London (England) -- Religion; Religious thought -- England -- London
Out of the pulpit we know little of Mr. Villiers. One does not hear of
him at Exeter Hall. The Freemasons’ Tavern seldom echoes the sound of
his voice. His parish duties seem to absorb him. He does not publish a
new volume of theology every month, like Dr. Cumming, though he has
published a volume or two of his Sermons, and some of his Lectures to
Young Men. To be sure he has enough to do where he is. But still many
ministers attempt much more, and his preaching cannot be a very severe
tax on his mental powers. Robert Montgomery published a book, called
‘The Gospel before the Age’—the Gospel of Mr. Villiers certainly has no
such claim. The school to which he belongs has very little reference to
the age—has a very easy way of settling all the problems of the
heart—never seems to imagine that there can be two sides to a question at
all. This makes it very easy work for preacher and people. Such being
the case, the wonder is not that Mr. Villiers preaches so well, but that,
with his powerful voice and action, he does not do it better. Since the
above was written Episcopalianism in Bloomsbury has sustained a loss—Mr.
Villiers is now a bishop.
The Independent Denomination.
THE REV. THOMAS BINNEY.
All the world, I take it, is acquainted with the Monument, which,
‘Like a tall bully, lifts its head and lies.’
You have been to see it, or you have passed it as you have rushed to take
the boat to Greenwich, or Hamburg, or the ‘Diggins.’ In either of these
cases, unless you had been too much absorbed, you might have seen a
plain, substantial building, evidently devoted to public worship. There
is nothing peculiar about its appearance; but there is something peculiar
in the man who generally fills its pulpit—for it is the Weigh-House
Chapel, and the preacher is the Rev. Thomas Binney.
Let us suppose it is a Sabbath morning, and the time half-past ten. A
stream of people has been flowing for the last quarter of an hour to the
door of the above-named chapel: a few in private carriages—some in
cabs—the rest on foot. The larger portion consists of males, and, again,
that majority consists of young men. They come, evidently, from the
shops and warehouses and counting-houses of this great metropolis. They
belong to the commercial classes. They are the raw material out of which
are evolved, in process of time, aldermen, merchant princes, and Lord
Mayors. They are such as Hogarth, were he alive now, would sketch for
his industrious apprentice. A few medical students from the neighbouring
hospitals, and men of law or literature from the more aristocratic West,
and you have the usual congregation to which the Rev. Thomas Binney
ministers in holy things.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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