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." 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.