John Cennick (1718-1755)

Methodism, Moravianism and the Rise of Evangelicalism

Robert Edmund Cotter

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9781032105147
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000571950
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

This book explores the life and spirituality of John Cennick (1718–1755) and argues for a new appreciation of the contradictions and complexities in early evangelicalism. It explores Cennick's evangelistic work in Ireland, his relationship with Count Zinzendorf and the creative tension between the Moravian and Methodist elements of his participation in the eighteenth-century revivals. The chapters draw on extensive unpublished correspondence between Cennick and Zinzendorf, as well as Cennick's unique diary of his first stay in the continental Moravian centres of Marienborn, Herrnhaag and Lindheim. A maverick personality, John Cennick is seen at the centre of some of the principal controversies of the time. The trajectory of his emergence as a prominent figure in the revivals is remarkable in its intensity and hybridity and brings into focus a number of themes in the landscape of early evangelicalism: the eclectic nature of its inspirations, the religious enthusiasm nurtured in Anglican societies, the expansion of the pool of preaching talent, the social tensions unleashed by religious innovations, and the particular nature of the Moravian contribution during the 1740s and 1750s. Offering a major re-evaluation of Cennick's spirituality, the book will be of interest to scholars of evangelical and church history.

1 Cennick in England

Methodist lay preacher

DOI: 10.4324/9781003226741-2

Kindred spirits

By his own account Cennick believed that his next steps would be determined by divine intervention. Armed with his new, but still tenuous, sense of assurance of salvation, he waited for the next sign that God was leading him to some opportunities for evangelism: ‘I began to resign myself, in the midst of my distress, to the wise disposal of God. I gave up my desires, my will, and my reasons of hope [of worldly employment]’.¹ In the meantime, Cennick was feeling ill at ease at home in Reading. He felt misunderstood by the rest of his family and treated as something of a religious fanatic. His mother in particular remained critical of his new-found enthusiasms.² By the end of 1738 Cennick was actively seeking a kindred spirit with whom to share his religious experiences.³ Such a person turned out to be George Whitefield, whom Cennick encountered through the pages of his Journal, which had begun to appear in early 1738.⁴ The entry that most struck a chord with Cennick was the account of the woman undergoing the pangs of the new birth, as recorded for 14 January 1738.⁵ On the strength of this, Cennick was eager to meet Whitefield if the opportunity arose. A short time later, learning of the Rev. Charles Kinchin, an acquaintance of Whitefield’s, Cennick walked to Oxford from his home in Reading to meet Kinchin, in order to discover more about Whitefield. Eventually tracking Kinchin down in Corpus Christi College, Cennick learned from him about the Oxford Holy Club, to which Whitefield and the Wesleys belonged. Cennick felt that he had at last found the kindred spirits he had sought. In fact, as Cennick later confided to Zinzendorf, he felt that in the Oxford Methodists he had found ‘the true church of God’, considering this meeting with Kinchin a veritable answer to prayer.⁶ At this stage Cennick ‘hoped to see the Methodists a glorious Church’.⁷

1 Cennick, Sacred Hymns for the Children of God, xix.

2 Gentry and Taylor, Bold as a Lion, 19.

3 Gentry and Taylor, Bold as a Lion, 19.

4 George Whitefield, A Journal of a Voyage from London to Savannah in Georgia (London: James Hutton, 1738), 12.

5 Gentry and Taylor, Bold as a Lion, 19.

6 John Cennick to Zinzendorf from Br. Müller’s Chamber (17 February 1746), UAH, R. 22. 1. a.

7 John Cennick to Zinzendorf from Br. Müller’s Chamber (17 February 1746), UAH, R. 22. 1. a.

Since Whitefield was still in Georgia when Cennick was with Kinchin in Oxford, Cennick asked to be kept informed of Whitefield’s return ‘because he so wanted to meet him and be involved in whatever he did’.⁸ Whitefield then arrived back in London on 8 December 1738 and Cennick met him there in January 1739. In the meantime, unknown to Cennick, Whitefield, the Wesleys, and other members of the Fetter Lane Society had felt the stirring of the Holy Spirit during a New Year’s Day Love Feast in Fetter Lane, which they likened to a ‘quasi-pentecostal experience’.⁹ Within a week the seven Anglican clergy members of the Fetter Lane Society met to plan a strategy ‘by which the Revival could be spread far and wide’.¹⁰ When Cennick and Whitefield met in James Hutton’s bookshop ‘The Bible and Sun’ near Temple Bar, it was an emotional encounter and an immediate bond was forged between these two young men.¹¹

The meeting with Whitefield soon led to an introduction to the Fetter Lane Society. In the spring of 1739, Cennick, his sister Sally, and their friend Kesia Wilmot, were all received into membership of the Society.¹² The Fetter Lane Society, as Colin Podmore has cogently argued, was Moravian in ethos from the outset, having been formed after the arrival in London of Peter Böhler and three other Moravians in February 1738.¹³ Whitefield, the Wesleys, and others had ‘created a readiness for renewal’ before the Moravians turned up unexpectedly and became the catalyst.¹⁴ It was only to be a matter of time before Cennick made the acquaintance of the Moravians in the Fetter Lane Society. Intense discussions were held with Whitefield about the prospects for religious revival and Cennick’s possible role in it. In the course of these discussions Cennick learned of the evangelistic work under way in the Kingswood area of Bristol, in which he was soon to become involved.¹⁵ In the intervening months John Wesley himself had sought out Cennick, who had begun his own Methodist-style society in Reading, despite the opposition of the local Anglican minister and his mother. Wesley wrote in his diary that on visiting Reading, ‘I found a young man, Cennick by name, strong in the faith of our Lord Jesus’.¹⁶ The kindred spirits, mentors, and colleagues in evangelism were rapidly assembling. For the rest of his life Cennick would bear the marks of these encounters, relationships, and influences. For the next six years his public allegiance was to Methodism, but the draw of Moravianism would become ever stronger, until it proved irresistible.

8 Gentry and Taylor, Bold as a Lion, 20.

9 Colin J. Podmore, ‘The Moravians and the Evangelical Revival in England, 1738–1748’, Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society, vol. 31 (2000), 29–45, 33.

10 Podmore, ‘The Moravians and the Evangelical Revival in England’, 33.

11 Gentry and Taylor, Bold as a Lion, 21. Cennick had just passed his twentieth birthday, Whitefield was twenty-four.

12 Gentry and Taylor, Bold as a Lion, 21.

13 Podmore, ‘The Moravians and the Evangelical Revival in England’, 31.

14 Podmore, ‘The Moravians and the Evangelical Revival in England’, 31.

15 Gentry and Taylor, Bold as a Lion, 22.

16 JJW, II (9 March 1739), 149.

Methodist lay preacher par excellence

Analysis of Cennick’s published sermons reveals a number of patterns, although he preached many more sermons than he published. Each of the sermons carries the explanatory subtitle ‘Being the substance of a discourse delivered’,¹⁷ suggesting that the written version of the sermon may not be an exact transcription of what he actually said, but represents some kind of ideal, redacted synopsis. In terms of the chronology of the sermons, it is clear that there were very few years when he did not preach a sermon which was later published. It is understandable that two years are not represented – 1747 and 1749. In 1747 he had spent the first half of the year in the Moravian centres in Germany and in 1749 he was ordained deacon in the Moravian Church. On both occasions he had plenty of reading, study, and reflection to pursue.

Baker asserts that the subject-matter and style of Cennick’s sermons commended them to the reading public, concluding that Cennick’s sermons are ‘scriptural, practical and homely, even if they are not striking’.¹⁸ Cennick understood that this was a useful way of encouraging the public to buy his sermons in their inexpensive editions. With the clear intention of reassuring his potential readership that his sermons were accessible, he wrote in the preface to an edition of his collected sermons:

The whole collection are generally paraphrases and dissertations on the Miracles and Parables of our Saviour. They are simple and plain, and suited for sincere people.¹⁹

This seems to be an over-simplification of the range of Cennick’s subject-matter. Judging by the titles of his published sermons, only a minority could clearly be described as dealing with miracles: The Bloody Issue Healed (1743), Naaman Cleansed (1743), The Demoniac (1753), The Widow of Nain (1755). A similar number are devoted to parables: The Good Samaritan (1744), The Good Shepherd (1744), The Sower (1748), The Lost Sheep, Piece of Silver, and Prodigal Son (1750), Dives and Lazarus (1753), The Hidden Treasure (1753).

17 John Cennick, The Cries of the Son of God. The substance of some discourses delivered at Kingswood in Gloucestershire, in the year 1739 (Dublin: S. Powell, 1754); The Beatific Vision: or Beholding Jesus Crucified. Being the substance of a discourse preached in Ballymenagh in Ireland, in the year 1755 (London: M. Lewis, 1756).

18 Baker, John Cennick, 10.

19 Baker, John Cennick, 10.

Of the remaining sermons a larger number seemed to tackle issues directly relevant to the revivals, including The Gift and Office of the Holy Ghost (1740), The New-Birth (1741), The Danger of Infidelity (1742), St Paul’s Conversion (1744), The Best Foundation (1744), The Safety of a True Christian (1744), The Benefits of the New-Testament (1745),...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1. Cennick in England: Methodist lay preacher
• 2. Cennick in Germany: His Marienborn diary, 1745–6
• 3. Cennick in Ireland: How ‘the Preacher’ became the ‘Apostle of Ireland’
• 4. Christocentrism: The theology and practice of heart religion
• 5. Eschatology: Cennick’s view of the end times
• 6. Ecumenism: Cennick’s quest for unity
• 7. Conclusion: John Cennick the mystical maverick
• Appendix: John Cennick, The Reproach of the Cross
• Bibliography
• Index