Letters of Richard Meux Benson, Student of Christ Church; Founder

LETTERS OF RICHARD MEUX BENSON LIBRARY UNIVERSITY Of CALIFORNIA SAN RICHARD MEUX BENSON, AET. dr. 47. (From a photograph by Blessing & Fenge.) LETTERS OF RICHARD MEUX BENSON FIRST SUPERIOR OF STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH ; FOUNDER AND THE SOCIETY OF S. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, COWLEY SELECTED AND ARRANGED BY G. CONGREVE AND W. H. LONGRIDGE OF THE SAME SOCIETY WITH AN INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR BY THE RIGHT REV. A. C. A. HALL, D.D. BISHOP OF VERMONT, U.S.A. A. R. MOWBRAY & CO. LTD. LONDON : 28 Margaret Street, Oxford Circus, W. OXFORD : 9 High Street MILWAUKEE, U.S.A. : The Young Churchman Co. First impression, 1916 PREFACE ' I ^HIS selection from such of Father Benson's -* letters as have come into our hands is made in the hope of handing on to another generation some reflection of the influence which he exercised upon our own. No Life of him is likely to be written. The few who survive among the com- panions of his earlier years know how completely his real life was hid with CHRIST in GOD. Even those who lived under the same roof with him knew but a part. When he returned to the Mission House after some work or distant journey, we never expected to hear him speak to us of anything that had happened while away, whether of failure or success. All that we knew was that, as he had gone out to each work armed with prayer and self-discipline, so on his return he reverently left with GOD in silent prayer and thanksgiving the results of the work. These strenuous spiritual efforts in Missions, Retreats, and manifold other labours never left him exhausted : rather they seemed to raise him to the experience of a higher communion with GOD, to be cherished in reverent silence, and vi PREFACE as the carried straight on into the next work power by which it was to be met and accom- plished. Thus his life was pre-eminently a hidden life : there is little for a biographer to record. What was given to GOD through so many years with severe reserve must be reverently left in silence as GOD'S secret. It is interesting to find in one of his letters his own impression in regard to the biography of another, whose life was almost equally with- drawn from observation as his own. Writing from Boston, U.S., October 10, 1892, to a " friend in England, he says : Perhaps it is a token of Keble's saintliness that his life is left hidden with CHRIST in all the obscurity of the original Apostles. We cannot now have a biography of him. Those who knew about his daily life, and could have pretended to sketch his character for us, are gone. His life was not before the world as Pusey's was. The secret power operating far and wide is what none can tell." But while so large a part of Father Benson's life was hidden, and for the rest he always avoided public observation as much as possible, yet, as the spiritual guide of so many souls, he became, through force of circumstances, an indefatigable letter-writer. And it is his letters PREFACE vii which reveal to us most of what may be known of an exceptionally influential and retiring character. His correspondence must have been enormous. Day by day, after visiting in the parish, taking Confirmation classes, and seeing the many persons who came to him for Con- fession or other purposes, and then, perhaps, preaching at Evensong in the Iron Church, he would sit down after Compline to deal with the day's letters, or with the pile that had accumulated during his absence from home. This was a pastoral work which he took very seriously. He wrote rapidly, without stopping to weigh details of expression or arrangement, but always as one who lived in close communion with GOD and turned everything habitu- If ally to spiritual profit. he speaks of anything that is going on in the world, it is almost always to pass on to its bearings upon the kingdom of GOD. The conversion and ingathering of the heathen, the renewal of the Church's pristine purity and glory in the persecution of the last days, and the coming of CHRIST are constantly in his mind. Or when he strikes a more indi- vidual note, it is generally deadness to the world, the blessedness and fruitfulness of suffering, the joy and power of the risen and ascended Life which we already share, the Communion of Saints, viii PREFACE the longing to depart and be with CHRIST, upon which he delights to dwell. Another characteristic which the reader will observe throughout these letters is that, whenever the writer is dealing with theological points, it is always the moral and spiritual value of Chris- tian dogma which is his supreme interest. He is always passing on through doctrine to growth in faith, hope, and love, to practice, and to life in GOD. He is never satisfied with the mere intel- lectual of he is grasp mysteries ; always pressing on to live by them, to reach the interior know- ledge of experience which only obedient love can attain. do not learn to love We by knowing ; but to know by loving. In the spiritual vitality and sustained elevation of soul which these letters disclose, those who knew Father Benson's daily life will recognize the fruit of the long hours he devoted to prayer and contemplation while the rest of the household slept. At the same time those letters, or portions of letters, which are written in a lighter vein bear witness to the cordiality and pleasant humour, " " the comfort of love that flowed from his pen when the object was to cheer some feeble but well-meaning soul. The first portion of this collection consists of letters to members of the Society of S. John the PREFACE ix Evangelist, extending over a period from its earliest days almost to the death of its Founder in his ninety-first year. In arranging these letters we have not followed the strict chronological order, but have grouped together those written to the several Fathers and Brothers. The letters in each of these groups follow the chronological order, but the groups themselves are arranged in the order of priority of the date with which each group begins. The remaining letters, written to a number of persons, both men and women, outside the Society, follow strictly in the order of their dates, except in a few cases where these are lacking, and have to be conjectured. We are very grateful to all those who have so kindly entrusted to us letters in their possession, and allowed us to make copies of them. To- gether with our thanks we must express our great regret that, owing to limited space, we have not been able to find room for a considerable portion of the material placed at our disposal. Obliged as we were to make a selection, it was often difficult to decide between letters of equal value interest and for one decided and ; every we to include we had to regret the exclusion of another, which seemed in some respects even more desirable. We refer to this necessity of selection, because we shall keep as a permanent b x PREFACE treasure for the Society copies of a number of letters unavoidably omitted from this volume, and are not without hope that some day it may be possible to issue a second series which may be found in no way inferior to the first in value. As an introduction to the letters we have prefixed an article by the Bishop of Vermont, which appeared in the Church Quarterly Review in April, 1915. The Bishop of Vermont, formerly Father Hall, S.S.J.E., was one of the earliest members of the Society, and there is no one now living who could supply a sketch of Father Benson's life so full, and drawn from such intimate association with him. For permission to reprint this article we are indebted to the kindness of the Bishop and of the Editor of the Review. At the end, by way of giving some further idea of Father Benson's character and manner of life, we have added in an appendix an extract from a sermon preached by the Bishop of Oxford in the Church of the Society at Cowley, on Sexagesima Sunday, February 7, 1915, for permission to print which we are grateful to his Lordship and to the Editor of the Church 'Times also of two letters written ; portions by the late Bishop Churton of Nassau, in which he speaks of a visit paid to the island by Father PREFACE xi Benson in 1 An Dr. Darwell 903 ; Appreciation^ by Stone, reprinted by kind permission from the Guardian a of a contributed ; portion paper by Father Puller to the *A Pen Cowky Evangelist ; B. W. M. and A 'Portrait, signed ; Memory', by a Father of the Society of S. John the Evan- for tc make use of which gelist ; permission we desire to thank the Editors of the Church Times and of and Criticism Comment respectively ; and lastly, a sermon preached by Father Con- greve in the Society's Church on the Sunday morning after Father Benson's death. Our thanks are also due to the Rev. V. S. S. Coles for the memorial lines which appear at the of the book and to the Rev. beginning ; W. H. Draper for those which stand at its close.

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