Benjamin Beddome (23 January 1717 – 3 September 1795) was an English

Particular Baptist Reformed Baptists (sometimes known as Particular Baptists or Calvinistic Baptists) are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation). The first Calvinist Baptist church was formed in the 1630s. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith w ...

minister and hymn writer.

Early life

Beddome was born in

Henley-in-Arden Henley-in-Arden (also known as simply Henley) is a town in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England. The name is a reference to the former Forest of Arden. Henley is known for its variety of historic buildings, some of which date ...

, Warwickshire, England, the son of Baptist minister John Beddome and Rachel Brandon. The family later moved to

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, where Beddome was apprenticed to a surgeon. At the end of his apprenticeship, he decided instead to pursue theological education with the intention of becoming a Christian minister. He studied initially under Bernard Foskett at the Baptist college in Bristol, where he became friends with John Ash. He later moved to complete his education at Moorfields Academy in London. He was baptized at the Baptist church in Prescott Street,

Goodman's Fields Two 18th century theatres bearing the name Goodman's Fields Theatre were located on Alie Street, Whitechapel, London. The first opened on 31 October 1727 in a small shop by Thomas Odell, deputy Licenser of Plays. The first play performed was G ...

, in 1739.

Career

In 1740 he became the pastor of the Baptist church in

Bourton-on-the-Water Bourton-on-the-Water is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, that lies on a wide flat vale within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The village had a population of 3,296 at the 2011 census. Much of the village ...

, Gloucestershire, and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

in 1743. He continued in this ministry for fifty-five years. He became well known as a preacher.

John Rippon John Rippon (29 April 1751 – 17 December 1836) was an English Baptist minister. In 1787 he published an important hymnal, ''A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors, Intended to Be an Appendix to Dr. Watts’ Psalms and Hymns'', commonly ...

commented that, "though his voice was low, his delivery was forcible and demanded attention." He was a leading figure in the Midland Baptist Association.

Personal

He married Elizabeth Boswell (1732–1784), daughter of a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

in the church in Bourton, on 11 December 1749. They had three sons, John, Benjamin and Foskett. In 1770, Beddome received an M.A. degree from Providence College,

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

. He died in Bourton aged 78, and was buried in the graveyard of the Baptist church.

Works

Beddome was a prolific hymn writer, composing more than 800 during his lifetime. These were written to be sung after his Sunday sermon each week, relating to the message he preached. were not originally intended for publication, he allowed 13 of them to be included in the ''Bristol Baptist Collection'' of Ash & Evans, and 36 in Rippon's ''Selection''. In 1818, a posthumous collection of 830 of his hymns was published as ''Hymns Adapted to Public Worship or Family Devotion''. A number of Beddome's hymns are also included in the

Sacred Harp Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that originated in New England and was later perpetuated and carried on in the American South. The name is derived from ''The Sacred Harp'', a ubiquitous and historically important tune ...

. Robert Hall wrote:

The man of taste will be gratified with the beauty and original turns of thought which many of them exhibit, while the experimental Christian will often perceive the most secret movements of his soul strikingly delineated, and sentiments portrayed which will find their echo in every heart.

In 1752, Beddome wrote ''A Scriptural Exposition of the Baptist Catechism, by Way of Question and Answer'', which was reprinted in 1776. Three volumes of his sermons were printed posthumously.

References

External links

Hymns by Benjamin Beddome

Blog dedicated to Beddome
1717 births 1795 deaths Baptist hymnwriters English hymnwriters People from Henley-in-Arden 18th-century English Baptist ministers Musicians from Gloucestershire People from Bourton-on-the-Water English Calvinist and Reformed ministers English evangelicals {{christianity-bio-stub