cting link between the Methodists and the Evangelicals
proper. Like Romaine, he belonged to Lady Huntingdon's Connexion until
the secession of 1781. He was also in the habit of itinerating during
the early part of his Evangelical ministry. He was on the most intimate
terms with the Wesleys and Whitefield, and thoroughly identified himself
with their practical work. But his son tells us in his most interesting
biography that his views changed on this matter. 'Induced,' he writes,
'by the hope of doing good, my father in certain instances preached in
unconsecrated places. But having acknowledged this, it becomes my
pleasing duty to state that he was no advocate for irregularity in
others; that when he afterwards considered it in its different bearings
and connections, he lamented that he had given way to it, and restrained
several other persons from such acts by the most cogent arguments.'[806]
The dispute between Venn and John Wesley as to whether the Methodist
preachers should be withdrawn from parishes where an Evangelical
incumbent was appointed has been already noticed.

The career of Henry Venn is particularly interesting and important,
because it shows us not only the points of contact between the
Methodists and Evangelicals, but also their points of divergence. In
spite of his itinerancy and his strong sympathy with the Methodist
leaders, Venn furnishes a more marked type of the rising Evangelical
school than any whom we have yet noticed. Apart from his literary work,
it was as a parish priest rather than as an evangelist that Venn made
his mark. His preaching at Huddersfield was unquestionably most
effective; but its effect was at least as much due to the great respect
which he inspired, the disinterestedness of his whole life and work, the
affectionate earnestness and sound practical sense of his counsel--in
short, to his pastoral efforts--as to his mere oratory. Again, the
Calvinism of Henry Venn was distinctly that of the later Evangelical
school rather than that of Whitefield and Romaine. He was a Calvinist of
precisely the same type as Newton, and Scott, and Cecil, and the two
Milners.

His closing years were very calm and happy. Worn out before his time in
his Master's work, he was obliged to exchange at the early age of
forty-seven the harass of a large town parish for the quiet of a country
village. More than a quarter of a century he passed in the peaceful
retirement of Yelling; but he was not idle. He