Beauchamp, William, an early and distinguish- ed MethodiVt Episcopal minister. He was lorn in Kent County, Del., April 26th, 1772; joined the M. E. Church about 1788. In 1790 he taught a school at Monongahela, Va., began to preach in 1791, and in 1793 he travelled under the presiding elder. In 1794 he joined the itinerancy ; and in 1797 he was station- ed in New York, and in 1798 in Boston. In 1801 he located, from ill health, and married Mrs. Russel, "one of the most excellent of women." In 1807 he settled on the Little Kenawha, Va. Here he preach- ed with great success until 1815, when he removed to
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Chilicothe, Ohio, to act as editor of the Western Chris- Am Monitor, which he conducted " with conspicuous ability," preaching meantime "with eminent success." In 1817 ho removed to Mount Carmel, 111., and cn- gaged in founding a settlement, in every detail of which, civil, economical, and mechanical, his genius
eminent He was pastor, teacher, lawyer, and engineer. In 1822 he re-entered the itinerancy, in the Missouri Conference; "in 1823, was appointed presiding elder on Indiana District," then embracing nearly the h hole state. In 1824 he was a delegate to
til Conference at Baltimore, "and lacked but two votss of an election to the episcopacy" by that body. He died at Paoli, Orange County, Ind., Oct. 7th, 182 I. By diligent study, often pursued by torch- light in his frontier life, he made himself master of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. "His preaching was chasl • and dignified, logical, and sometimes of over- powering force." He possessed a great and organizing mind, and a peculiar and almost universal genius, and, with adequate advantages for study, would certainly have influenced widely the history of this country. His Essays on the Truth of tit? Christian Religion is "a work of decided merit." His Letters on the Itinerancy, with a memoir by Bishop Soule, were published after his death, and he left several fine MSS., which remain unpublished. — Minutes of Conferences, i, 474; Methodist Magazine, 1825; Stevens, Memorials of Methodism, i, ch. xxix; Sprague, Annals, vii, 235.
Beaumont, Joseph, M.D., one of the most em- inent preachers in the Methodist Church of England, was the son of the Rev. John Beaumont, and was born at Castle Donington, March 19, 1794. He received his cdination at Kingswood school, and was there con- verted to God. After some years spent in the study of medicine, he determined to enter the ministry ; and though Ids way would hive been opened into the Es- tablished Church by tho kindness of friends, he pre- ferred to remain with the Wesleyan Methodists, and was received on trial by the Conference of 1813. He was soon recognised as a preacher of more than com- mon promise. An impediment in his speech appeared likely to hinder his success, but by great resolution he surmounted it, and became a fluent and effective speaker. His preaching was characterized by bril- liancy of illustration, by repeated bursts of impassion- ed eloquence, and an earnestness of manner and deliv- er}' often amounting to impetuosity. For many years he n is one of the most popular pulpit and platform speakers in Great Britain. His last, appointment was Hull, where he died suddenly in the pulpit, January 21, 1855. A number of his occasional sermons and arc published; a specimen of them will be found in the English Pulpit, 1849, p. 123. His Vfe, written by his son, appeared in 1856. — Wesleyan Min- utes (Lond. 1855 1 ; London /.'■ v. July, 185G, p. 564.
Beausobre, Is\.\c de, born at Niort, March 8th, n anci Mit family, originally of Limousin. His parents were Protestants, and educated him at Sau- mur. In 1683 he u is ordained minister at Chatillon- snr-Indr.', iuTouraine. The French government caused his church to be sealed up, and Beausobre was bold enough to break tb • se il, for which he was compelled to flee, and at Rotterdam he became chaplain to the Prince of \i.hah. |„ [693 he published bis Defence <f'h Doctrin nfthe Reformers (Defense de la doct. des Provid nee, etc.), in which he treats the Lutherans with some severity, and defends the Synod 1:1 1694 he went to Berlin, where he received many appointments, and was charged, together with I.'F.ui'mt. with the work oftranslatin itheN. T. The n-w version, with ample prefaces and notes, appeared at Amsterdam in 1718 (2 vols. 4to),and again in 1741, with emendations. The Epistles ofSt.Paul were the only part of the work which fell to the share of Beau- sobrc. The notes are tinged with Socinianism. He
I labored during a large portion of his life at a History of the Reformation, from the Council of Basle to the period of the publication of the Confession of Augsburg, and it was this undertaking which drew from him his Critical History of Manichceism (Histoire Critique du Manicheisme, Amst. 1734-39, 2 vols. 4to), of which vol. ii was posthumous. The work is written with vast ability, and shows that many of those who are charged with Manichaeism in the Middle Ages by the Papists are falsely charged. The Protestant congregations of
I Utrecht, Hamburg, and the Savoy, at London, en-
! deavored to induce Beausobre to become their pastor, but the King of Prussia valued him too highly to per- mit him to leave Berlin. His Sermons on the Resurrec- tion of Lazarus were translated by Cotes (Lond. 1822, 8vo). He died June 6th, 1738. *Hc left, besides the works above mentioned, Remarques critiques et philolo- giques sur le N. T. (Hague 1742, 2 vols. 4to) : — Histoire critique du Culte des Marts parmi ks Chretiens (t les Paiens: — A Supplement to U Enfant' s History ofth Huss- ites (Lausanne, 1745. 4to) : — A History of the Reforma- tion, from 1517 to 1630 (Berlin, 1785, 4 vols. 8vo).— Landon, Heel. Dct. ii, 110; Haag, Li France Protss- tante, ii, 123-127.