1717-1795

Jan­u­a­ry 23, 1717, Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, Eng­land.

Sep­tem­ber 23, 1795, Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, Eng­land.

Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, Eng­land.

Son of Bap­tist min­is­ter John Bed­dome, Benjamin was ap­pren­ticed to a sur­geon in Bris­tol, but moved to Lon­don in 1739 and joined the Bap­tist church in Pres­cott Street. At the call of his church, he de­vot­ed him­self to the work of Christ­ian min­is­try, and in 1740 be­gan to preach at Bour­ton-on-the-Wa­ter, Glou­ces­ter­shire. For ma­ny years he was one of the most re­spect­ed Bap­tist min­is­ters in west­ern Eng­land. He was al­so a man of some lit­er­ary cul­ture. In 1752, he wrote A Scrip­tur­al Ex­po­si­tion of the Bap­tist Cat­e­chism, by Way of Quest­ion and An­swer. In 1770, Beddome re­ceived a MA de­gree from Prov­i­dence Coll­ege, Rhode Is­land.

It was Bed­dome’s prac­tice to write a hymn week­ly for use af­ter his Sun­day morn­ing ser­mon. Though not orig­in­al­ly in­tend­ed for pub­li­ca­tion, he al­lowed 13 of these to ap­pear in the Bris­tol Bap­tist Col­lect­ion of Ash & Ev­ans (1769), and 36 in Rip­pon’s Se­lect­ions (1787). In 1817, a post­hu­mous col­lect­ion of his hymns was pub­lished, in Hymns Adapted to Pub­lic Wor­ship or Family Devotion, con­tain­ing 830 piec­es. Rob­ert Hall wrote of Bed­dome’s hymns:

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 pour­trayed which will find their echo in ev­e­ry heart.

  1. All Glo­ry Be to Him Who Came
  2. Almighty God, We Cry to Thee
  3. And Must I Part with All I Have
  4. And Shall I Sit Alone?
  5. Arise, Thou Bright and Morn­ing Star
  6. Ascend Thy Throne, Al­mighty King
  7. Awake, Awake, My Heart and Tongue
  8. Awake, Awake, Thou Mighty Arm
  9. Behold the Day Is Gone
  10. Behold the Eu­nuch, When Bap­tized
  11. Blest Com­fort­er, Di­vine
  12. Burdened with Guilt and Pale with Fear
  13. Buried Be­neath the Yield­ing Wave
  14. Can Sin­ners Hope for Hea­ven?
  15. Come Ho­ly Spir­it, Come
  16. Come, Je­sus, Hea­ven­ly Teach­er, Come
  17. Come, Thou Eter­nal Spir­it, Come
  18. Come, Ye Hum­ble, Con­trite Souls
  19. Death, ’Tis an Aw­ful Word
  20. Did Christ o’er Sin­ners Weep?
  21. Dost Thou My Pro­fit Seek?
  22. Each Other We Have Owned
  23. Eternal Source of Ev­ery Good
  24. Faith, ’Tis a Pre­cious Gift
  25. Father of Mer­cies, Bend Thine Ear
  26. Fountain of Bless­ing, Ev­er Blest
  27. From Thy Dear Pierced Side
  28. Go Forth, Ye Saints, Be­hold Your King
  29. God, in the Gos­pel of His Son
  30. Great God, ’Tis from Thy Sov­er­eign Grace
  31. Great God, to Thee I’ll Make
  32. Great God of Pro­vi­dence, Thy Ways
  33. Great God, My Mak­er and My King
  34. How Free and Bound­less Is the Grace
  35. How Great, How Sol­emn is the Work
  36. How Great the Wis­dom
  37. How Ma­ny Doubts and Fears Pre­vail
  38. If Christ Is Mine, Then All Is Mine
  39. If I Must Die, O Let Me Die
  40. If Sec­ret Fraud Should Dwell
  41. In All My Ways, O God
  42. In Duties and in Suf­fer­ings, Too
  43. Jesus, De­lightful, Charm­ing Name
  44. Jesus, My Lord, My Chief De­light
  45. Jesus, My Sav­ior, Bind Me Fast
  46. Jesus, My Sav­ior, Let Me Be
  47. Jesus, When Faith with Fixed Eyes
  48. Let Party Names No More
  49. Lord, In­cline My Wan­der­ing Heart
  50. Lord, Though Bit­ter Is the Cup
  51. Lord, with a Grieved and Ach­ing Heart
  52. Love Is the Fount­ain Whence
  53. Mighty God Will Not Des­pise, The
  54. My Few Re­volv­ing Years
  55. My Ris­ing Soul with Strong De­sires
  56. My Times of Sor­row and of Joy
  57. O Blest So­ci­e­ty
  58. O Lord, Thou Art My Lord
  59. O Lord, Thy Per­fect Word
  60. On Bri­tain, Long a Fa­vored Isle
  61. On Wings of Love the Christ­ian Flies
  62. Pray­er Is the Breath of God in Man
  63. Shout, for the Bless­èd Je­sus Reigns
  64. So Fair a Face Bed­ewed with Tears
  65. Sprinkled with the Re­con­cil­ing Blood
  66. Straight the Gate, the Way is Nar­row
  67. There Is a World of Per­fect Bliss
  68. This World’s a Dreary Wild­er­ness
  69. Wait, O My Soul, Thy Mak­er’s Will
  70. Wandering Star, the Fleet­ing Wind, The
  71. When Ad­am Sinned, Through All His Race
  72. When by the Tempt­er’s Wiles Be­trayed
  73. When Is­ra­el Through the De­sert Passed
  74. When Storms Hang o’er the Christ­ian’s Head
  75. Where’er the Blus­ter­ing North Wind Blows
  76. Why, O My Soul, Why Weep­est Thou?
  77. Witness, Ye Men and An­gels, Now
  78. Ye Tremb­ling Souls, Dis­miss Your Fears
  79. Ye Worlds of Light That Roll So Near
  80. Your Work, Ye Saints, Is Not Comp­rised
where to get Bed­dome’s pic­ture