"[9] In 1645, James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount of Stair, who was Hugh's master (primary professor) in the study of philosophy, announced he was retiring from the University of Glasgow.

His ordination took place on 8 January 1649, when Mr David Dickson, one of the theological professors at the College of Glasgow, and author of Therapeutica Sacra, presided.

Hugh died around September 1653 and was buried in the churchyard of Govan, where Patrick Gillespie, then principal of the University of Glasgow, ordered a monument inscribed in Latin, roughly translated:[13] Here lies Mr. Hugh Binning, a man distinguished for his piety and eloquence, learned in philology, philosophy, and theology, a Prelate, faithful to the Gospel, and finally an excellent preacher.

And if you wish to make other inquires, the rest should keep silence, since neither you nor the marble can comprehend it.Hugh's widow, Barbara (or Mary), then remarried James Gordon, an Anglican priest at Cumber in Ireland.

The Binnings were Covenanters, a resistance movement that objected to the return of Charles II (who was received into the Catholic Church on his deathbed).

[14] In the aftermath of the battle at Bothwell Bridge, Hugh Binning's widow (now Barbara Gordon) tried to reclaim the family estate at Dalvennan by saying that John and his wife owed his stepfather a considerable some of money.

The legal action was successful and Dalvennan became the possession of John's half-sister Jean, and her husband Daniel MacKenzie.

According to an act of the Scottish Parliament, Roderick MacKenzie was also very effective in "suppressing the rebellious, fanatical party in the western and other shires of this realm, and putting the laws to vigorous execution against them".

John received a small income from royalties on his father's works after parliament extended copyrights on Binning's writings to him.

He was remarkably popular as a preacher, having been considered "the most accomplished philosopher and divine in his time, and styled the Scottish Cicero."

After John's early death Mary married her second husband, James Gordon, minister of Comber, in Ireland.

[1] A marble tablet, with an inscription in classical Latin, was erected to his memory by his friend Mr Patrick Gillespie, who was then Principal of the University of Glasgow.

Religious disputes centered on questions such as whether religion was to be dictated by the monarch or was to be the choice of the people, and whether individuals had a direct relationship with God or needed to use an intermediary.

[citation needed] To maintain his English power base, Charles I made secret alliances with Catholic Ireland and Presbyterian Scotland to invade Anglican England, promising that each country could establish their own separate state religion.

By September 1651, Scotland was annexed by England, its legislative institutions abolished, Presbyterianism dis-established, and Charles was forced into exile in France.

On Saturday 19 April 1651, Cromwell entered Glasgow and the next day he heard a sermon by three ministers who condemned him for invading Scotland.

a discussion on some of the controverted points of the times was held in his presence, between his chaplains, the learned Dr John Owen, Joseph Caryl, and others on the one side, and some Scots ministers on the other.

Mr. Binning, who was one of the disputants, apparently nonplussed the Independents, which led Cromwell to ask who the learned and bold young man was.

Binning was a Covenanter, a movement that began in Scotland at Greyfriars Kirkyard in 1638 with the National Covenant and continued with the 1643 Solemn League and Covenant—in effect a treaty between the English Long Parliament and Scotland for the preservation of the reformed religion in exchange for troops to confront the threat of Irish Catholic troops joining the Royalist army.

Binning's writing, which is primarily a collection of his sermons, "forms an important bridge between the 17th century, when philosophy in Scotland was heavily dominated by Calvinism, and the 18th century when figures such as Francis Hutcheson re-asserted a greater degree of independence between the two and allied philosophy with the developing human sciences.

But truly, to provide the Lamb and sacrifice himself, to find out the ransom, and to exact it of his own Son, in our name, is a testimony of mercy and grace far beyond that.

Of his speaking style, it was said: "There is originality without any affectation, a rich imagination, without anything fanciful or extravert, the utmost simplicity, without an thing mean or trifling."