the church soon called him to the ministry.
In July of that same year he first preached at Bourton. They were without a minister and wanted Beddome to preach regularly for them which he agreed to do.
Early preaching at Bourton
It was in this period, in 1741, that there was an awakening and 41 people were converted. Nevertheless Beddome was still learning his craft as a preacher. He was effective but at times his tongue ran away with him and he was often long-winded. His father wrote to him, 'I ... earnestly press you to strive with all your might to soften your voice and shorten your sermons ... Let 2 hours (!) be the longest time you spend in the pulpit ....'
There were 80 members at Bourton when Beddome first preached there. Under his enthusiastic, if immature, preaching the church grew rapidly. In May 1743, 48 new people joined. Soon after, he was ordained, Foskett preaching the charge to him. That year he preached for the first time at the Midland Association in Leominster. He went on to preach another 16 times at such gatherings in the next 46 years.
He had taken his father's advice and was often in demand. More than one congregation desired to have him as their pastor.
Marriage and family
At first Beddome lived in nearby Lower Slaughter but in time he fell in love with Elizabeth Boswell, daughter of one of the deacons, and in December 1749, aged 32, he married his bride of 17. They moved into a fine new manse built for them just the other side of the Windrush in Bourton itself. Until this time life had been quite easy for Beddome. The work prospered, he was happy where he was and now he had a wife. In time at least five sons were born. What joy they must have brought but domestic bliss was not to remain uninterrupted.
Earlier trials and tests
Shortly after marrying, Beddome became ill and for six weeks lay at death's door. The church was much in prayer and in God's goodness he made a full recovery. He later wrote
When sore diseases threatened death,
'Twas he restrained their power.
Did then prolong my fleeting breath.
My feeble frame restore.
As with many dark clouds, this one had a silver lining. It served to endear pastor and people to each other with strong bonds of love. This factor was to have an immediate effect in the following circumstance, a trial of a different sort. In 1750 Samuel Wilson died and his church wrote urging that Beddome come to them. They feared the congregation would scatter without someone of Beddome's calibre to lead. As London's largest Baptist church it was a tempting proposition for Beddome who knew the work well. However, he declined to move unless the Bourton folk were willing, which they were not. Despite further pleas, Beddome and his members would not be moved. They took John Owen's view that without the free consent of both churches involved it is unlawful for a pastor to move. Beddome would, 'rather honour God in a station much inferior to that in which he hath placed me, than to intrude myself into a higher without his direction.' This must have been unsettling but Beddome's commitment to the congregation, most of whom were converted under him, impressed itself on members and led to a fresh appreciation of him, expressed in increased material comforts and the paying off of a large debt outstanding on the chapel.
The church continued to grow from this time and by May 1764 there were 176 members. Over 200 baptisms had taken place since Beddome's coming and by 1766 the number of members had again risen, to 196, necessitating enlargement of the premises.
Later trials and tribulations
Unnumbered trials, doubts and fears
Attend us in this vale of tears;
But through the grace of God our friend
They shall in lasting triumphs end.
Let us now record some of the trials and troubles of the last 30 years of Beddome's life. 1765 was an encouraging year. The Association chose to publish his letter, a new chapel was erected and one of their number, Nathaniel Rawlins, became pastor at Trowbridge.
However, tempering such joys was the death of Beddome's first son, John. He was only 15. Despite his youthfulness he gave evidence of genuine faith which must have been a great comfort to his parents.
In 1777 Beddome was 60. He suffered increasingly from gout, another trial. It was decided he should have an assistant, a William Wilkins from Cirencester. There was extra room at home as Benjamin Junior was now in Edinburgh studying medicine. A gifted linguist and all round scholar he had been accepted into the Edinburgh medical society at a young age. That same year he had gained a doctorate from Leyden University. What an excellent future seemed to lie ahead! However, at the turn of the year he took ill with a fever and on January 4, 1778, he died. He was only 25. News of the untimely death did not reach the family immediately but it so happened that on the Sunday Beddome preached on Psalm 31:15, 'My times are in thy hand'. They also sang his hymn 'My times of sorrow and of joy'. It is salutary to note his comment, 'But alas! How much easier is it to preach than practice! I will complain to God but not of God. This is undoubtedly the most affecting loss I have ever yet sustained in my family.'
Then on January 21, 1785, Elizabeth died of a fever. She was 51. She is described as 'Eminent for her unobtrusive piety'. After over 30 years of happy marriage she must have been sorely missed. To add sorrow to sorrow, on October 28, his son Foskett drowned at Deptford. Like his brother and father he had been trained in the medical line. He was just 26.
Thus Beddome's latter days were marked by clouds that drove him to God for grace. The trial, awfully severe. Will have a gracious end; And though no helper now is near The Lord will be thy friend. It was not all trouble by any means. The congregation was thriving, there was fellowship with ministers at associations and ordinations and, although never a great one for preaching away, he would visit Bristol, Abingdon, Warwickshire, and London to preach and to renew acquaintance with family and friends. Then in 1770, he received an honorary MA from Providence College, Rhode Island, New England.
Publications
Beddome published little. In February 1752, A scriptural exposition of the Baptist Catechism by way of question and answer was issued. Using Keach's catechism, this version gave supplementary questions and Scripture texts for each original question. It was widely used and was reprinted in 1776.
Like some other ministers of the period, it was his weekly practice to compose a hymn for the congregation to sing following his morning sermon. In 1769 The Bristol Baptist Collection included 13 hymns by Beddome and in 1787 John Rippon produced his famous Selection containing 36 hymns by Beddome. In 1817, some 20 years after his death, his hymns were collected together and published in one volume of 830 items with an introduction by Robert Hall Junior. Montgomery spoke well of the hymns. They have, he said, one central idea 'always important, often striking and sometimes ingeniously brought out'. Today they seem more popular in America than here and no one hymn has become widely known. Julian's Dictionary claims that 40 are in current use and lists a further 60. On this basis they declare Beddome more popular than any other Baptist, even Anne Steele. However, Beddome has just eight hymns in Grace (like Arme Steele) and only two in Christian Hymns (Steele has nine). Some of his hymns ought to be better known. See Grace (281),
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?
Preaching
It is clear that despite early deficiencies, Beddome was a greatly used preacher and was amongst the most acceptable Baptist preachers of his day. Joseph Ivimey (1773-1834) quotes the Baptist Register,
'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.'
'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.'
It remarks on his wide knowledge of Scripture and gift for apt quotation of texts to bolster his arguments. 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 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 1 preach from?'. Thinking it an odd remark Davis replied, in rebuke, 'Ask no foolish questions'. Misunderstanding, Beddome went on to deliver a 'remarkably methodical, correct, and useful' sermon on Titus 3:9 'Avoid foolish questions'!
He was appreciated not only by fellow Baptists. John Newton heard him in August, 1776 at the Baptist church in Olney on Zechariah 11:12. He wrote, 'He is an admirable preacher, simple, savoury, weighty'. Newton had heard him before 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'.
The written sermons are based on notes and cannot properly represent the actual preaching. However, Peter Naylor has recently commended them as 'models of the art of preaching'.
Final years and death
For the last eight years of his life Beddome lived frugally and apparently adopted a policy of giving away his stipend. In 1789, in his seventies, he attended his last Association, at Evesham. He had a habit of composing sermons, many of which were never preached. He began the practice of destroying his sermon notes on the Monday after he had preached, perhaps to prevent him from preaching them again.
In 1792, he made a final visit to London to preach and see his remaining children and friends. At this time Carey's Enquiry was published and the Baptist Missionary Society was formed. Writing to Andrew Fuller in 1793, Beddome expressed doubts as to the wisdom of an overseas mission. 'Considering the paucity of well qualified ministers' he believed it had a 'very unfavourable aspect with respect to destitute churches' where 'charity ought to begin'. He candidly confessed the problem was perhaps his own lack of faith. He expressed the view that Carey might have succeeded him at Bourton but realised that was now impossible. Beddome cannot be accused of complete lack of vision. Compare his:
Where 'er the sun begins its race
Or stops its swift career
Both east and west shall own his grace
And Christ be honoured there.
The truth is that a new era in God's work was dawning and Beddome would not and could not be part of it. He was destined for another world.
He died as was his wish 'in harness', missing only one Lord's Day before falling asleep in Jesus. To the very last he had continued not only to preach but also to write hymns. Six hours before he died he was composing a hymn. He had left a note to say there should be no funeral discourse but this was not discovered until later and so Benjamin Francis of Horsley, Gloucestershire preached on Philippians 1:21. His body was laid to rest in the yard outside the meeting house near the door. A large plaque on the wall of the present chapel in Bourton remains as a memorial to Beddome and his wife.
Between 1807 and 1820 a number of his sermons were printed in a series of eight slim volumes. His more lasting influence came in the shape of men converted under him who became ministers themselves. Besides Ryland, there was Richard Haines, also converted in 1741. He went on to pastor at Bradford-on-Avon. Nathaniel Rawlins, a later convert, pastored the Back Street Chapel in Trowbridge. John Reynolds succeeded High Calvinist John Brine at Cripplegate, London. Of Alexander Paynel little is known but Thomas Coles we know succeeded Beddome at Bourton from 1801-1840.
Lessons
1. Trust God to convert your children in his time. Beddome was 20 before he was truly moved by God's word. Keep praying for your children. The benefit of visiting preachers should not be overlooked. A different voice saying the same things can have an impact. On the other hand, never underestimate the influence of a godly upbringing, by the grace of God.
2. One may spend a life time in obscurity and yet be used by God. Obscurity is relative. Neglected by many, even in his own day, Beddome was known in America. God himself always sees our hard work.
3. A long pastorate can be sustained if there is genuine love between pastor and people. A call from a larger church is not necessarily from God. The church itself should have a large say in whether its pastor moves on.
4. We must pass through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. Troubles should drive us to prayer. What an effect it can have, as when Beddome's people prayed him back to health. Those close to us may die sooner than we expect and children may die young. Great promise may come to nothing. To preach on suffering and to live through it are different things.
5. His willingness to have the help of an assistant suggests humility. [John Gill was of a different sort. He reacted to the suggestion of an assistant quite differently. I should not like a co-pastor to hang about my neck, nor an assistant to be dangling at my heels'! The dispute with his church clouded Gill's final months on earth.]
6. God does not always use us most when we are at our best. Sometimes he uses us most when there are clear defects. God greatly used Beddome in 1741 even while his minister father saw obvious deficiencies. Though 1741 stood out, there were conversions throughout Beddome's ministry. A man's most obvious usefulness may be in his youth. It may be later. Though 40 were converted in 1741, 200 were converted through the course of Beddome's ministry. More may be converted over a long period than in a revival. By the end he still had 183 members. He preached to such people over a period of 55 years. We must remember that sustaining a work demands as much grace as establishing one.
7. It is not 1754 and much has changed, but the usefulness of catechising ought not to be overlooked. Certainly children must not be forgotten by pastors. To make what is unfamiliar clear and what is familiar fresh is an excellent aim for all preachers. Lengthy sermons are best avoided. Preachers should never weary their hearers.
8. Negatively, old or young we must beware of pessimism and the danger of failing to see when a new work of God is afoot.
9. Finally, let us consider our own mortality.
This world's an inn, where all we do
Is just to take a transient view
And when we fain would longer stay
Death comes and hurries us away.
This article first appeared in Grace Magazine
