A great many friends were standing round his bed; he took each one by the hand, and lovingly bade them farewell.
All through Tuesday night, he kept trying to repeat the hymn he had sung, but could only say: "I'll praise, I'll praise."
Next morning, about ten o'clock, the Rev. Joseph Bradford, who had been his faithful companion and nurse, knelt down at the bedside and prayed. Eleven of Mr. Wesley's friends were in the room; they wanted to go with their dear leader, right up to the gates that divide our life here from our life yonder.
"Farewell," said the dying patriarch. And then, as some one repeated, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and this Heir of glory shall come in," the Golden Gates opened, and the soul of John Wesley passed through.
Those who were left outside the gates, still stood round the bed and sang to the departing spirit:
"Waiting to receive thy spirit,
Lo, the Saviour stands above;
Shows the purchase of His merit,
Reaches out the crown of love."
So died happy John Wesley. Happy in life, happy in death. And the secret of his happiness was the secret he proclaimed to thousands of boys and girls, as well as men and women, all over this England of ours.
"O boys, be strong in Jesus;
Let those around you see
How manly, pure, and generous,
A Christian boy can be.
"O maidens, live for Jesus,
Like Him, be kind and true;
And let the love from God above
Rule all you say and do.
"Then all the boys and maidens,
When life and work are o'er,
Will hear from One, the words 'Well done,'
And rest for evermore."
If ever you go to London, you must visit City Road Chapel, for there John Wesley was interred, on the 9th of March, 1791, aged nearly eighty-eight years.