OBITUARY.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1744, 7 March 1874, Page 2

OBITU A RY.

The late English telegrams published to-day contain the announcement of the deaths of two distinguished men—the Rev, Thomas Binney and Charles Shirley Brooks. The following notices of them are taken from "Men of the Time :'W REV. THOMAS BINNEY. •.-.:.'

Binney, the Rev. Thomas, born in 1798, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, was educated at Wymondlejr College. Mr Binney commenced as minister of an Independent chapel at Newport, Isle of Wight; whence b he removed in 1829, to London, to the pastorate of the "King's Weigh-house Chapel," then in Eastcheap. In 1826 he published the "Life of the Rev. Stephen Morell," and in 1827 a discourse preached before the Congregational ministers of Hampshire, "Qn the Ultimate Design of the, .Christian Ministry." After his settlement in London, he issued under the signature ot.'f.Rat Justitia,"

several pamphlets, treating with great freedom many topics then agitating the religious world, which soon became very popular. In ] 834 he delivered an address on laying the first stone of the new King's Weigh-house Chapel on Fish-street Hill, which created considerable discussion, and afterwards published "Dissent not Schism," "The Ultimate Object of the Evangelical Dissenters," " The Christian Ministry not a Priesthood," " Righteousness Exalteth a Nation," and "An Imaginary Conversation," appended to a work of Mr Baird's, in which he discusses the question, "Are Dis3entera to have a Liturgy?" He is the author of a series of papers on "The Great Gorham Case," which he contributed to the Christian Times, and of "An Argument on the Levitical Law touching the Marriage of a Deceased Wife's Sister," which on its appearance passed rapidly through several editions. His "Conscientious Clerical Nonconformity," in which he justifies a refusal of subscription to the Prayer-book, is thought, by his coreligionists, to be a defence of their position which it is difficult to refute. Mr Binney was the first to introduce chanting into the service of Independent congregations ,* and he gave a great impulse to congregational psalmody by his " Service of Song in the House of the Lord." In a previous work, "The Closet and the Church," he had enforced the necessity of ministerial devotion. The best known of his other works is a volume of discourses on the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, entitled " The Practical Power of Faith," published in 1830. He edited a volume entitled "Tower Sermons," preached at Tower Church, Eritb, to which he contributed two discourses. Two of his "Lectures to Young Men" grew under his hands into small volumes— one on Sir Thomas Fowell Buxtoh, and the other ontitled, "Is it Possible to make the Best of Both Worlds?" In 1845 he paid a visit to the United States and the Canadas. In 1857 ho set out on tour through the a Australian colonies, where he preached and lectured to large audiences. His correspondence with the Bishop of Adelaide, commenced by his lordship, excited much attention when it appeared in the English and Australian journals. Mr Binney continued his labors in Australia about two years, after which he returned to England and resumed his duties as pastor to the King's Weigh-house Chapel. During his stay in Australia he published a work on the " Bishop of Adelaide's Idea of the Church of the Future," which has since been published in London, with additional matter, under the title of " Lights and Shadows of Church Life in Australia," including " Thoughts of Some Things at Home ;" and has since published "Moisey," "St. Paul, his Life and Ministry to the Close of his Third Missionary Journey," and " Micah, the Priestmaker, a Handbook on Ritualism." In 1868 Mr Binney published "From Seventeen to Thirty : the Town Life of a Youth from the Country," another book, which, like " Sir F. Buxton," and "Is it Possible," was expressly intended for young men. In 1869 Mr Binney, having completed a ministry of forty years at the King's Weigh-hnuse Chapel, preached and published a discourse under the title of "A Forty Years' Review," and also an Bvo. volumn of sermons, as a memorial of his long connection with his congregation. In January, 1871, he retired from the pastorate of the Weigh-house Chapel, and was succeeded by the Rev. W. Braden, of Huddersfield. Mr Binney received from the University of Aberdeen the degree of LL.D., and that of D.D. from the United States.