On March 2, 1791, John Wesley’s family and friends knelt at his bedside. The day before he had surprised everyone by singing two stanzas of Issac Watts’ hymn that begins with, “I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath.” He then sat up and said, “The best of all is, God is with us.” His final word was: “Farewell.”

In his lifetime John Wesley had accomplished what few others ever have. He began as an itinerant preacher. He traveled 250,000 miles on horseback and preached more than forty thousand sermons to crowds as large as 20,000. He regularly preached three times a day, often beginning at 5 AM. At the time of his death there were 80,000 Methodists in England and 40,000 in America. He was the father of the “Religious Paperback,” publishing over 5,000 sermons and pamphlets. He gave away almost everything out of his meager income to support the ministry, and when he died he left behind a well-worn coat, two silver teaspoons, and the Methodist Church!

Many historians credit, John Wesley and George Whitefield with preventing the spread of the French Revolution to England’s shores, as God used them as catalysts for the Evangelical Awakening of their day.

John Newton, with whom John Wesley had had a major doctrinal difference that had caused a disruption in fellowship, Newton being a Calvinist, preached the funeral sermon. Their friendship, fellowship, love and respect for each other had been restored some years before Wesley’s home-going.