the friends who were present could not understand him, he paused a little, and then with all his remaining strength, cried out, The best of all is, God is with us. Lifting up his dying arm in token of victory, and raising his feeble voice in a holy triumph not to be expressed, he again repeated, The best of all is, God is with us.

When his parched lips were wetted he devoutly repeated his usual thanksgiving after meat: "We thank thee, O Lord, for these and all thy mercies. Bless the Church and king; and grant us truth and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, for ever and ever."

In the course of the same day, at different times, he said, "He causeth his servants to lie down in peace." "The clouds drop fatness." "The Lord is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge."

"I'll praise, I'll praise."

The next morning the closing scene drew near. Joseph Bradford, his faithful and well-tried friend, prayed with him, and the last word he was heard to utter was, 66 Farewell." While several of his friends were kneeling round his bed, without a groan, this man of God, this beloved pastor of thousands, entered into the joy of his Lord.

His will contains the following characteristic item : "I give six pounds to be divided among the six poor men who shall carry my body to the grave; for I particularly desire there may be no hearse, no coach, no escutcheon, no pomp, except the tears of them that loved me, and are following me to Abraham's bosom. I solemnly adjure my executors, in the name of God, punctually to observe this."

Few men have been more honoured in their death than this venerable servant of the Lord. On the day preceding his interment his remains were, according to his own direction, placed in the chapel near his dwellinghouse in London; and the crowds that went to see them were so great, that business was generally suspended in the City-road, and it was with great difficulty that any carriage could pass. His funeral took place early in the morning, lest any accident should

occur, in consequence of the vast concourse of people which was otherwise expected to attend. When the officiating clergyman, at the grave-side, pronounced the words, "Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God to take unto himself the soul of our dear father here departed," the people, who nearly filled the burying-ground, burst into loud weeping; and, it is believed, that scarcely a dry eye was to be seen in the entire assembly. When the funeral sermon was preached the men occupied the floor of the City-road chapel, and the women the gallery; and, with one solitary exception, it is said, that not a coloured riband was to be seen in the vast congregation. One lady, with a blue riband on her beaver hat, found her way into the gallery; and, on observing her singularity, she instantly tore it from her head, and thus assumed the garb of mourning with the rest of the people.

The following is the inscription upon Mr. Wesley's tomb:

TO THE MEMORY OF

THE VENERABLE JOHN WESLEY, A. M.,

LATE FELLOW OF LINCOLN COLLEGE,
OXFORD.

This great Light arose,

by the singular providence of God,
to enlighten these Nations,

and to revive, enforce, and defend

the pure apostolical doctrines and practices of the
Primitive Church:

which he continued to do, both by his writings and his labours, for more than half a Century:

and, to his inexpressible joy,

not only beheld their influence extending,
and their efficacy witnessed,

in the hearts and lives of many thousands,

as well in the Western World, as in these Kingdoms; but also, far above all human power or expectation, lived to see provision made,

by the singular grace of God,

for their continuance and establishment,
to the joy of future generations!

Reader, if thou art constrained to bless the instrument,
give God the glory!

After having languished a few days, he at length finished his

course

and his life together;

gloriously triumphing over death,
March 2d, An. Dom. 1791,

in the eighty-eighth year of his age.

The following epitaph is inscribed upon a marble tablet in the City-road chapel:

"The best of all is, God is with us."

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF

THE REV. JOHN WESLEY, M. A.,

SOME TIME FELLOW OF LINCOLN COLLEGE,
OXFORD,

A man, in learning and sincere piety,
scarcely inferior to any :

In zeal, ministerial labours, and extensive usefulness,
superior, perhaps, to all men, since the days of St. Paul.
Regardless of fatigue, personal danger, and disgrace,
he went out into the highways and hedges,
calling sinners to repentance,
and publishing the Gospel of Peace.

He was the Founder of the Methodist Societies,
and the chief Promoter and Patron

of the plan of Itinerant Preaching,
which he extended through Great Britain and Ireland,
the West Indies, and America, with unexampled success.
He was born the XVII of June, MDCCIII,
and died the II of March, MDCCXCI,
in sure and certain hope of eternal life,
through the Atonement and Mediation of
a Crucified Saviour.

He was sixty-five years in the Ministry,
and fifty-two an Itinerant Preacher ;
He lived to see in these kingdoms only,
about three hundred Itinerant,

and one thousand Local Preachers, raised up from the midst of his own people, and eighty thousand persons in the societies under his care. His name will be ever had in grateful remembrance by all who rejoice in the universal spread of the Gospel of Christ.

SOLI DEO GLORIA.

Fully to exhibit the character of this man of God would require an ample volume. His attainments as a

scholar, had he possessed no other distinction, would alone have entitled him to high respect. He was a critic in the Greek language; and he both spoke and wrote Latin with remarkable fluency and correctness to the end of his life. At the University he studied Hebrew and Arabic. In Georgia he conducted public worship both in French and Italian; and he offered to render the same service, in their own tongue, to a regiment of Germans at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, during the rebellion of 1745. His skill in logic was proverbial, and must strike every one who reads either his practical or his controversial works. They present 'finer examples, illustrative of the principles of this most useful art, than those of almost any other of our English authors. His correct and elegant literary taste, his readiness of apprehension, his ability to comprehend and simplify the most abstruse and complex subjects, are manifest in the whole of his voluminous writings. There are many passages in his works which, for depth and justness of conception, and strength and beauty of expression, would not suffer from a comparison with the most admired selections that the English language can furnish.

Some of the no

He was truly a lover of mankind. bility and gentry honoured him with their friendship; and he availed himself of the opportunity thus afforded, for reminding them of the temptations and dangers of wealth, and the responsibility which it involves, as well as of the substantial good which is to be found in the possession of deep personal godliness. An affectionate and admonitory letter, addressed to Sir James Lowther, and dated October 28, 1754, is an admirable example of this. Among other things, he says to the wealthy and honourable baronet, "You are on the borders of the grave, as well as I. Shortly we must both appear before God. When it seemed to me, some months since, that my life was near an end, I was troubled that I had not dealt plainly with you. This you will allow me to do now, without any reserve, in the fear and in the presence of God. I reverence you for your office as a magistrate. I believe you to be an honest, upright man; I love you for having protected an innocent people

from their cruel and lawless oppressors: but so much the more am I obliged to say, (though I judge not, God is the judge,) I fear you are covetous; that you love the world and if you do, as sure as the word of God is true, you are not in a state of salvation.

"I must once more earnestly entreat you to consider yourself, and God, and eternity. As to yourself, you are not the proprietor of any thing, no, not of one shilling in the world. You are only a steward of what another entrusts you with, to be laid out, not according to your will, but his. And what would you think of your steward, if he laid out what is called your money according to his own will and pleasure? Is not God the sole

proprietor of all things? And are not you to give an account to him for every part of his goods? And O, how dreadful an account, if you have expended any part of them, not according to his will, but your own? Is not death at hand? And are not you and I just stepping into eternity! Are we not just going to appear in the presence of God, and that naked of all worldly goods? Will you then rejoice in the money you have left behind you? Or in that you have given to support a family, as it is called? that is, in truth, to support the pride, and vanity, and luxury which you have yourself despised all your life long? O, sir, I beseech you, for the sake of God, for the sake of your own im. mortal soul, examine yourself, whether you do not love money! If so, you cannot love God. And if we die without the fear of God, what remains? Only to be banished from him for ever and ever! ""*

The privations of the poor excited his tenderest sympathy, and he put forth every effort to relieve them. At the beginning of winter, it was his practice, in London, to raise a fund for the purpose of meeting the wants of the necessitous. This he did by going from door to door among the rich and liberal, to whom he could gain access; and in the distribution of food and clothing among the pious who were in want, he felt a greater satisfaction than "victors in a triumph know." Almost daily was he found by the beds of the afflicted d; and his charity was only limited by his income. To Works, vol. iii, pp. 572, 573, Am. edit.