Many hindrances, of little concern to the public, have delayed the issue of this memoir. Its preparation was naturally undertaken in the first instance by Mr. Venn's own family, and for a most important and well-executed part of it they are still responsible. The fear of transgressing on the side of panegyric has perhaps restrained them from expressing to the full the admiration which to a stranger would have cost no scruples; but, if the biographical chapter errs in any direction, it only errs in that subdued reticence which to its subject would have been most congenial, and it is no common portrait of a Christian father, friend, and pastor, who brought rare qualifications to a work which he was almost the first to realise under its new conditions and full development.

When, in the course of the memoir, it became necessary to deal with the special work in connection with the administration of the Church Missionary Society, which gradually absorbed all Mr. Venn's time and energies, it was felt that, even at the risk of some lack of unity in the execution, this portion of the narrative might fare best in the hands of some one, if such could be found, who had been associated with him in this work of his life.

His sons accordingly proposed this task to me, as I had been for nearly thirteen years officially attached to the Church Missionary Society, both at home and in the East, and had been through most of that time his confidential coadjutor.