Venn, Henry

Venn, Henry a pious clergyman of the Church of England, was born at Barnes, Surrey, March 2, 1724. He was descended from a long line of ancestry who had been clergymen in the English Church, and was early destined by his parents to perpetuate the succession. Accordingly, he was educated at Bristol and at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1745; he also obtained a Reestat fellowship in Jesus College, where he remained until 1749. He took holy orders in 1747, but was not yet converted. Upon due meditation, however, he was led to see his true condition, and sought and obtained rest for his soul. He was ever after a pious and devoted Christian. In 1750 he accepted the curacies of Friday Street, London, and West Horsley, Surrey; and in 1754 he was appointed curate of Clapham, which he served five years, preaching the doctrines of grace for which his labors were so famous. He became vicar of Huddersfield in 1759, and rector of Yelling, Huntingdonshire, in 1770. He died at Clapham, June 24, 1797. His last rectory was in an obscure country parish; but Mr. Venn had access to the students of Cambridge, and exercised a highly beneficial influence in infusing into their minds evangelical principle and holy aspirations. Such were Robinson of Leicester, Simeon of Cambridge, Prof. Farrish, and others. Among other works, he published The Complete Duty of Man, or a System of Doctrinal and Practical Christianity (1763), a work which has obtained great popularity. His Life and Letters were published in 1834, edited by his grandson, Rev. Henry Venn. See Church of England Magazine, 1, 390; Christian Guardian, p. 401, 441; Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.