Let party names no more

Benjamin Beddome was born January 23, 1717, Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, England. He died September 23, 1793, Burton-on-the-water, Gloucestershire, England and was buried in Saint Lawrence church yard in the same city.

Benjamin was the son of Baptist minister John Beddome. He was an apprentice to a surgeon in Bristol but moved to London in 1739 and joined the Baptist Church in Prescott Street. He devoted himself to the work of Christian ministry, and in 1740 began to preach at the Bourbon-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 1770, Beddome receive an MA degree from Providence College Rhode Island. It was his practice to write to a hymn weekly for use after his Sunday morning sermon. Thought not originally intended for publication, he allowed 13 of these to appear in the 1769 Bristol Baptist Collection of Ash & Evans, and 36 of Rippon’s Selection’s (1787).

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. ”

Other works include:

• A Scriptural Exposition of the Baptist Catechism by Way of Question and Answer,

1752

• Hymns Adapted to Public Worship or Family Devotion, published posthumously in 1817

(Cyber hymnal)

Baptist hymn writer and preacher, Beddome was born at Warwickshire, England. In his time he was one of the most respected Baptist ministers in the western part of England. He wrote a hymn every week to be sung after his sermon. After his death, 830 of his hymns were published. The best known hymn writer among the Baptists, his hymns are more popular in North America than in England. - Songs of the Spirit by Martin

--------------
The original stanza 4 is slightly different:
4 Thus will the church below
Resemble that above,
Where streams of pleasure ever flow,
And every heart is love.