A Prayer for Ministers

This hymn is a prayer for ministers, written by English Baptist pastor Benjamin Beddome (1717-1795). It may well be sung with Hamburg, Hebron, or many other good Long Meter tunes.

1. Father of mercies, bow thine ear,
Attentive to our earnest prayer;
We plead for those who plead for thee;
Successful pleaders may they be!

2. How great their work, how vast their charge,
Do thou their anxious souls enlarge:
Their best acquirements are our gain,
We share the blessings they obtain.

3. Clothe thou with energy divine
Their words, and let those words be thine;
To them thy sacred truth reveal,
Suppress their fear, inflame their zeal.

4. Teach them aright to sow the seed,
Teach them thy chosen flock to feed;
Teach them immortal souls to gain,
Nor let them labour, Lord, in vain.

5. Let thronging multitudes around,
Hear from their lips the joyful sound,
In humble strains thy grace adore,
And feel thy new-creating power.

6. Let sinners break their massy chains,
Distressèd souls forget their pains;
Let light through distant realms be spread,
And Zion rears her drooping head.

Benjamin Beddome was born at Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, January 23, 1717. He was the son of a Baptist preacher, John Beddome who was ministering at Henley-in-Arden at the time Benjamin was born. The younger Beddome also became a Baptist preacher, beginning his ministry around 1740. He authored several discourses (including Exposition of the Baptist Catechism) in addition to his hymns – which number was over 800. His hymns were written to be sung after his sermons on the Lord’s Day morning. Benjamin Beddome died September 23, 1795 at Bourton-upon-the-Water, Cotswold District, Gloucestershire, England, and is buried there in the St. Lawrence Churchyard.

In 1818 a collection of Beddome’s hymns was published, called Hymns Adapted to Public Worship, or Family Devotion (London: Burton and Briggs, 1818), possibly produced at the instigation of Robert Hall, and at least with his recommendation. This poetry is Hymn No. 700, placed in the section “Spread of the Gospel” under the heading “Prayer for Ministers.” It has six stanzas in Long Meter. Montgomery says Beddome is a “writer worthy of honour both for the quantity and the quality of his hymns.”

This hymn does not seem to have been “captured” by one main tune. It has been printed in song books with the following tunes and others: All Saints, Federal Street, Hebron, Wareham, et al.

[Note: Massy in the first line of stanza six seems to be used as a synonym for massive, heavy, weighty.