Venn, Anne

Anne Venn (bap. 1627, d. 1654) produced a spiritual diary, meditations, and sermon notes recounting shifts in her religious affiliation during a period of great upheaval within the English church. Venn’s manuscript papers were posthumously published as A Wise Virgins Lamp Burning (1658) by her stepfather, the minister Thomas Weld, a religious Independent who believed in the autonomy of individual gathered congregations. Weld’s preface indicates that the work, containing “the example of one of the weak Sex,” was intended to “be useful in these declining times to convince some Christians of their slackness,” identifying Venn as one of the “wise” virgins who kept their lamps trimmed and ready for Christ, their bridegroom, to appear (Matthew 12:1–13). Venn’s spiritual journey, negotiated predominantly through written engagement with sermons she attended by prominent Independent preachers, reveals the variety of spiritual and earthly struggles encountered by women who sought religious reform.