Gerrit Beets, b. 21 December 1707, ordained as preacher of the congregation of Hamburg-Altona in February 1727, chosen as elder there in 1749, a man of large physique and strong spirit, so eloquent that he was called the Apollo of the church. G. Karsdorp, Jr., writes of him, "His addresses to baptismal candidates and at communion services were especially moving; the Lord was in the temple through the mouth of His servant." On 9 December 1776 a cerebral hemorrhage ended his life in the midst of a sermon. Karsdorp preached his funeral sermon, which was printed in Altona in 1777. His father was Jan Beets, a deacon in Hamburg from 1703 to 1712. The 1710 letter from the Dutch ambassador in Bern to a J. Beets in Hoorn mentioned by Ernst Müller (Berner Täufer) may have been addressed to him. Printed works of his are the following: Lijkrede op H. T. de Jager (1749); Lijkrede op G. Karsdorp de Oude (1750): De vroolyke gesettheyd eenes Christens tegens de verschrikkingen des doods, . . . and Denkmaal in de Harten van Gods Volk, (1749); also Preek over I. Cor. 4, 4 en 5, the sermon in which he was interrupted by the stroke.

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