- John Cennick
John Cennick (
December 12 ,1718 -July 4 ,1755 ) was an early Methodist and Moravian evangelist and hymnwriter. He was born inReading, Berkshire ,England to an Anglican family and raised in theChurch of England .cite book | last=Lalor | first=Brian (ed) | year=2003 |title=The Encyclopaedia of Ireland | publisher=Gill & Macmillan | location=Dublin, Ireland | isbn=0-7171-3000-2 | pages=p 180 ]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.
Early life
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 toLondon 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
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 the psalm "Great are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all! 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."
His religious conversion was experienced in 1737.
Ministry
After meeting
John Wesley , he joined the nascentMethodist movement . In 1740, he became a teacher at Kingswood, England, on Wesley's recommendation. He eventually allied with theCalvinistic Methodists .Baptist s visiting London heard him preach and invited him toDublin in 1747. Around this time he was in the process of joining the Moravians. After quarrels with his Dublin hosts, he concentrated his attentions onUlster , where he founded some 200Fact|date=October 2007 Moravian communities between 1747 and 1752 and helped to establishEvangelicalism inIreland . A plaque on the wall of the Moravian church inGracehill ,County Antrim , commemorates the arrival inBallymena onAugust 9 ,1746 , of John Cennick, the first Moravian evangelist in mid Antrim. [cite web | title= Gracehill | work= Culture Northern Ireland | url= http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/town_Home.aspx?co=16&to=333&ca=0&sca=0&navID=1| accessdate= 2007-07-18]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. A number of his hymns are preserved in the
Sacred Harp .Works by John Cennick
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.External links
* [http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/c/e/cennick_j.htm Hymns by John Cennick]
* [http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2003/07/daily-07-04-2003.shtml The Death of Evangelist John Cennick]
* [http://www.evangelical-times.org/Articles/Apr02/apr02a11.htm John Cennick: Bold as a Lion]References
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