Heard Mr. Binney preach this morning. He is one of the
strongest men among the Congregationalists, and a very popular
speaker. He is a tall, large man, with a finely-built head, high
forehead, piercing, dark eye, and a good deal of force and
determination in all his movements. His sermon was the first that I
had heard in England which seemed to recognize the existence of any
possible sceptical or rationalizing element in the minds of his
hearers. It was in this respect more like the preaching that I had
been in the habit of hearing at home. Instead of a calm statement of
certain admitted religious facts, or exhortations founded upon them,
his discourse seemed to be reasoning with individual cases, and
answering various forms of objections, such as might arise in
different minds. This mode of preaching, I think, cannot exist unless
a minister cultivates an individual knowledge of his people.
Mr. Binney's work, entitled How to make the best of both Worlds, I
have heard spoken of as having had the largest sale of any religious
writing of the present day.
May 16. This evening is the great antislavery meeting at Exeter Hall.
Lord Shaftesbury in the chair. Exeter Hall stands before the public as
the representation of the strong democratic, religious element of
England. In Exeter Hall are all the philanthropies, foreign and
domestic; and a crowded meeting there gives one perhaps a better idea
of the force of English democracy - of that kind of material which goes
to make up the mass of the nation - than any thing else.
When Macaulay expressed some sentiments which gave offence to this
portion of the community, he made a defence in which he alluded
sarcastically to the bray of Exeter Hall.
The expression seems to have been remembered, for I have often heard
it quoted; though I believe they have forgiven him for it, and
concluded to accept it as a joke.
The hall this night was densely crowded, and, as I felt very unwell, I
did not go in till after the services had commenced - a thing which I
greatly regretted afterwards, as by this means I lost a most able
speech by Lord Shaftesbury.
The Duchess of Sutherland entered soon after the commencement of the
exercises, and was most enthusiastically cheered. When we came in, a
seat had been reserved for us by her grace in the side gallery, and
the cheering was repeated. I thought I had heard something of the sort
in Scotland, but there was a vehemence about this that made me
tremble. There is always something awful to my mind about a dense
crowd in a state of high excitement, let the nature of that excitement
be what it will.
I do not believe that there is in all America more vehemence of
democracy, more volcanic force of power, than comes out in one of
these great gatherings in our old fatherland. I saw plainly enough
where Concord, Lexington, and Bunker Hill came from; and it seems to
me there is enough of this element of indignation at wrong, and
resistance to tyranny, to found half a dozen more republics as strong
as we are.
