John Cennick

[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.

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.

[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.

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.

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.

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.

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.