Binney, Joseph Getchell, D.D., was born in Boston, Mass., Dec. 1, 1807, and was educated at Yale College

Baptist Church History

3h  · Daily Baptist Encyclopedia Binney, Joseph Getchell, D.D., was born in Boston, Mass., Dec. 1, 1807, and was educated at Yale College and ee Theological Seminary. Iie was ordained at West Boylston, Mass., in 1832, and settled at Savannah, Ga., where his ministry was remarkably successful. Ilis congregation was large and intelligent, and grew rapidly in number and efficiency. Their interest in foreign missions was especially marked, and Jarge contributions were regularly given to the cause. In 1843 the acting board of the Triennial Convention urged him to engage in the foreign missionary work, and also ‘‘to establish and conduct a school for the training of a native ministry among the Karens,”’ He was also requested to unite with his missionary associates in inaugurating a system of general ed- ucation for the Karens, then but recently known, but who had received the gospel with great alac- rity. A school was opened by Dr. Binney in Maul- main, May, 1845, with 13 adult pupils, all converts from heathenism, and who had already been quite useful in making known to their countrymen, as best they could, the gospel truth. At first instruc- tion in the Bible only was given, but afterwards in arithmetic, geography, and astronomy. ‘The school increased each year in numbers and efficiency, and quite an advance was made in the grade of the studies. At the end of five most encouraging years, the health of Mrs, Binney, who had taken an active part in teaching, failed, and Dr. Binney and she were obliged to return to America. The school became almost extinct during the three en- suing years, as but little time could be devoted to it . by the brethren who were actively engaged in mis- sionary work. After Dr. Binney’s return to this country, in 1853, he was engaged for a while as pastor at Elmira, N. Y., and subsequently at Au- gusta, Ga. In 1855 he was invited to accept the presidency of the Columbian College, which he did, remaining in that position only three years, yet long enough to give an influence to its methods of instruction and discipline which it still feels. An urgent call from his missionary associates in Bur- mah, and importunate solicitation on the part of prominent brethren in this country upon Dr. Bin- ney to return and resume his labors of instruction in the Karen Seminary, induced him, in 1858, to resign the presidency of the college and to enter again on the work for which he was so admirably fitted, and which lay so near his heart. He sailed for Burmah in 1859, at which time the seminary was removed from Maulmain to Rangoon, the new capital of British Burmah. The seminary opened with 80 pupils, and for a while the whole labor of conducting it, with much additional work of preach- ing, translating, and publishing, fell upon Dr. Bin- ney, assisted by his faithful wife. From this time until 1876 the seminary was blessed with an unin- terrupted career of prosperity and usefulness. A literary department was added to it, buildings erected, text-books printed, treatises on anatomy, physiology, and hygiene, a manual of theology, and manuscript works on mental and moral science prepared. His onerous labors during this pro- tracted period greatly impaired the health of Dr. Binney, and in November, 1875, being entirely prostrated in health, he was obliged to leave the seminary in the care of the Rev. Sau Tay and return to America. After a brief sojourn in this country, with health somewhat improved, he sailed again for Burmah in the fall of 1877, being accompanied by Mrs. Binney, but he died upon the voyage, Novem- ber 26, and was buried in the Indian Ocean. His work in Asia will be his enduring monument. More than 300 Karen ministers were educated by him, and they have accomplished an amount of good among their countrymen which no man ean measure. As a thinker, Dr. Binney had a clear, incisive, analytic, and unusually logical mind. As a preacher, he was impressive, dignified, and in- structive. As a teacher, he stimulated the dullest into quickness and accuracy of thought; while, as a man, there was a humility, sincerity, trust, and oneness of purpose in all his acts that stamped him as one of the very best of the good ministers of Christ.From the Baptist Encyclopedia by William Cathcart