Arthur James Mason

“ He threw great energy into the organisation of Sunday-school work in the diocese, and into the maintenance of church day schools in the places where they still remained. It was his principle to make the most of what he found existing. He took a guild for the advancement of holy living, which had proved useful in a few Cornish parishes, and developed it into a powerful diocesan society with many branches. A devotional conference, which had been started by the Cornish clergy some years before he came, received an access of strength, and led on to the holding of diocesan retreats. ”

“ At Truro Lord Mount Edgcumbe particularly, at Canterbury Lord Selborne, Sir E,, Webster, and Chancellor Dibdin, were his constant advisers. But he was anxious that the counsels of laymen should be more openly and directly heard. For this purpose he created in 1886 a house of laymen to sit in connection with the convocation of his province. Its office is purely consultative; but the existence of a body of laymen, deputed by an orderly system of election in the different dioceses, to aid with their advice the ancient convocations of the church, is full of potentialities for the future. ”

“ No ritual prosecutions, except that of Bishop King, took place during his primacy.
Benson had not sat in the House of Lords before his translation to Canterbury. But as soon as he became archbishop he made it his duty constantly to attend the sittings of the house, even when there was no ecclesiastical business before it. Everything that concerned the nation concerned in his opinion the church. A conservative by training and temperament, he was glad to speak and vote on matters that were of larger than party interest. ”

“ He set on foot and organised night schools for men and lads, which from the outset were remarkably successful. He introduced the university extension lectures into Lincoln. It has been truly said by his faithful coadjutor, Mr. Crowfoot, that 'he took Lincoln by storm.' Besides all this he founded a society of clergy for special evangelistic work in the diocese, of which he was himself the first warden. The holding of a general 'mission' in the city was mainly due to him, and he preached the mission himself in the principal parish church of Lincoln. ”

“ He was perhaps less alert to seize an opening in relation to the great Roman church. While his desire for union among all Christians was very strong, he had no hope of anything being gained by intercourse with Rome, or even by direct co-operation with its English representatives on points of common interest, like religious education. Since the time of Laud, no such direct advance has been made by Rome to an archbishop of Canterbury as was made in 1894 to Archbishop Benson. ”

“ Benson based his statutes mainly upon those of Lincoln, with such adaptations as the circumstances required, and a working chapter was gradually formed, residentiary and non-residentiary, though it was reserved for his successor to obtain some endowment for the officers of the cathedral. He made his chapter a real concilium episcopi, and employed them in giving instructions and lectures in different parts of the diocese. He was the first bishop to appoint a canon whose business it should be to conduct missions in the diocese and to gather a community round him for the purpose. ”

“ Many thought that it would be best in the circumstances to aim at building a good-sized church of the same type as the old. But the bishop was more ambitious. His enthusiasm at length carried every one with him. John Loughborough Pearson [q. v. Suppl.] was chosen as the architect; and on 20 May 1880 the foundation stone of the present beautiful cathedral was laid by the Prince of Wales (as Duke of Cornwall) . The bishop took the keenest interest in the progress of the work. As archbishop he was present at the consecration of Truro Cathedral on 3 Nov. ”

“ He was the first archbishop buried in his own cathedral since Pole.
The archbishop was survived by his wife, by three sons (Mr. Arthur Christopher Benson of Eton College, Mr. Edward Frederic Benson the novelist, and Mr. Robert Hugh Benson) and by one daughter, Margaret.
Most men engaged in such arduous and multifarious work as Archbishop Benson would have given up all hope of consecutive study. Benson clung to his reading with indomitable perseverance. ”

“ The strongest pressure was brought upon him to do so. To this course he would not consent. He saw that, if he did so, the complainants would apply to queen's bench for a mandamus, and that, if the mandamus were granted, he should be forced to hear the case after all; while if it were refused on the ground that he had no jurisdiction, he would be in the position of having claimed, by the use of his discretion, a power which the queen's bench did not recognise. ”

“ A few months before he had refused the offer of the great see of Calcutta, but the new offer was accepted, and on St. Mark's day (25 April) 1877 Benson was consecrated at St. Paul's, and enthroned at Truro on St. Philip and St. James's day (1 May) .
Benson settled in a modest house—Lisescop, as he named it, the Cornish for 'Bishop's Court'—which had formerly been the vicarage of Kenwyn. The place and people proved thoroughly congenial. He delighted in the Cornish people, and was never tired of observing and analysing their character. As Dr. ”

“ Brock, executed partly from a mask taken from the archbishop's face after death.
His chief works, not reckoning separate sermons or articles, are:
'Boy-Life' (sermons at Wellington College) , 1874; 2nd edit. 1883. 'Singleheart' (sermons at Lincoln) , 1877. 'The Cathedral: its Necessary Place in the Life of the Church,' 1878. 'The Seven Gifts' (addresses at his primary visitation of Canterbury diocese) , 1885. 'Christ and His Times' (at second visitation) , 1889. 'Fishers of Men' (at third visitation) , 1893. 'Living Theology (and other Sermons) ,' 1891. ”