THE LIFE AND A SELECTION FROM THE LETTERS OF THE LATE REV. HENRY VENN, M.A. SUCCESSIVELY VICAR OF HUDDERSFIELD, YORKSHIRE, AND RECTOR OF YELLING, HUNTINGDONSHIRE, AUTHOR OF "THE COMPLETE DUTY OF MAN," &c. THE MEMOIR OF HIS LIFE DRAWN UP BY THE LATE REV. JOHN VENN, M.A. RECTOR OF CLAPHAM, SURREY. EDITED BY THE REV. HENRY VENN, B.D. INCUMBENT OF DRYPOOL, YORKSHIRE, LATE FELLOW OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. LONDON: JOHN HATCHARD AND SON, 187, PICCADILLY. 1834. ADVERTISEMENT. THE Editor feels that he owes to many friends, who have taken a kind interest in the publication of this work, an apology, for the delay of several years since he first announced his intention of preparing it for the press. He can assure them, that the delay has not been owing to indifference or supineness on his part. When he first undertook the task, he imagined, that, after he should have collected his materials from different sources, it would be easy to form them into a volume, which should combine the suggestions of various surviving friends of his Grandfather, and secure their general approbation: but he soon discovered, that he was indulging the vain expectation of an unpractised author; and that a multiplicity of advisers rather tended to perplex, than to guide an inexperienced editor. Hence, he determined to postpone the work, in the hope that a few more years, and longer reflection, might render his own judgment less incompetent to the undertaking. He trusts, that, in one respect at least, the delay has been advantageous; for it has induced him to disencumber the work of much additional matter which he had formerly prepared, and to leave the Character and Letters, for the most part, to speak for themselves. He now commits the work to the public, under a deep sense of the imperfect performance of his task, and with sincere prayers for the Divine blessing, to crown his labours. PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. THE Memoir which composes the first part of the present volume was drawn up by the late Rev. JOHN VENN, with the intention of its being prefixed to a new edition of his father's works. He had also written the following paragraph, as the commencement of a Preface. "The Compiler of this Memoir deeply feels the impropriety of troubling the public with the lives of those who have little claim to public notice. But he trusts that every person, who feels the influence of filial piety, will justify his breaking through this rule, when he is told that a Life of his honoured and excellent Father has been already given to the public, full of misrepresentations, and calculated to produce a most injurious impression respecting his character and principles; and that this Life has been extensively circulated, inserted into biographical histories, and even prefixed to an edition of his principal work, without any public denial or indignant refutation. "In the Memoir which follows, which exhibits the real character of one, by whose writings the |