174 OUR HYMNS I
He was the author of an " Exposition on the Baptist Cate chism, 1752." "Twenty short Discourses from his MSS. " were published in 1805, and his work, " Hymns Adapted to Public Worship or Family Devotion " was published in 1818. In 1835 there was published a work entitled, " Sermons Printed from the MSS. of the late Rev. B. Beddome, M.A., with a brief Memoir of the Author." It contains sixty-seven sermons on practical subjects.
Montgomery speaks of him as a " writer worthy of honour, both for the quantity and the quality of his hymns." And says, " His compositions are calculated to be far more useful than attractive, though, on closer acquaintance, they become very agreeable, as well as impressive, being for the most part brief and pithy. A single idea, always important, often striking, and sometimes ingeniously brought out, not with a mere point at the end, but with the terseness and simplicity of the Greek epigram constitutes the basis of each piece." Many of Beddome s hymns were written to be sung after his sermons, and to serve as applications of their principal lessons.
Robert Hall, in his introduction to Beddome s " Hymns Adapted to Public Worship or Family Devotion," 1818, says " The man of taste will be gratified with the beautiful and original thoughts which many of them exhibit, while the experi mental Christian will often perceive the most sweet movements of his soul strikingly delineated, and sentiments portrayed which will find their echo in every heart." He also commends the erudition, wit, talent, and piety of the author.
Beddome s hymns were written at various times. They were not written for the general public, and he did not collect them himself, but he allowed some to appear in a general collection prepared for the Baptist denomination.
The posthumous collection of 1818 contains 830 pieces. The seven hymns by Beddome, in the " New Congregational Hymn Book," are in it.
" In all my ways, God." No. 155.
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