Lov’d with an everlasting love.’
“On the afternoon of Saturday, August 13, while a few Christian friends were standing near his bed, he stretched out his hand to each of them, and, to a minister, remarked, ‘Are you ready to assist to-morrow?’ One asked, ‘Do you think the Lord will raise you up?’ He strove to answer, ‘Raise in resur... raise in resur....’ To another, who put the same question, he replied, ‘I leave it all to God.’ I said, ‘My dear creature, I ask not for myself, but for the sake of others. If Jesus is very present with thee, lift thy right hand.’ He did so. I added, ‘If the prospect of glory opens before thee, repeat the sign.’ He raised his hand again; and, in half a minute, a second time. After this, his dear hands moved no more; but, on my asking, ‘Art thou in much pain?’ he answered, ‘No.’
“From this time, he entered into a kind of sleep, though with his eyes open and fixed. Twenty-four hours, my dearly beloved breathed like a person in common sleep; and then, at thirty-five minutes past ten on Sunday night, August 14, his precious soul entered into the joy of his Lord, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. I was scarce a minute at a time from him, night or day, during his illness, and I can truly say—
“‘No cloud did arise, to darken the skies,
Or hide for one moment his Lord from his eyes.’
“And here I break off my mournful story. On my bleeding heart, his fair picture of heavenly excellence will be for ever drawn. When I call to mind his ardent zeal, his laborious endeavours to seek and save the lost, his diligence in the employment of his time, his Christlike condescension towards me, and his uninterrupted converse with heaven, I may well be allowed to add, my loss is beyond the power of words to paint.
“On August 17, his dear remains were deposited in Madeley churchyard; amid the tears and lamentations of thousands, who flocked about the bier of their dead pastor. Between the house and the church, they sung these verses:—
“‘With heavenly weapons he hath fought
The battles of the Lord:
Finish’d his course, and kept the faith,