A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
History
A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
year, and, on this fact becoming known, he was immediately and
unanimously invited to the Brant Avenue Church, Brantford. On the
closing of his three years’ pastoral term in that city he was again
invited by the same church in Toronto, and entered upon his duties in
the Central Methodist Church, Toronto, in June, 1855. Since he took
charge of the Central Church it has greatly prospered under his care,
both spiritually and financially. Its membership has increased from two
hundred and seventy to four hundred and fifteen, and the congregation
has also doubled in attendance. By special collections taken on the
first Sabbath of each of the three years of his pastorate, $6,000 was
contributed, being $2,000 at each collection, and, with other moneys in
hand, $7,000 has been paid off the church debt, and the regular Sunday
collections and pew rents also show a very large increase. In
recognition of Rev. Mr. Benson’s services as pastor, the official board
raised his salary from $1,500 to $2,000, and in addition to this have
furnished and provided him with a comfortable parsonage free. It is
almost needless to say that Rev. Mr. Benson is not only a favourite with
the people of his own church, but with others of the same denomination
in the city, in proof of which he has been unanimously invited, at the
close of his term in the Central Church, to take charge of the large
congregation worshipping in Berkeley Street Methodist Church. Rev. Mr.
Benson has largely enjoyed the advantages of travel, both throughout the
Dominion of Canada and in foreign countries. In 1871, in company with
the late illustrious Rev. Dr. Punshon, he crossed the continent, and
beheld the wonders of the Rocky mountains, and the Sierra Nevadas, the
Geyser springs, the Yosemite Valley, and Salt Lake City. He also enjoyed
the pleasure, or perhaps, endured the pain, of a sea voyage, and visited
Victoria, New Westminster, Fort Yale, and places on the Pacific coast.
In 1879 he crossed the Atlantic and made a still more extended tour
through France, Italy, Switzerland, South-eastern Germany, Belgium,
Great Britain, and Ireland; and during his stay in London was the guest
of Rev. Dr. Punshon, who kindly helped him to see London in all its
phases. After his return to Canada, Rev. Mr. Benson communicated the
many spirit-stirring scenes he had witnessed in distant lands to
appreciative audiences throughout Ontario, by eloquent lectures on “The
Wonders of the Yosemite,” “Across the Continent,” “British Columbia,”
and more recently, on “Memories of Rome,” “Switzerland,” “In Rhineland,”
and on London, Paris, and some of the Italian cities he had visited. He
is an earnest worker in the Sunday-school, and is always ready to labor
for the Master. As a teetotaller he is most pronounced, and is strongly
impressed with the idea that nothing short of the total prohibition of
the liquor traffic will save this Canada of ours from becoming like many
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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