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John Cennick (12 December 1718 – 4 July 1755) was an English
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
and Moravian evangelist and hymnwriter. He was born in
Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
to an
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
family and raised in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
. 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 The Battle of White Mountain (; ) was an important battle in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War. It led to the defeat of the Bohemian Revolt and ensured Habsburg control for the next three hundred years. It was fought on 8 November 16 ...
. In England, his family became Quakers when his grandfather became influenced by
George Fox George Fox (July 1624 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 13 January 1691 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an English Dissenters, English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Quakers, Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as t ...
.


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 Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...
. He made eight trips to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
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."


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... t he did not yet possess true Christian peace. On the contrary, he went, step by step, down into the dark depths of spiritual despair.
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 The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of H ...
: "(19)Great are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth 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 Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...
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 Whitefield George Whitefield (; 30 September 1770), also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican minister and preacher who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement. Born in Gloucester, he matriculated at Pembroke Coll ...
, and through a friend at Oxford he met Whitefield,
John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...
, and
Charles Wesley Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English Anglican cleric and a principal leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include "And Can It ...
.


Ministry

Cennick joined the nascent
Methodist movement Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christian tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley were also significa ...
. 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.
Like Whitefield he differed from Wesley on particular redemption and unconditional election and was obliged to leave. He eventually allied with the
Calvinistic Methodists Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...
. 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. 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 in many editions of '' Hymns Ancient & Modern'': *''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 CentOS (, from Community Enterprise Operating System; also known as CentOS Linux) is a discontinued Linux distribution that provided a free and open-source community-supported computing platform, functionally compatible with its upstream (softw ...
might be compiled from his various works." 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 Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music which developed in New England and perpetuated in the American South. The name is derived from ''The Sacred Harp'', a historically important shape notes, shape-note tunebook printed in ...
.


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


External links


Hymns by John Cennick
*Entry for John Cennick on Hymnary.or

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cennick, John 1718 births 1755 deaths English Methodist hymnwriters English evangelists Musicians from London English Methodists Calvinistic Methodists People from Reading, Berkshire Writers of the Moravian Church Converts to Methodism from Anglicanism English people of the Moravian Church English evangelicals