Going to sleep.--How John Wesley missed his
brother.--A good man's tears.--Getting old.--Mr.
Wesley's text for the children.--Last words in
Manchester.--In Colchester.--A dinner-hour
meeting.--The old ash tree.
NOW I must come to what seems to the young a very sad time. When we are
strong and healthy, and can enjoy all the things God has given us to
enjoy in this beautiful world, death does seem very sad and sorrowful.
But think, dear young readers, how you feel when you have been playing
hard all day, or working at school, and perhaps gone to a party in the
evening and have not got to bed until 10 o'clock. Is it not very nice
and very comforting to lay your head on your soft pillow and go to
sleep? Now this is just how God's people feel when they are tired of
life's work, they just close their eyes and fall asleep, "asleep in
Jesus." This is how Mr. Charles Wesley passed away when he was eighty
years old. Though four years younger than Mr. John, he seemed the older
man, for he had been weak and infirm for a long time. The two brothers
had loved each other dearly, and Mr. Wesley felt very lonely when
"Charlie" died.
Three weeks afterwards, Mr. Wesley, preaching at Bolton, gave out for
his second hymn No. 140, a hymn composed by Mr. Charles. He tried to
read the first verse, but when he came to the words
"My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with Thee,"
he could get no further, but just burst into tears, and sat down in the
pulpit, burying his face in his hands. The singing ceased, and numbers
of the congregation wept in sympathy at sight of their dear leader's
sorrow. At last Mr. Wesley recovered himself, and went on with the
service, which was never forgotten by any of those who were present.
Very soon after this, Mr. Wesley began to feel weak and feeble. Again
his birthday month came round, the sunny month of June, and on the 17th
he wrote: "I am eighty-six to-day, and I find I grow old. My eyes are so
dim that no spectacles will help me, and I cannot read small print
except in a very strong light. My strength fails me so that I walk much
slower than I used to do." He was now, for the first time for forty
years, obliged to give up his five o'clock morning sermons, and was only
able to preach twice a day. As the months went by, he grew weaker and
more infirm. Once, as the old man tottered up the pulpit stairs, the
whole congregation burst into tears.
On Valentine's Day, in 1790, he preached one of his last sermons to his
_little_ followers. He chose for his text: "Come, ye children, hearken
unto Me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord." The boys and girls
flocked from everywhere to hear him, and many who had never loved Jesus
before, heard Him speaking to them through His dear servant; and
answering the loving call, came, and from that day became Christ's
faithful little soldiers.
In the same year, when he was eighty-seven years old, he spent a
week-end in Manchester, and spoke his last words to his followers there.
He preached in the old chapel in Oldham Street on the Saturday night,
and the next day, which was Easter Sunday (April 4th), he assisted in
giving the Sacrament to sixteen hundred members, and preached both night
and morning without feeling tired.
A few months later he preached at Colchester; but he was so infirm that
a minister had to stand on each side of him, and hold him up. His voice
was feeble and low, and many of the congregation could not hear him; but
his calm, beautiful face, and long white hair formed a picture that the
children and grown-up people in Colchester never forgot.
It was in this same year, 1790, that he preached for the last time in
the open air. It was in Winchelsea, and the time was October, the month
when nuts and apples are asking to be gathered, and when the leaves put
on their loveliest dress.
As Mr. Wesley felt his time on earth was drawing to a close, he was all
the more eager to "tell to all around, what a dear Saviour he had
found," and how they might find Him too. So he preached at twelve
o'clock noon, the dinner hour of the workmen, in order that they too
might have a chance of hearing the good news. A large oak dining-table
was brought into the churchyard, and there, under the shade of an old
ash tree, John Wesley gave his last message to those working men. "_The
kingdom of Heaven is at hand; repent ye, and believe the Gospel_," was
his text, and as he preached, the tears of the people flowed down their
cheeks.
Long, long afterwards the old ash tree was known as "Wesley's Tree," and
the vicar of Winchelsea had hard work to keep it from being cut to
pieces; for Methodists use to come from all parts to cut a twig in
remembrance of that last scene in the life of the venerable
field-preacher.
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