01/03/2024

James Newton 1732-1790

If Beddome is rather forgotten, he certainly has some even more forgotten contemporaries. James Newton would be an example. Born in Che­nies, Buck­ing­ham­shire, in 1732, we know nothing of his upbringing. A Baptist church did not exist there until 1760. Newton may well have attended a Baptist church in Reasing or elsewhere. When he was 17 he moved to London, where he joined the Bap­tist church in Maze Pond led by Benjamin Wall­in (1711-1782). Presumably, Newton had been converted in his youth and was from a godly home. He was also a bright fellow and the church in Maze Pond soon recognised his abilities and assigned him to studies under Thomas Llewelyn LlD (c 1720-1783), a Welshman who ran an academy in London 1746-1770. Having completed his studies, in 1758, he be­came as­sist­ant min­is­ter to John Tom­mas (1724-1800), pas­tor of the Bap­tist church in Pith­ay, Bris­tol, and, in 1770, class­ic­al tu­tor at the Bap­tist col­lege in Bris­tol alongside Caleb Evans (1712-1781). One of Newton's students, John Rippon (1751-1836), wrote of Newton's fitnes for his academic task. "With the Latin and Greek classics, with the Christian Hebrew scriptures, the Misnah, Talmuds, and other Jewish writings, he was intimately acquainted." He remarks how former students "perfectly recollect with what humility, prudence and affection he entered on his office among us and with what patience and assiduity he sustained it." Newton held both po­si­tions un­til his death in 1790, in Bristol. He appears to have been a bachelor and it is possible that he lived with the Cottle family. Robert Cottle (c 1730-1800) was the father of the printer and publisher Joseph Cottle (1770-1853) publisher of Wordsworth. Clearly a popular and friendly fellow, Newton was especially close to the minister James Dore (1764-1825) who pastored Maze Pond from 1784. Newton preached the annual sermon at the Bristol Education Society in 1776, which was published. Ten years before he had published a pamphlet defending Caleb Ecans and orthodox teaching on the Trinity. Newton is the author of the hymn "Proclaim, says Christ, my wondrous grace".

14/11/2023

Medical References in Sermons 23


This is from Volume 6, Sermon 3 on Proverbs 28:13

But let it be remembered, that excuses for sin necessarily imply the love of sin, which is actually inconsistent with the love of God. The wound is not less dangerous because it is covered over or the disease less fatal because it is concealed. Neither is the evil of sin lessened, but aggravated, by the pains taken to extenuate it; for these are only so many proofs of impenitence and unbelief and have a disposition to pass persevere in an evil course.

29/07/2023

Lower Slaughter

Lower Slaughter

I notice that the new book on Beddome features Lower Slaughter rather than Bourton-on-the-Water. This is where Beddome lived throught most of the 1740s before his marriage near the end of 1749 and the move to Bourton.

24/07/2023

Medical References in Sermons 22


This one is in Volume 6 Sermon 19 on Psam 38:5

David felt the danger of his disease, as well as the loathsomeness attending it. Wounds are generally dangerous, especially where they become malignant through neglect; and such also are mortified corruptions, when they have long been suffered to prevail. Nothing endangers the soul like sin, indeed nothing but sin. A continually running sore, like a consumptive habit of body, gradually impairs the strength of the whole frame, till at length we sink into the arms of death. Sin is called the plague of the heart, to denote that it is as dreadful and as fatal as the disease with which it is compared. Where it is repented of and subdued it shall not destroy the soul; nevertheless it will destroy its comforts ...

References to other writers in Sermons 6


In Volume 6 of his published sermons (Short Discourses Vol 6) Beddome makes reference to these sources

6:1 1 Corinthians 16:13

Henry Newcombe (1627-1695)

An eminently pious minister once said that were it not for his hope in the grace and righteousness of Christ the thoughts of death would drive him distracted.

Ignatius

When the flesh of Ignatius began to be torn by the wild beasts, Now, says he, with a kind of holy exultation, now I begin to be a Christian.

Edward Young (1681-1765)
Night Thoughts

to trifle, is to live:
And is it then a trifle, too, to die?

John Milton (1606-1674)
Paradise Lost

Oh when will Death This mouldering old partition wall throw down
Give beings one in nature, one abode
Oh Death divine that givest us to the skies.

Edward Young (1681-1765)
Night Thoughts

The man immortal, rationally brave,
Dares rush on death - because he cannot die.

6:4 Revelation 2:4
John Chrysostom (d 407)

It is said of the Christians at Antioch that they so valued Chrysostom their excellent pastor that if driven to the alternative they would rather choose to be deprived of the light of the Sun than his ministrations.

6:6 Romans 5:8
Archbishop Ussher (1581-1656)
A word of Christ before we part was the usual saying of pious archbishop Usher to his friends when they had been conversing about the various branches of human literature in which he was so eminently versed.
Edward Young (1681-1765)
Night Thoughts

Behold the picture of earth's happiest man:
"He calls his wish, it comes; he sends it back,
And says he call'd another; that arrives,
Meets the same welcome; yet he still calls on;
Till One calls him, who varies not his call,
But holds him fast in chains of darkness bound,

...

To man the bleeding cross has promised all
The bleeding cross has sworn eternal grace.
Who gave his life, what grace shall he deny?

6:8 Romans 1:6
Westmnster Shorter Catechism

Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he does persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.

Medical References in Sermons 21

Volume 6 Sermon 2 Luke 17:17


... it became an emblem of the moral defilement of our nature, which is total and universal. No representation can teach us more effectually the necessity, of casting ourselves at the Redeemer's feet, and crying, 'Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.' Nothing short of a divine power could heal the leprosy, and nothing but this can heal the leprosy of sin. No medicine was available; the disease was hereditary and incurable. Hence when Benhadad sent his servant Naaman to the king of Israel to be healed, of his leprosy, the latter considered it as an intended insult, and indignantly replied, 'Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?' So it belongs to God only to heal the malady of the soul, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The leprosy being contagious as well as loathsome, it was necessary to exclude the infected party from all society. The lepers were accordingly shut out from the camp, from the city and temple of Jerusalem; they could neither taste the sweets of friendship, nor enjoy the privileges of public worship. They had to lament and say with David, 'My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore, and my kinsmen stand afar off.' The lepers which met Jesus as he passed through the midst of Samaria, not being suffered to approach, 'stood afar off,' and cried to him for mercy; and being withheld from general society, they herded together among themselves to the number of ten persons; and in this miserable and hopeless situation, Jesus found them. In like manner, being wholly defiled with a moral leprosy, are we as sinners shut out from the camp of God, ecluded from the society of holy and happy beings ...

Medical References in Sermons 20


Sermons Volume 6 Sermon 14 John 3:14
...

'And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died.' Num xxi. 5, 6. In the midst of this calamity, they confess their sin, bewail their condition, and entreat Moses to intercede for them. Similar to this is the situation of an awakened sinner, under the accusations of a guilty conscience, when the terrors of the Almighty set themselves in array against him. He cannot support himself under his load, much less remove it; his wounds stink and are corrupt, but he is a stranger to the true method of healing. He can neither satisfy the claims of the law, nor endure its penalties. He would do something, but he knows not what. He is taken in a snare: and by striving to break it, he only entangles himself the more. Being wounded and poisoned by sin, whose sting is worse than that of the adder, he must inevitably die, if a sovereign remedy be not speedily applied. The sickness is unto death, and no human, hand can heal. ...

For 'it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.' This speedy and effective cure was a lively emblem of the effects arising from faith in Christ. Though from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet there is no soundness in us, and nothing but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores, yet one look to Jesus, accompanied with a look from him, will correct every vicious humour, and spread life and health and vigour throughout the whole man, let the disease be ever so inveterate, an immediate check will be given to its progress, and a foundation laid for its entire removal.

… while the glorious antitype is infinitely superior to the type, there is at the same time a considerable resemblance between them. The poor as well as the rich might look to the brazen serpent and be healed, and it cost them nothing; and in the same way the most miserable sinner may look to Jesus, however contemptible he may appear in the eyes of the world, or however destitute himself of any recommendatory qualifications. Amongst those who viewed the emblem in the wilderness, some might be situated in the extremities of the camp, so that they had only a distant view of the object. Others had their eyes nearly closed in the shades of death, when the disease had arrived at its latest stages. Some, being once healed, were probably wounded afresh with fiery serpents; and by looking again to the serpent on the pole, were once more healed.
All this was emblematical of our moral sickness, and of the means by which the cure is to be effected. The sinner, however enfeebled or diseased, however distressed by the malignity or prevalence of his corruptions may still obtain a speedy and effectual cure, if the eye of faith be but directed to the Saviour.
...
The serpent was erected only in the wilderness; there only are we liable to be stung and there it is the remedy is provided. If we carry the moral disease with us out of this world, it will not be healed in the next. There he that is unjust 'will be unjust still, and he that is filthy will be filth's, still. There is no physician for lost souls on the other side the grave, nor any deliverance there. Eccles ix:10, Rev xxii.11.

1. How strange is it, that amongst the thousands and tens of thousands who are envenomed by him, so many should be utterly insensible of their disease: and while labouring under the symptoms of eternal death, should still appear to be unconcerned. Every pious mind pities them, but they have no pity for themselves. This can arise only from the nature of the disease, which throws them into a deep sleep, from which nothing but the voice of the Son of God can effectually awaken them.
2. It is equally surprising, that many who appear to be sensible of their danger, should nevertheless be found to neglect the only remedy; a remedy which so demonstrates the riches of divine grace, and is so evidently calculated for our advantage. …





Medical References in Sermons 19

Volume 6 Sermon 9 Hosea 4:7
Woebe to them whose sins go unpunished. God spares in wrath, and corrects in mercy. When a physician ceases to administer his bitter potions, or a surgeon to search the wound, it is a sign they look upon the case as desperate. As God does not spare his people here; in order that he may spare them hereafter; so he often forbears to punish the wicked in this world, and suffers them to enjoy uninterrupted prosperity, that he may punish them more severely in the next. Amos iii.2; Luke xvi. 22-25; Heb xii.6

21/07/2023

Nathanael Rawlings

This memoir of Nathaniel Rawlin(g)s is from The Baptist Magazine 1810, pp 27, 28

REV. NATHANAEL RAWLINGS

Your fathers where are they? And the Prophets, do they live forever? No, these men of like passions with otliers, like other men, like all sinners, die. Yet the memory of the just is blessecl; their journey through life is marked by a progress, which in its moral splendour resembles the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. This beautiful illustration very happily characterised the pious subject of this slight memoir; the days of whose pilgrimage, amounting to more than threescore years and ten, were nearly all spent in this state of blessed prgression. The late Rev N Rawlings was born in Morton-in-theMmarsh, Gloucestershire, 1733. His mother and father were long members of the Baptist church in Bourton-on-the-Water. On his maternal side genuine piety is to be traced through preceding generations. His ancestors were among those of whom the world is not worthy and who avoided its fury during persecuting times by assembling in solitary places. Mr R was serious from a child and was baptised at Bourton in 1750 at 18 years of age. The church soon requested him to preach and when after long solicitation his diffidence yielded to this trial of his abilities, he was sent to Bristol Academy, then under the care of the Rev H Evans and the Rev B Foskett. Here he remained four years; during this period he supplied the church at Trowbridge and was so far approved as to be called at the termination of it to the pastoral charge. It was nevertheless a season of adversity; the number was scanty, the brethren were at variance, and symptoms of disaffection to the ministry of Mr. R. began to discover themselves, so that his ordination, which occurred, October l0th, 1765, was succeeded by his resignation and removal in 1771, when he settled at Bronghton, in Hampshire.
A few days preivious to his departure he married Miss Mary Webb, an emineutly pious woman, who was baptised at the uge of twelve; with her he enjoyed the sacred interests of eonjugal life for thirty years; she died in November 1801 without children, and he remained a widower.
At Broughton he resided six years, when a visit to his friends at Trowbridge renewing all their former attachments produced the united and successful application for his return. He resumed his charge in November 1777. The first settlement was short and troublesome, the last durable and happy. A long series of uninterrupted rosperity in this part of Zion signalised with peculiar favour his subsequent ministry; and his declining life, cheered by the affection of his people and the success of his labours did not present that sort of gloomy pause which has marked alas so frequently the fainting energies of extended age; producing a melancholy interval between the business of both worlds.
A remarkable integrity of character united with great plainness of manners sometimes failed to introduce Mr R advantageously to the attention of a stranger but gave him an honourable seat in the circle of friendship. There it was known how much the law of kindness governed his heart and there breaking through his natural reserve it was expressed by the appropriate communications of the tongue ministering grace to the hearers.
To the popularity of his address or the brilliancy of his talent none of the friends of Mr R will attribute his permanent success as a preacher; but they will remember with veneration how well his holy life and deep personal experience enabled him to enforce those doctrinal subjects in which he especially delighted. They will recollect the usefulness of discourses which finding entrance at the heart abundantly compensated for the want of elegancies which had they distinguished the preacher could not have survived him. They will look round on the late converts of his ministry and see how this aged shepherd brought home the wanderers to his Master's fold when it was eventide with himself and nature might have languished for repose. More than 40 members have been added to the church during the last five years and the place of worship has been crowded.
He was taken ill while attending the funeral of the late Reverend Mr Clarke of Trowbridge and never preached afterwards. He said to a friend who called on him the next day "My work is done. I have nothing more to do here". His tedious illness was admirably sustained, his consolations were not expressed by ecstasies but by the peaceful triumph of an abiding hop; of which he often spoke to those about him. He died October 7th, 1809. His funeral sermon by the Reverend J Barnard of Bradford was delivered to an overflowing house from whence indeed hundreds departed unable to obtain admission. It was founded on a passage selected by himself; at once describing the blessedness of his past experience and the emphasis of his present joy Christ is all and in all.

New book here

 The book by Steohen Pickles has now arrived from Osset. This blog is duly acknowledged. Beddome is a life time's interest, however, and this is only the first of two proposed volumes. Mr Pickles (who sadly I have never met) is slightly coy about luanching another biography but this is a much larger and more rambling piece that contains many things not found elsewhere. The hymns, sermons and other materials are quoted extensively and there is lots to learn. Mr Pickles is also apprehensive that people will not be happy with his take on Beddome. This, no doubt, is due to the matter of one's attitude towards Andrew Fuller. It will be interesting to see what evidence he is able to find of non-Fullerism.