BINNEY, Thomas, an English Nonconformist divine, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1798, and died February 24, 1874. After spending seven years in the employment of a bookseller he entered the theological college of Wym-ondley, Herts, with the view of studying for the ministry. His first pastoral charge was that of the Congregational church at Newport, Isle of Wight, to which he was inducted in 1824. Five years later—in 1829—he accepted a call to the historic Weigh House chapel, London. Here he at once established what proved to be a lasting popularity, and it was found necessary to build a much larger place of worship on Fish Street Hill, to which the congregation removed in 1834. An address delivered on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of the new building was afterwards published, with an appendix containing a strongly worded opinion as to the baneful influence of the Church of England, which naturally gave rise to much angry comment and a prolonged and bitter controversy. Throughout his whole career Binney was a vigorous and intelligent opponent of the state church principle, but those who inferred from one, perhaps unguarded, statement that he was a narrow-minded political dissenter did him injustice. His liberality of view and breadth of ecclesiastical sympathy entitle him to rank on questions of Nonconformity among the most distinguished of the school of Richard Baxter. Accordingly, in his later years he was not only recognized by general consent as the foremost name among all sections of English Nonconformists, but maintained friendly relations with many of the leading dignitaries of the Established Church. He continued in the active discharge of the duties of the ministry, though latterly with the help of a colleague, until 1871, when he ...