Benjamin Fish Austin was born in Brighton, Ontario Canada. He was raised in a Methodist family and studied to be a Methodist minister. An exceptionally bright student he received his B.A in Theology, B.D (Bachelor of Divinity), and eventually D.D. (Doctor of Divinity). For a time he minister of one of the largest Methodist Churches in Canada, and eventually became principle of Alma College for Women in St. Thomas, Ontario. He married Francis Amanda Connell, and the couple had four children, one son and three daughters.
While in his role as both a Methodist minister and Principle he was well known for his strong opinions on social justice and welfare issues such as Feminism, Temperance, and Income Inequality.
Some of his early works as a Methodist minister include:
Sermons on Popular Sins, which collected several of his sermons calling out to individuals to end political corruption, denounced blind devotion to political parties at expense of morality, condemned the use of drugs and alcohol, and chastised uncharitable attitudes to the poor.
“Far too many forget in these times the unchanging obligations that bind them to God, and make it the supreme question of their conduct, 'What will help the party?' and not, 'What is right?' or, 'What will God expect of me?' -B.F. Austin, Sermons on Popular Sins
Several articles in different publications on Women’s Suffrage, which argued that women should be fully equal members of society, condemned forced marriages for economic or social reasons, and stressed the importance of education for women.
“Every young woman, no matter what her circumstances or prospects in life, should be the mistress of some special field of learning, or some useful art, by which she can, if God's providence so order, win her own way in life. No young woman should be placed in circumstances such as to make marriage an only refuge from poverty or dependence on her friends, or from a life of ennui. Having in her own hands the power of self-support, she should be free to accept or reject the marriage lot” -B.F. Austin, Open the Doors For the Women of Today
Gospel to the Poor vs Pew Rents, which condemned the practice of charging money to rent pews in Churches on Sundays essentially ostracizing those who could not afford to pay either to the back of the church, or from even attending.
“We are to be imitators of God. Hence the divine kindness to the poor, as revealed to us in Scriptures, is as much a law to the Church of Christ today as through promulgated amidst the thunders of Sinai, or written in letters of fire across the heavens. Should anyone ask, therefore, how should the Christian Church treat the Poor? The answer is ready: As God has taught us by example and precept.” -B. F. Austin, Gospel to the Poor
While a Methodist Austin became interested in studying spiritual phenomena as well as Spiritualist teachings. This interest became even stronger at the death of his youngest daughter, Kathleen. Austin, longing to see her again, began to attend seances and develop his own mediumship, eventually succeeding and contacting her spirit. Austin began to incorporate discussions and lectures on Spiritual phenomena and philosophy into his sermons. Eventually culminating in a sermon that caused him to be accused by the Methodist Church of heresy.
The record of his trial for the charges of heresy by the Methodist Church is still available to read, and he was cited on the points of denying the doctrine of eternal punishment, questioning the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth, denying that the teachings of Jesus were the last and final revelation to mankind, and promoting the practices and ideas of Spiritualism. He did not attend the trial but rather submitted a written defense for himself, which also still survives. He (no surprise), was not cleared of his charges and was expelled from the Methodist Church
Austin afterwards moved to the United States in 1903 where he became the principle of William Smith College for Women in Geneva, New York. Though the college was officially non-sectarian, the founder of the college Mr. William Smith was a Spiritualist and was impressed by Austin’s background in education, ministry, and Spiritualism.
Austin became active in the Spiritualist community of Rochester. Before Plymouth Church was an official congregation it was chartered as a lay Spiritualist Society through the National Spiritualist Association (now National Spiritualist Association of Churches). The society grew to the point where they wanted to become chartered as an official church, and elected Austin to be their Pastor. The society purchased a church that had formerly belonged to a liberal Baptist congregation that had been temporarily renting their building to a small Restorationist Christian movement known as the Megiddo Mission. The Rochester Spiritualist society purchased the building and founded The First Spiritual Church of Rochester, located on Plymouth Ave. The church quickly became known as Plymouth Spiritualist Church, and eventually changed its name.
While Pastor in Rochester Austin actively wrote essays, articles, books, and pamphlets on the teachings of Spiritualism. His most known pamphlet is probably The ABC’s of Spiritualism, which is a simple yet detailed overview of Spiritualist history, teachings, and practices in an easy to read question and answer format. He also wrote a book titled What Converted Me to Spiritualism, which contained one hundred testimonies of individuals that he had collected (one of whom would eventually become the fifth Pastor of Plymouth Church, William Joseph Erwood).
Austin was a pioneer in Spiritualist philosophy and education. While there were already several books available on Spiritualist thought, it was still a fairly new religious movement and had not yet fully developed its principles and doctrines. While he continued to actively promote the popular Spiritualist positions of the day, such as the teachings of Andrew Jackson Davis , he also directed the teachings Spiritualism in a way very different from Davis.
Rather than the esoteric and extremely dense teachings of Davis, Austin presented a Spiritualism that was practical. He promoted self cultivation, affirmative prayer, positive thinking, and discussed Healing and Mediumship in a way that was simple to understand and easily accessible to everyone.
“Through right thinking and action, man can steadily rise in the scale of intelligence, power, wisdom, and efficency, expressing more fully his divinity to the world.” -B.F. Austin, The ABC of Spiritualism
Instead of borrowing from other religious movements, he claimed that Spiritualism could stand on its own as a unique and independent tradition. He eloquently debated and compared Spiritualism in his writings to other spiritual movements of the day such as New Thought groups, Christian Science, and Christianity explaining that Spiritualism contained the truths of all of these traditions without the sectarian trappings that came with them.
While living in Rochester, attending to the congregation of Plymouth, and writing his books, he also worked as founder and editor of a popular Spiritualist magazine called Reason. Reason was organized and published under a printing company that Austin had founded called The Austin Publishing Company, which was dedicated to publishing Spiritualist and Metaphysical books. He regularly traveled throughout the East Coast visiting various Spiritualist Churches, Camps, and Societies giving lectures and discussing Spiritualist teachings and principles.
In 1913 Austin and his family moved from Rochester to Los Angeles, California to take the position of pastor of the Central Spiritual Church of Los Angeles. He continued to write and publish his magazine as well as other pamphlets and articles, while regularly traveling throughout the state of California giving lectures up until his transition into Spirit in 1933.
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