By the Sign of the Cross, good Saviour, teach us this. Thou hast said Blessed are the poor, but we all seek to be rich and plentiful in quietness. And the priests' wives and children that should strengthen us a hundredfold are through our weakness snares unto us. This, Lord, is painful, pitiful confession of my own sin and weakness and the weakness of my brethren. And it is not in me to help. But, O Lord, send by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send. And in silence and unknown, let me help in the cause and open ways speedily, good Lord, that we know not, ere I be old and die. The sins of my youth and the selfishness of all my days have taken all strength out of me and I ask no honour in Thy service for I deserve but shame. But I pray-I earnestly prayI earnestly beseech Thee, good Lord, to let me have some work to do and grace to do it. To feed Thy sheep better than I have fed Thy lambs. My life has not shed light, O Lord, and therefore my words can give no more strength. But, good Lord, let the words be Thine, and let not me nor any man ever think them mine, and the vileness of Thine instrument shall magnify Thy glory. O Lord, restore to Thine houses Thine old armies of priests and companies of preachers, but let them be the people's priests-not lovers of wealth nor courtiers of power-let us have learnt our lesson once for all, good Lord, to belong but to Thee and Thy poor people-so shall not history and life and Thy word be wasted on us any more, nor even on me Thy poor and blessed servant. O Jesu, Shepherd, Master, Prince, listen and save. E. W. BENSON. To be made Prebendary of Lincoln to-morrow in the Stall of Heydour-cum-Walton-and I ignorant of the very meaning of such a word1. 1 See Lincoln Cathedral Statutes, Part I. the Liber Niger, Bradshaw and Wordsworth, Cambridge, 1892, p. 210. "Another copy (i.e. of a form of Installation of a Canon or Prebendary, printed in 1863) used at the admission of Dr Benson to the prebend of Heydour-cum-Walton, July 9, 1869, is now preserved in the Muniment-room at Lincoln (A. 4. 12). It was supplied to him as the authorized form by the Chapter Clerk. The form of oath contains the following clauses: ......do swear that I...will observe and keep all the Statutes, Customs and Ordinances, written in the New Registry, and also all others published or hereafter to be made and published by lawful authority......I will inviolably observe the Laudum or determination of the late Venerable Father in God, William Alnwick, Bishop of Lincoln, so far as This appointment, which involved no residence but only two annual sermons, was an immense pleasure to my father. The connection with the ancient foundation of such a Cathedral was a source of pure delight to him; Cathedral problems, long congenial to him, began to occupy his mind closely; these thoughts were the germ of his article on "The Cathedral, its Life and Work," published in the Quarterly Review, and his contribution to the Essays on Cathedrals, edited by Dean Howson (1872, Murray), which he afterwards reprinted in one volume and amplified. His friend Westcott was by this time a Canon of Peterborough, and was much occupied with the scheme already referred to, of a Coenobium, or monastic establishment of married clergy who were to live simple domestic lives of study. It is to be feared that the essence of such establishments is after all celibacy, without which men cannot have the freedom from cares or the sense of common as opposed to individual attachment to their work. My father was more definite: he was anxious to see established celibate societies of preachers, but he realised that the Canonical life could well be restored in modern days, and that marriage might help rather than hinder it. The following letters passed between him and some of his old friends on the duties of Prebendaries. MY DEAR LIGHTFOOT, WELLINGTON COLLEGE. I have two most pleasant letters of yours unanswered— a rare event for you and me. I wish I could have come to I lawfully can, and may, by lawful authority be required to do....' I have some recollection that it was in his efforts to investigate and to understand the obligations involved in the latter clauses that Dr Benson (now Primate of all England) learnt many of those lessons from the 'Old Activity' which have helped to direct the renewed life of the Church of England in recent years." 1 Vol. 130, No. 259. 2 The Cathedral: its necessary place in the life and work of the Church, by Edward White Benson, Bishop of Truro. Published by John Murray, 1878. Windsor, simply because your proposal was so delightful. I should have enjoyed to walk with you beyond anything. But the after noon had to be spent in travelling to Lincoln, where I was yesterday installed as Canon of the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, and Prebendary of Heydourcum-Walton in the same Church! And now I want you to write me a screed on what you consider to be the duties of unendowed Prebendaries in Cathedral Churches, what they are to be and do or aim at. There are two annual sermons connected with this stall-but that, I suppose, you would not think to be the pyov. What is the raison d'être of an unendowed prebend? It is not an ecclesiastical medal, is it? If you say yes, I shall be ashamed of having taken it, for I haven't deserved it. And yet-however, sketch me out my duties: I shall ask B. F. W. the same, and if your views converge I shall be satisfied, as well I may be. How unkind to say that you imagine I don't hate show days. If you saw me blanched and boiled on Speech Day you wouldn't say so-Ugh! By the way, Prebendaries of Lincoln have votes in the Chapter for election of Bishop-and Proctors: when we are disestablished, our wasted vote will become precious. But don't say we must wait till then. The Bishop is very anxious we should do something. But quoi? Affectionately yours, E. W. BENSON. To the Rev. J. F. Wickenden. MASTER'S Lodge, WELLINGTON COLLEGE. 15 July, 1869. MY DEAR FRED, I am so much obliged to you for your jolly little note, that I take the liberty of saying so-at the same time as I thank you for your former letter (grievously misdated "St Peter's Day") congratulating me on my Stall. You know me well enough to know that, whether it is childishness or not, the thing pleases me more than what many would consider far more fortunate things. Surely the fact of so much gold being or not being attached to a priesthood in a Church does not make the difference between reality and shadow. But I don't know whether you are aware that Canons of Lincoln-for in spite of the usual name we are "Canons of Lincoln and Prebendaries of such a Stall"-have votes in the Chapter for the Bishop! in his election! But-ah my revered friend—just wait till we are disestablished, and then the vote will mean something. The matter has been brought into court, and meaningless as the privilege is, who knows but that the decision that the votes are legally to be taken in that and one or two other little things, may not just be the underground thread-the winter life of the Dormouse. To Canon Westcott. MY DEAR WESTCOTT, E. W. B. 2, ESPLANADE, WHITBY. 12 Aug. 1869. I want very seriously to ask you what are the duties of unendowed Prebendaries. You are the only person I know who has given any serious consideration to Cathedral subjects. They seem to me to be very important subjects, and yet the world seems to be letting Cathedrals sink out of existence, and the cathedral bodies to be doing a great deal to bury them out of sight. You will not feel insulted because I know you are of the same mind, and if any one will do something to save them— (and I hope and trust write something to show their place and function before it is too late) it is you. Now it seems to me that the fact of receiving money does not make the whole difference between the functions being real and being none-and so I want you seriously to tell me what you do think the unendowed Prebendary of Heydour-cum-Walton in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Mary of Lincoln ought to do for his work. I have to preach twice in the year and to recite daily two Psalms. Is that all? I have also a vote for the election of Bishop. Is the whole function become a scorn and derision unto men that are round about us? If you say so, I shall doubt whether I am a Bonze or 2 πρεσβύτερος. Affectionately ever yours, E. W. BENSON. 1 A Presbyter or Elder. To Canon Westcott. 2, ESPLANADE, WHITBY. Sept. 4, 1869. MY DEAR WESTCOTT, If you cannot tell me what are the duties of our unendowed Prebendary, I must subside. I asked Lightfoot too and he only chaffs. But I cannot believe it to be too late to do something. I feel more and more devoted to the idea of corporate associations, and their work-and to see them perish off the face of the English earth is too grievous. If I had a private fortune I should certainly go and live at Lincoln and try whether I could not be allowed to do something. But how I prate! Ever yours affectionately, E. W. BENSON. Two years later he felt somewhat differently, and wrote again : To Canon Westcott. WELLINGTON College. Sept. 30, 1871. MY DEAR WESTCOTT, It seems to me that a Prebendal Stall has ceased to be a shadow even, or to contain a hope. I may have been dreamy or foolish in supposing it was a representation of what had been, and might be again, which it was worth keeping up, just for the sake of continuing a tradition to bridge over the intervening epoch. But at any rate I was serious, or I should not have allowed myself to be installed with a religious Service, and have taken a very solemn oath that I would maintain the "rights" of the Chapter. But now, the Bishop's Council having been reconstituted in a formal way, the holder of a stall has become only a person allowed to wear a surplice and to preach twice in Lincoln 1 The Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act 1840 formed a code remodelling the Capitular System. Among other provisions the annual residence of Deans and Canons was fixed at 8 and 3 months respectively. At Lincoln a fourth Residentiary Canonry was added to the three already existing, and the Prebends were converted into Honorary posts, their incomes being merged into the Commissioners' Common Fund. |