Henry Venn was born in 1724 at Barnes in the County of Surrey. His father Richard Venn was a High Church minister, "exemplary and learned" and "very zealous for the interests of the Church of England", whose family could trace an unbroken line of clergy stretching back to the Reformation. Henry’s maternal grandfather had been executed in the reign of William III for being concerned in a plot to restore the Stuarts.
With such a family history it was to be expected that Henry would follow in his father’s footsteps. He went up to Jesus College, Cambridge in 1742 where he was quickly admitted to a wide circle of friends, men who had known his father and his elder brother. He appears to have been of high moral character and, while a student, had a passion for cricket at which he excelled, playing for the University. He gained the degrees of BA in 1745 and MA in 1747 when, there being no fellowship vacant in his own college, he was unanimously elected a fellow of Queen’s, in which he continued until his marriage in 1757.
Venn was ordained in 1747 and for a brief period held a curacy at Barton, Cambridgeshire, before moving to West Horsley, Surrey. He gave up playing cricket in order to be more spiritually disciplined and because he did not wish any of his parishioners to be able to cry, "Well struck, Parson!". Venn was clearly a most sincere and upright young man with a sense of vocation but with no heart experience of salvation. Like the Wesleys, Whitefield, Grimshaw and others he experienced a time of striving to please God by prayer, fasting and religious devotions, and like them he suffered disappointment. Reading William Law’s A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life deepened his concerns, but provided no answer, as it did not point to the atoning work of Christ. He began to question aspects of Law’s theology as he concentrated more on reading Scripture, and as he did, sometime during 1752-53, he discovered "the particular provision that is made for fallen man in the Gospel of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ".
In 1754 Venn became curate of Clapham, then a village outside of London, where he continued for five years. Four times each week he rode into London to lecture in three churches, so that in a given week he would preach six times. During this period he met Thomas Haweis, as noted in the previous article, as well as George Whitefield and Lady Huntingdon, all of whom helped him to reach enjoyment of full deliverance and to remove the lingering effects of mystical writers upon his thinking and ministry. Venn, with Whitefield and Martin Madan, had been entertained by the Countess on a visit to her home at Clifton near Bristol. Afterwards, with considerable perspicuity, she wrote to Venn, "O, my friend! We can make no atonement to a violated law – we have no inward holiness of our own; the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord our Righteousness. Cling not to such beggarly elements, such filthy rags – mere cobwebs of Pharisaical pride – but look to Him who hath wrought out a perfect righteousness for His people. Preach Christ crucified as the only foundation of the sinner’s hope. Preach Him as the Author and Finisher, as well as the sole object of faith – that faith which is the gift of God. Exhort Christless impenitent sinners to fly to this city of refuge – to look to Him who is exalted as Prince and Saviour, to give repentance and the remission of sins. Go on thus, and may your bow abide in strength!". Such a remarkable letter must have been of major help to Venn in completing his journey from High Church to clear evangelical ground. It gives us an insight into the grasp of Christian doctrine possessed by the Countess and the men of the Great Awakening. Samuel Walker of Truro visited Venn a little later and described him as "now brought to believe for himself, very desirable in his temper, humble and teachable".
Henry Venn’s evangelical convictions were further strengthened by his marriage in 1757 to Miss Eling Bishop from Ipswich. She proved to be a spiritual help meet for Venn, and he and Eling – known as Mira – were devoted to each other. Their five children were raised in a most happy home where daily family worship was regarded as essential to their education and upbringing. It was a terrible blow to Venn when she died in 1767. He wrote to Lady Huntingdon: "Did I not know the Lord to be mine into what a deplorable condition should I have been now cast. I have lost her when her industry, and ingenuity and tender love and care of her children were all beginning to be perceived by the two older girls. I have lost her when her soul was as a watered garden, when her mouth was opened to speak for God. Nevertheless I can say All is well! Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth".
In 1759 the family had moved from Clapham to Huddersfield where for twelve years Venn exercised a fruitful ministry which brought about a remarkable moral and spiritual transformation in the town. He began to preach to men and women whom, shortly before, John Wesley had called "the wildest congregation I have seen in Yorkshire". He soon became acquainted with William Grimshaw, as Haworth was little more than twenty miles away. His friendship with Grimshaw left an indelible mark on Henry Venn, and his ministry resembled the older man’s in many respects. Travelling through the surrounding countryside on horseback, visiting parishioners in lonely farms and cottages, he preached in barns, private homes or wherever people gathered. He drew the same large congregations, so that very often the church could not hold the people and the preaching had to be in the open air. Busy though he was, Venn also travelled to preach at the request of Lady Huntingdon. One such place was Ote Hall, a stately home about 10 miles from Brighton, where in 1761 the great hall was turned into a place for preaching. One day a man known locally as "Old Abraham", a veteran of the battlefields of Europe, now nearly one hundred years old, came in. Venn was the preacher and as he concluded the old soldier turned to the one sitting next to him and said, "Ah, neighbour, this is the very truth of the Word of God that I have been seeking for, and never heard it so plain before". For six more years "Old Abraham" was spared to grow in grace, his snow white hair making him a conspicuous member of the congregation.
Through his pen, Venn’s influence for good reached far beyond the places where he preached. His Complete Duty of Man, a devotional and practical book, addressed issues of everyday life in a wholly different way to the Whole Duty of Man published in the previous century in reaction to Puritan thought and practice, and chained in churches for people to read. Evangelicals had often protested against it but Venn provided a substitute. In it he wrote, "All treatises to promote holiness must be deplorably defective, unless the Cross of Christ be laid as the foundation, constantly kept in view, and every duty enforced as having relation to the Redeemer". He was a prolific letter writer and his grandson Henry Venn, Honorary Secretary of the Church Missionary Society from 1841 to 1873, collected and published over 200 of his letters. They reveal a joyful man of deep spirituality with an unwavering love for God.
Strenuous labours took their toll upon his health and in 1771 he moved to his final charge in Yelling only twelve miles from Cambridge where he married again. His final phase of service produced lasting spiritual value, flowing through the following generation into another century. Proximity to Cambridge enabled him to help and counsel younger men including his son John, and the well known Charles Simeon, vicar of Holy Trinity Cambridge and mentor of many students. John Venn in turn became rector of Clapham where he was highly respected by such prominent men as William Wilberforce and others known as the Clapham Sect, famous for their influence for social change and the furtherance of missionary endeavour. The influence of Henry Venn’s family continued through his grandchildren. The lovely hymn "Just as I am without one plea / But that Thy blood was shed for me", still often sung and enjoyed, was written by his granddaughter, Charlotte Elliot. After suffering a stroke in December, 1797 Mr Venn went to live in his son John’s home in Clapham where he died in the following June. Thus ended the noble endeavours of a Christian gentleman!
To be continued.
