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EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE

AND

MISSIONARY CHRONICLE.

JULY 1821.

MEMOIR OF THE LATE WALTER VENNING, ESQ.

"I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came
unto me." Matt. xxv. 36.

IT TT was the unspeakable privilege of Mr. Walter Venning to have been blessed with a religious education, under the care of eminently pious parents in Devonshire, who had used every effort to lead him to the knowledge and service of God. Commercial engagements obliged him in early life to visit St. Petersburg. He carried out with him that general sense of religion, and particularly that regard to the sanctity of the Sabbath, which he had inbibed from the habits of his youth; and greatly was he shocked at the profanation of the holy day which prevailed even among the British inhabitants of that city. The feeling, however, which was then excited was of no long continuance. His inexperienced mind even manifested its depraved tendencies by gradual compliance with the customs of the place, to which he was urged by the ridicule to which he found himself exposed, when he attempted to plead for observances which were associated with his earliest recollections. With the neglect of the Sabbath were connected the slight performance and the frequent omission of secret prayer. Hence arose a growing carelessness about spiritual and eternal concerns, which, by his

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own confession, prevailed to a lamentable degree, but never so thoroughly as to leave him in quiet possession of the worldly habits which he had assumed.

About the year 1807, an event took place which called back his wandering heart, and appears to have been the principal means of fixing his convictions and determinations on the side of religion. That event was the death of his aged and pious father. Under the deep feelings of regret which the loss of a parent occasioned, he retraced his past life, and found that he had been pursuing "vanity and vexation of spirit." Many tenderscenes of parental instruction and admonition, which had been nearly obliterated from his recollection, were now renewed. The calm composure with which this reverend and beloved parent" waited for the salvation of God," until he "finished his course with joy," became the means of fixing the convictions of the affectionate and dutiful son; and, to adopt his own words, " Led him again to bless and praise that Almighty Power which enabled his parent on his dying pillow to comfort those who came to comfort him."

These impressions, it appears,

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never afterwards forsook him. Some remarkable providential preservations, experienced in the frequent voyages occasioned by his commercial connexions, especially between this country and Russia, greatly strengthened his altered views. Hence, he was induced to study, with serious attention, the Holy Scriptures, and cordially to receive the great truths of the everlasting Gospel, which he found able to make

him wise unto salvation.

In the year 1810, or in the early part of 1811, being then resident in London, he became a stated attendant on the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Winter, in New Court, Carey Street; and in the autumn of the last mentioned year, he was received into communion with the church of that place. The constancy with which he attended Christian ordinances, and the readiness with which he entered into " methods of doing good," were obvious to many. But the greatest improvement of his mind in scriptural knowledge, and in powerful and efficient views of religion, could be traced only by those to whom he freely unbosomed himself. In proportion to his growth in knowledge and in grace, he became increasingly desirous of usefulness. In the exertions of a little Society, formed within the circle of the congregation with which he was connected, for the purpose of Visiting and Relieving the Sick Poor, he took a large and a memorable interest, The habit of praying and conversing with the poor, the sick, and the dying, in the crowded alleys and courts of London, became the means of strengthening and enlarging his mind; and, no doubt, laid the basis of those more extended exertions of disinterested benevolence which principally characterized the latter years of his life.

siting the prisons of the metropolis, in endeavouring to impart religious instruction to those who were confined in them, and in distributing to them Bibles and Tracts; in which latter work he was aided by an Auxiliary Tract Society, formed in the congregation.

In the year 1817, he undertook another, which was his fourth and last voyage to Russia, intending, when he left England, an absence of only three months. Various circumstances, however, conspired to prolong his stay. One was the cordial reception which he met with from a near relative, whose mind he was most happy to find increasingly opened to those great truths which he himself had received. Another was the greatly improved state of religious society in St. Petersburg. A third, in connexion with this, was the enlarged opening which he there perceived for all plans of promoting the diffusion of religion by the wonderful exertions of the Bible Society, and by other means. And the fourth was the opportunity of active usefulness which he found in his favourite employment in visiting the prisons both in St. Petersburg and in other parts of the empire. In short, this excellent man was daily approximating to the character and exertions of Howard; and, under the auspicious sanction of the Emperor Alexander and his prime minister, Prince Galitzin, his labours were very efficient.

The letters which he wrote to his friends, and the account of his exertions received from other quarters, have been delightful to all who knew and loved him, as they placed before them the exertions of a mind bent on doing good, the happiness attending such exertions, and the growing success which, through the blessing of God, they failed not to produce.

Before he finally left his native, shores, he was much occupied in vi- A large circle of friends in Eng

land had indulged the hope of seeing him here again in the last Summer or Autumn. Such, however, was not to be their happiness; and the interview is reserved for that blessed and glorious state where the pure in heart shall see God.

The writer of this Memoir had received a general but authentic account of the death of Mr. Venning, stating, that it was occasioned by an infectious fever, which he caught in visiting a prison in St. Petersburg, and that it took place on the 22d of January. Subsequently to this, he received two important communications. The first was a letter from Mr. Venning himself, written six weeks before the commencement of the disorder which was appointed to remove him from our world. It was principally occupied in relating the particulars of a merciful preservation from shipwreck, which he had experienced in the Gulf of Finland, when he was on his way to Copenhagan, where he had the prospect of instituting a Prison Society, such as now exists, in consequence in a great measure of his exertions at St. Petersburg. The loss of the ship obliged him to return to Russia, but still with the intention of visiting Denmark, and of proceeding to England. There is a passage in his letter which, considering that when it was received he was known to be dead, could not but be deeply interesting. Still," he says, "I look forward with pleasure, and hope to see my dear English friends next summer; but the vicissitudes of life, and the uncertainty of life itself, especially in the work which engages all my time and attention, forbid me, at least for the present, to say much about it." Such was the deep sense which he entertained that uncertainty, of which so affecting an illustration was just at hand. A few days after this, the writer

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received a letter from the Rev Richard Knill, a Missionary in connexion with the London Missionary Society, stationed for the present at St. Petersburg; containing a more detailed account of the decease of this valuable man, from which a few extracts may be aeceptable. It is dated Jan. 1821.

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Mr. Walter Venning and another member of the visiting Committee were at the prison about three weeks ago; both of them caught fever; the other gentleman was seized first, and soon discovered symptoms of typhus; his life was despaired of, but through mercy he is now recovered. Mr. Venning's disorder began with a cold, it increased, and ten days before his death, he was confined to his bed. On Thursday the 18th, he sent for Dr. Patterson and me. Dr. Patterson was not at home, but I went immediately. On my entering his room, he said, "I have sent for Dr. Paterson and you, because it is my earnest wish to have you with me. right I should have those with me now, with whom I hope to dwell for ever. The doctors tell me that I am not very ill; I think I am, I feel that I am; true, it may not be danger-ous, but that is uncertain; God only knows what the event may be; it may terminate in death, may not?" "Uncertainty," I replied, "is engraven on all terrestrial things, but I trust that you will soon be restored, and have many years of usefulness added to your life." He paused for a moment, and replied with much energy, "Yes, I hope so too, there is nothing else that makes life desirable; but it is probable that all my work is done, and this idea induced me to send for you: we shall be companions in eternity. If we are Christians indeed, we shall be angels in the world to come. I insist on it that you visit me, and let nothing prevent it."

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