II.

ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER BENSON: HIS REMARKABLE CONFESSION OF FAITH.

BY PROF. JOHN C. BOWMAN, D.D.

The name and growing fame of Mr. Benson are a sufficient warrant for his recognition in the REFORMED CHURCH REThe reader of current literature must have observed the frequent laudatory references to his several books which have secured wide popularity in England, and which are now eliciting high appreciation in this country.

My first acquaintance with Mr. Benson began a few years ago, while recreating in the field of periodical literature. I happened upon a series of anonymous articles in an English magazine, under the title, From a College Window. The essays were replete with rich, elevating thought, couched in language so pure and gentle as to remind one of the literary masters, Addison and Lamb; differing in this, that the thoughtful meditations were given in a more familiar tone, and were better suited to the needs of our own time. At the same time I found in the essays a lofty idealism and an introspective tendency which reminded one of Amiel's Journal Intime, but leaving an impression far more agreeable and helpful. What impressed me as the peculiar charm of the observations From a College Window, was the spell of a strong, pure, refined personality, whose pervasive influence intoned every sentence penned by the author. Later on, from various sources came the more or less interesting information that the author is "the son of the late Archbishop Benson; for some years Master at Eton, and at the present time a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge; a writer of not less than sixteen volumes."

It is not my purpose in the present article to give Review Notices of Mr. Benson's several books, but rather to direct attention to the religious element in the character of the distinguished author, as this so fully appears in the book recently issued by his American publishers, bearing the title: The Thread of Gold.1 It may be well, however, to make brief notice of the general characteristics of Mr. Benson's writings, as a preface to the consideration of what may be regarded as the dominant trait in the author's character and works: that is, a profoundly reverent and religious spirit.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.

Mr. Benson has been styled "an apostle of the meditative life." As yet he has not entered the list-legion-of sociologists, political economists and finance-doctors, who are contributing so volubly and voluminously to the turmoil of the social and industrial world. He does not hold himself aloof from these busy concerns of life, as things apart from his academic environment and unsuited to his scholarly taste, but he deals with other problems not less important, and, from his point of view, far more important. These are the deeper problems of life: the human soul, individual character, religion. He would have man meditate on things true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, things of good report; and by the habit of meditation on these things lighten the burden of life's cares and enrich life's joy. He would bring peace, restfulness, contentment, hope and joy into the lives of men who are too absorbingly engrossed in the pursuit and possession of the delusive riches of a noisy, bustling, materialistic age. This he does, not as a cynic and an iconoclast, but by leading the reader into paths of life and realms of thought where things most valuable and beautiful may be found.

Mr. Benson is both mystical and strongly intuitional, and is much given to the contemplative mood; but he is no recluse. He loves human companionship and keeps in close touch with 1E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1907.

the scenes of everyday life. At times he draws from the realm of beauty and art material for pleasurable reflection; but more frequently does he find lessons for thought and life in his every-day experiences and observations. The commonest things and incidents of life are uplifted by his poetic touch. In the book already referred to, The Thread of Gold, we find that even farm-yard scenes are not beneath the dignity of his thought and pen. He describes "the little dramas of the byre "—the habits of cows and pigs, the ludicrous capers of turkeys, ducks, cocks and hens-without descending to the commonplace. His classical taste and refined culture remain unimpaired. He has a breadth of sympathy which enables him to share in the joy of life experienced by the young husband and wife in the first flush of married happiness, while his heart is keenly sensitive to the cares of the world-worn, the frailties of the aged and feeble, the deprivations of the blind, the sufferings of the invalid, the pathetic disabilities of the insane. So tender is his sympathy for every creature whose life yields to impairment or is subject to neglect, that he feels

a great hunger of heart, a vivid pity," impelling him to render help for its renewal and preservation. He feels this "sad desire," not only when he sees some well-loved friend under the shadow of death, but when he looks upon "a wounded animal," or upon " the flower that has stood on one's table and cheered the air with its freshness and fragrance, when it begins to droop and to grow stained and sordid."

As to Mr. Benson's style, its peculiarity consists not primarily in its simplicity, directness and purity, but in a very unusual egotism: an egotism not out of harmony with the spirit of humility and self-respecting reserve. Mr. Benson has much to say of himself, his thought, his feeling, his consciousness, his aspirations, his experiences; but he does this not in the spirit of hauteur, or self-esteem, but as one seeking higher attainment in the things which he describes and exalts. He opens his mind and heart to you in the confidence of trustful friendship and companionship. He is to the reader

what, according to Mr. Benson, Wordsworth, with all his merits as a poet, failed to be "a brother and a friend, a leader and a guide a comrade." The peculiar charm of our author is a kind, genial, helpful personality, that does not find its measure in any or all of the works he has written. After reading his books you think not so much of what he has written as of him. You feel that you have been in the company of a man of pure and elevated mind, of one who casts around you an atmosphere of refined, mental and spiritual culture. He has talked with you, and you know him.

Mr. Benson is an essayist. His works give most convincing proof that the day of the essay and the essayist has not passed away. Short stories and historical novels, which too vauntingly have been crowding the field of popular literature, leave wide room at the front for Mr. Benson, the essayist. The stories which he tells-and he tells many of them with all the charm of the writer of fiction-are not for the moment's entertainment; they are studies, full of vigorous thought, which incite and stimulate thoughtful reflection. Not only by the attractiveness of his style does be win and please the reader, but he uplifts, dignifies, and enriches literature with the staying qualities of thought-content.

THE RELIGIOUS ELEMENT.

It is this above all else that dominates the character and writings of Mr. Benson. And, perhaps, this is the secret of the strong, elevating, restful influence which he exerts upon the minds of his hearers; an influence which has won for him "a sort of primacy among present English writers." The religious note sounds through the entire volume of The Thread of Gold. His purpose, as indicated in the Preface, is to commend and exalt the "Gospel of Contentment "—a contentment which shall not be unsettled by the perplexing metaphysical questions about the Why and the Wherefore and the What." The motif of the book is that, "whether

we are conquerors or conquered, triumphant or despairing, prosperous or pitiful, well or ailing, we are all these things through Him that loves us." How closely akin is this to the definition of the Providence of God as given in answer to Question XXVII. in the Heidelberg Catechism: "The Almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by His Hand, He upholds and governs heaven and carth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea all things come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand." To the thought of Mr. Benson, the divine purpose vitalizes and illumines the whole world of nature. The sparkling water drop has its own definite place in the mind of God as well as in the economy of the world. At no time in its appointed course, even when polluted in the turbid elements of scum and mud and slime, is it robbed of "the light and warmth of the great, kindly, smiling Heart which bade it be." The analogy of the water drop, in its original and ultimate relation to God and to the world, suggests the more precious value and the higher destiny of the immortal soul of man. "Shall he not much more care for you, O ye of little faith?"

Mr. Benson steers serenely between the Scylla of the false philosophy of fatalism and the Charybdis of the no less false theology of predestination. He does not attempt to explain, or to explain away, the hard problems of nature and religion, of philosophy and theology; nor does he seek refuge in unthinking obscurantism or faithless agnosticism. "The Riddle of the Universe," which offers no solution to the scientific mind of Haeckel and his followers, is no cause for distress or discomfiture. By faith we know that in and over the universe, and underneath all its complexities, there is an all-wise and all-loving God. One may not always define what His Will is, but one may be "sure that it is high and holy, even when it is hard to discern and harder still to follow." It is not the wisest use of the darkest moment of life to seek its solution