John Venn (9 March 1759 – 1 July 1813) was a priest of the Church of England who was a central figure of the group of religious philanthropists known as the Clapham Sect.
He was the son of the Reverend Henry Venn, Vicar of Yelling; and his progenitors, for several generations, were Ministers of the Church of England.
He was endowed by providence with a sound and powerful understanding: and he added to an ample fund of classical knowledge a familiar acquaintance with all the more useful parts of philosophy and science: His taste was simple.
As a Divine, he was comprehensive and elevated in his views, and peculiarly conversant with Theological subjects; but he derived his chief knowledge from the scriptures themselves, which he diligently studied and faithfully interpreted.
As a Preacher, he was affectionate and persuasive, intellectual and discriminating, serious, solemn, and devout; anxious to impress on others those evangelical truths which he himself so deeply felt.
Having been sustained, during a long and trying illness, by a stedfast faith in that Saviour whom in all his preaching he laboured to exalt, he died 1 July 1813, aged 54 years, leaving to his surviving family and flock an encouraging example of the blessedness of those who embrace with their whole hearts the religion of Jesus Christ.