BINGHAM, JOSEPH: Church of England; b. at Wakefield (9 m. s. of Leeds), Yorkshire, Sept., 1668; d. at Havant (6 m. s.e. of Portsmouth), Hampshire, Aug. 17, 1723. He studied at Oxford and was fellow of University College 1689-95, when he resigned and withdrew from the university because his controversial sermon on the Trinity preached before the university had led to the charge, wholly unmerited, of heresy. He was immediately appointed rector of HeadbournWorthy (2 m. n. of Winchester), which made the rich cathedral library accessible to him. In 1712 he was transferred to the better living of Havant. His fame rests upon his Origines Ecclesiasticœ, or the Antiquities of the Christian Church (8 vols., London, 1708-22). This is exhaustive for the field it covers and can never be superseded, as it is derived from the sources and interestingly written. It has been a quarry for many books and itself several times reprinted; the best edition is by the great-great-grandson of the author, Rev. Richard Bingham (vols. i-viii of Bingham's Works, 10 vols., Oxford, 1855). There is a separate edition of the Antiquities in the Bohn Library (2 vols.), a Latin translation by Johann Heinrich Grischow (Grischovius; 11 vols., Halle, 1724-38), and an abridged German translation by an anonymous Roman Catholic author (4 vols., Augsburg, 1788-96). Unfortunately Bingham invested his savings in the South Sea Bubble and so lost them in 1720.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bingham's biography by his great-grandson is given in the Oxford ed. of his works. Consult also: J. Darling, Cyclopœdia Bibliographica, pp. 312-315, London, 1854; S. S. Allibone, Critical Dictionary of Eng. Literature, i, 189-190, Philadelphia, 1891; DNB, v, 48-50.

BINNEY, THOMAS: English Congregationalist; b. at Newcastle-upon-Tyne Apr. 30, 1798; d. at Clapton, London, Feb. 24, 1874. He was for seven years a bookseller's clerk at Newcastle, during which time he learned Greek and Latin and accomplished considerable reading. He studied at the theological seminary at Wymondley, Hertfordshire, and was minister for a year at Bedford; became minister at Newport, Isle of Wight, 1824, of the King's Weigh-House Chapel, Eastcheap, London, 1829, and remained there forty years. After retiring from his pastorate he was professor of homiletics and pastoral theology at New College, London. He was chairman of the Congregational Union in 1848. He was strongly opposed to an established Church, and in 1833 at the laying of the cornerstone of a new chapel for the Weigh-House congregation expressed himself on the subject in language which led to a long and bitter controversy. He felt that the sermon occupied too large a place in the service of the non-ritualistic Churches and favored the introduction of responsive readings and similar changes in the form of worship; his Service of Song in the House of the Lord (London, 1848) exercised much influence in the development of a richer and better musical service, and he enriched the hymnals by the hymn "Eternal light, eternal light." He edited Charles W. Baird's Chapter on Liturgies, adding a preface and an appendix, "Are Dissenters to Have a Liturgy?" (1856). His other publications include a Memoir of Stephen Morell (1826); Dissent Not Schism (1835); a life of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (1849); Is it Possible to Make the Best of Both Worlds? (1853); Lights and Shadows, or Church Life in Australia, observations made during a visit in 1857-59 (1860); Money, a Popular Exposition in Rough Notes (1864); St. Paul, his Life and Ministry (1866); Micah the Priest Maker, a handbook on ritualism (1867); From Seventeen to Thirty, a book for young men (1868). Two series of his Sermons Preached in the King's Weigh-House Chapel, 1829-69, were published, the second with biographical sketch by the Rev. H. Allon (1869-75).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Besides the sketch in the volume of his sermons, the following may be consulted: A Memorial of the late Rev. Thomas Binney, ed. J. Stoughton, London, 1874; E. P. Hood, Thomas Binney, his Mind, Life and Opinions, ib. 1874; DNB, v, 57-59.