Benson taught school for some time and then studied for the ministry. In 1867 he was ordained as a minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada. He was becoming a well known and admired public lecturer, when, in 1871, he traveled on a lecture tour with William Morley Punshon, the five times president of the Wesleyan Methodist Canadian conference. Punshon influenced him greatly and became his mentor.
