It is not hard to imagine the twinkle in Mark Twain’s eyes when he heard the rumors of his death. I have never known to whom he made his famous remarks about “the rumors of this death being premature,” and I have never known when that was said or how much longer Twain lived. It still brings a smile to the faces of most people when they are reminded of those words.
A similar thing happened to John Wesley. It was a deeply sorrowful George Whitefield who wrote Wesley on December 3, 1753: “If seeing you so weak when leaving London distressed me, the news and prospect of your approaching dissolution have quite weighed me down. I pity myself and the church but not you. A radiant throne awaits you, and ere long you will enter into your Master's joy. Yonder he stands with a massy crown, ready to put it on your head amidst an admiring throng of saints and angels; but I, poor I, that have been waiting for my dissolution these nineteen years must be left behind.
“If prayers can detain them [the heavenly chariots], even you, reverend and dear sir, shall not leave us yet; but if the decree is gone forth, that you must now fall asleep in Jesus, may He kiss your soul away, and give you to die in the embraces of triumphant love!
“My heart is too big; tears trickle down too fast; and you, I fear, are too weak for me to enlarge. Underneath you may there be Christ's everlasting arms!”
What beautiful words and what grand sentiments of love and respect Whitefield here expresses. My guess is John Wesley had a Mark Twain sort of reaction to that emotion-filled letter. He did not die then; indeed, he lived many more years.
Thirty-nine years later, on March 2, 1792, John Wesley died in his home in City Road, London, after a final illness of five days. To avoid unmanageably large crowds, Wesley was buried in the dark of night in a plot behind City Road Chapel.
Craven E. Williams
President
Greensboro College
Greensboro, N.C.
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Dr. Williams Profiled in "In the Spotlight" Magazine
