Benjamin Beddome (January 23, 1717 – September 23, 1795) was an English Baptist minister and hymnist. He was born in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, England.
He was the son of a Baptist minister, John Beddome. Initially apprenticed to a surgeon in Bristol, he is a largely forgotten 18th Century English Baptist preacher, remembered today only as a minor hymn-writer. For over half a century he served as pastor of the Baptist church meeting at Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire.
In 1739 he joined the Baptist church in Prescott Street, London, and at the call of his church devoted himself to the work of Christian ministry. In 1740 he began to preach at Bourton-on-the-Water, and became one of the most highly respected Baptist ministers in western England, known for his literary attainments. In 1752, he wrote A Scriptural Exposition of the Baptist Catechism, by Way of Question and Answer. In 1770, Beddome received an MA degree from Providence College, Rhode Island.
Beddome long wrote a hymn each week to be sung after his Sunday sermon. Though his hymns 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 1817, a posthumous collection of his hymns was published as Hymns Adapted to Public Worship or Family Devotion, containing 830 pieces. Today a number of Beddome’s hymns are included in the Sacred Harp.
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
portrayed which will find their echo in every heart.
Benjamin Beddome died in 1795, and is buried in the churchyard in Bourton-on-the-Water,
Gloucestershire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Beddome
http://benbeddome.blogspot.com/
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/b/e/d/beddome_b.htm for words of his hymns.