‘I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath,
And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers.’
He sang two verses and then sank back exhausted. These lines were from Watts’ well-known hymn. Some hours passed as Wesley continued to sink, and with ebbing strength his last words of triumphant faith were: “The best of all is, God is with us.”
Such a consciousness of the divine presence has sustained many others. Here is one instance entitled:
Singing Their Farewell
Having spent forty years in educational work in England, a Scotch schoolmaster and his wife moved back to their native land to spend their days of retirement. Since they were active in one of the local churches, the membership came together for a farewell service. When they came to sing the closing hymn, choice was made of an arrangement of Psalm 34.[3] Doubtless the aged couple going into the sunset period of life afterwards recalled the words which they and their friends in Christian service sang that evening:
“Through all the changing scenes of life,
In trouble and in joy,
The praises of my God shall still