John Cennick

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John Cennick (12 December 1718 – 4 July 1755) was
an early Methodist and Moravian evangelist and
hymnwriter. He was born in Reading, Berkshire,
England to an Anglican family and raised in the Church
of England.[1]

According to Moravian Bishop E. R. Hasse, Cennick's

family was from Bohemia, and left as a result of
persecutions following the Battle of White Mountain.
In England, his family became Quakers when his
grandfather became influenced by George Fox.[2]

John Cennick

Early life
At age nine, he heard his dying aunt proclaim "Last night the Lord stood by me and
invited me to drink of the fountain of life freely and I shall stand before the Lord as bold
as a lion." The words stayed with him for many years as the focus of his own fear of death
and concern for his salvation. Being from a family of humble means, John was compelled,
at the age of 13, to leave school and seek an apprenticeship. He made eight trips to
London looking for a position and, failing, became somewhat of a dissolute youth,
spending what little money he had on plays and gambling, and engaged in lying and petty
theft. Of this period in his life, he later said "I had forgot Jesus and everlasting ages:...
loving ungodliness more than goodness and to talk of lies more than righteousness."[3]

Conversion

As a youth he delighted in attending dances, playing cards, and going to the theatre. But in
1735, while walking hastily along Cheapside, London, he experienced deep convictions of
sin. These convictions were strengthened by his association with pious companions. He was
greatly depressed in mind...[b]ut he did not yet possess true Christian peace. On the
contrary, he went, step by step, down into the dark depths of spiritual despair.[4]

At the age of 17, he was suddenly oppressed by a heavy spirit, which he endured for two
years, until relief came when he happened into a church. There he heard the words of
Psalm 34:19,22b: "(19) Great are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth

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him out of them all! (22b) And he that putteth his trust in God shall not be desolate." He
later said that he heard the voice of Christ speaking to him.

My heart danced for joy and my dying soul revived. I heard the voice of Jesus saying, "I am
thy salvation". I no more groaned under the weight of sin. The fears of hell were taken away
... Christ loved me and died for me, I rejoiced in God my Saviour.

Cennick worked for a time as surveyor in Reading. He began reading the writings of
George Whitfield, and through a friend at Oxford he met Whitefield, John Wesley, and
Charles Wesley.

Moravian Church, Gracehill,

September 2009

Ministry
Cennick joined the nascent Methodist movement. In 1740, he became a teacher at
Kingswood, England, on Wesley's recommendation.

On Kingswood Hill, amid the remains of the old Royal Chase, a crowd of colliers had
assembled for a service, but the expected preacher failed to appear. Cennick was there, and
as with one instinct the eyes of all turned to him, and many voices urged him to step into the
breach. He hesitated; he reasoned with himself -- he was not prepared! he had never yet
preached! nor was he licensed to do so! But there before him were the people waiting for the
Word; and upon him was the sense of "the burden of the Lord." And so, finally, after earnest
prayer, he obeyed the inner voice...and it led him along the God-appointed path of
Evangelism, where his career was so short, so bright, and so full of blessing.[5]

Like Whitfield he differed from Wesley on particular redemption and unconditional

election and was obliged to leave.[6] He eventually allied with the Calvinistic Methodists.
After Whitefield returned from America, he asked Cennick to join him on preaching tours.
In 1745 Cennick went over to the Moravians, and went to Germany to study their
doctrines.

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Some of Cennick's first hymns were included with his sermons. His first hymns appeared
during his time at Kingswood. In Charles Wesley's diary (July 1739) he wrote, "I corrected
Mr. Cennick's hymns for the press." Throughout the rest of his short career and life he
published several collections of hymns. His son-in-law John Swertner included several of
Cennick's hymns in a Moravian collection in 1789.

Although he wrote many hymns, Cennick is remembered for:

Be Present at Our Table, Lord

Be with Me, Lord, Where'er I Go
Children of the Heav'nly King
Christ is Our Master, Lord, and God
Hail, Alpha and Omega, Hail
Rise, My Soul, Adore Your Maker
verses of Christians, Dismiss Your Fear
verses of Lo! He comes with clouds descending

He spent much time as an itinerant evangelist in England and Ireland, enduring great and
often violent opposition. By the time of his early death, he had established over 40
churches.

John Cennick died of a fever in London at only 36 years of age, leaving a wife and two
children, and is buried at the Moravian cemetery (Sharon's Garden) in Chelsea, England.
John Julian wrote of Cennick: "Some of the stanzas of his hymns are very fine, but the
hymns taken as a whole are most unequal. Some excellent centos might be compiled from
his various works."[7] Some of Cennick's hymns not published in his lifetime were
included in the Moravian Hymn Book (1789), edited by his son-in-law, Johannes
Swertner. A number of his hymns are preserved in the Sacred Harp.

Works
Sacred Hymns, for the Children of God in the Days of Their Pilgrimage, 1741.
Sacred Hymns for the Use of Religious Societies, 1743.
A Collection of Sacred Hymns, 1749.
Hymns to the Honour of Jesus Christ, Composed for Such Little Children as Desire
to Be Saved, 1754.

References
1. ^ Lalor, Brian (ed) (2003). The Encyclopaedia of Ireland. Dublin, Ireland: Gill &
Macmillan. p. 180. ISBN 0-7171-3000-2.
2. ^ Hasse, Rt. Rev. E. R. (1913). Chapter VI: John Cennick in: The Moravians.
London: National Council of Evangelical Free Churches. pp. 216–220.
3. ^ John Cennick, "Nunc Dimittis. Some lines of the Reverend Mr. Cennick's ... which
he wrote some time ago, and carried with him in his pocket-book, where they were
found after his decease", 1745, p.8.

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 4. ^ Miller, Josiah, John Cennick (1717-1755) in Singers and Songs of the Church:
Being Biographical Sketches of the Hymn-writers in all the Principal Collections,
with Notes on their Psalms and Hymns, 2nd ed. London: Longmans, Green, 1869,
p.216
5. ^ Hasse, Rt. Rev. E. R., Chapter VI: John Cennick in: The Moravians. London:
National Council of Evangelical Free Churches, 1913.
6. ^ Broome, J R (1988). Life and Hymns of John Cennick. Herpendon,
Hertfordshire: Gospel Standard Trust Publications. ISBN 9780903556804.
7. ^ Julian, John (1907). A Dictionary of Hymnology.

External links
Hymns by John Cennick
Entry for John Cennick on Hymnary.org [1]

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