History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

and he put his house in order. A cold he had taken in South Carolina, early in 1815, settled upon his
lungs, and tubercular consumption set in, which, with his other diseases, ended his life. January 8,
1815, he writes, "This place calls for great labor, and I am not fit for it; I must go hence." March,
1815, at Lynchburg, Va., he says, "Doctor Jennings preached us a great sermon on 'I am the vine,'"
etc. July, 1815, he is with Hollingsworth, who edited his Journal, and with him revised it down to
1807, and says, "I have buried in shades all that will be proper to forget, in which I am personally
concerned; if truth and I have been wronged, we have both witnessed our day of triumph." It was
well that these things were expunged from the record, and it would have been better if his censorious
judgment of Strawbridge, O'Kelly, and others had been also expurgated, though in that case posterity
would not have known that with not a few graces of the angel he had the serious infirmities of man.
In August, 1815, he writes, "O, joyful consideration to those who have put on the Lord Jesus, and
shall love his appearing — this time of suffering is short!" September in Cincinnati, he has a long
talk with McKendree about the work, and his inability to keep up with his part of the labor. Yet he
travels on with his colleague until November. "My eyes fail. I will resign the stations to Bishop
McKendree; I will take away my feet; my mind enjoys great peace and consolation; glory! glory!
glory!" He parts with McKendree, but his devoted John Wesley Bond is with him nursing him like
a child. He travels into Virginia, and thence to South Carolina, Bond preaching when he could not.
They return northward, and the record is, November, 1815 — "I die daily, am made perfect by
suffering and labor, and fill up what is still behind. . . . I am wasting away with a constant dysentery
and cough." "Thursday, December 7 — we met a storm and stopped at William Baker's, Granby."
It is the last note in his Journal. His resolute mind stayed him in the hope of reaching the General
Conference set for May 2, 1816, in Baltimore. He reached Richmond, Va., and March 24, preached
his last sermon in the old Methodist church. He was seated on a table, being unable either to walk
or stand. The text was Rom. ix. 28, and was an hour in length through frequent pauses to recover his
breath. Carried from the pulpit to his carriage, he rode to his lodgings. The next day he resumed his
journey, and reached the house of his old friend, George Arnold, in Spottsylvania.
He took to his dying bed. Hearing Bond speaking with the family respecting an appointment to
preach, Asbury observed that they need not be in haste. It was so unusual a remark that it gave Bond
much concern. His indisposition greatly increased, and at three o'clock in the morning Asbury said
that he had passed a night of great bodily affliction. It was proposed to send for a physician, but he
intimated that it would be useless, as he could only pronounce him dead. Being asked if he had
anything to communicate, he replied that he had fully expressed his mind, and had nothing more to
add. Eleven o'clock Sabbath morning, the family was called together, and Bond sang, prayed, and
expounded the twenty-first chapter of Revelation, during which time he was calm and much engaged
in devotion. He grew so weak that he was unable to swallow a little barley-water, and his speech
began to fail. Observing the distress of his faithful Bond, he raised his right hand and at the same
time looked joyfully at him. On being asked by Bond if he felt Jesus to be precious, exerting all his
strength, he raised both hands in token of victory. A few minutes after, as he sat in his chair with his
head reclining upon the hand of Bond, without a struggle he breathed his last in the seventy-first year
of his age.
It was Sabbath, four o'clock P.M., March 31, 1816. His remains were deposited in the family
burying-ground of Mr. Arnold. Five weeks after, by order of the General Conference, they were
disinterred and brought to Baltimore, where a crypt was prepared for them under the recess of the