"I likewise appoint Henry Brooke, Painter; Arthur Keene, Gent.; and William Whitestone, Stationer, all of Dublin, to receive the annuity of £5. (English) left to Kingswood-School by the late Roger Shiel, Esq.

"I give £6. to be divided among the six poor men, named by the Assistant, who shall carry my body to the grave: for I particularly desire there may be no hearse, no coach, no escutcheon, no pomp, except the tears of them that loved me, and are following me to Abraham's bosom. I solemnly adjure my Executers, in the name of God, punctually to observe this.

"Lastly, I give to each of those travelling Preachers who shall remain in the connexion six months after my decease, as a small token of my love, the eight volumes of

sermons.

"I appoint John Horton, George Wolff, and William Marriott, aforesaid, to be Executers of this my last Will and Testament, for which trouble they will receive no recompence till the resurrection of the Just.

1789,

Witness my hand and seal, the 20th day of February,

"Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the said Testator as and for his last Will and Testament, in the presence of us, "WILLIAM CLULOW,

"ELIZABETH CLULOW.

"Should there be any part of my personal estate undisposed of by this my last Will: I give the same unto my two Nieces, E. Ellison and S. Collet, equally,

"WILLIAM CLULOW,

"JOHN WESLEY.

"ELIZABETH CLULOW..

"Feb. 25, 1789.

"I give my types, printing-presses, and every thing pertaining thereto, to Mr. Thomas Rankin, and Mr. George Whitefield, in trust, for the use of the Conference.

.

Above a year and a half after making this Will, Mr. Wesley executed à deed, in which he appointed seven gentlemen, viz. Dr. Thomas Coke, Messrs. Alexander Mather, Peard Dickenson, John Valton, James Rogers, Joseph Taylor, and Adam Clarke, Trustées for all his books, pamphlets, and copy-right, for carrying on the work of God by Itinerant Preachers, according to the enrolled Deed, which we have already mentioned: but Dr. Coke being in America at the time of Mr. Wesley's death, the Deed was suffered to lie dormant till his return. The three Executers then took the advice of two of the most eminent Counsellors in the kingdom, who informed them that the Deed was of a testamentary nature, and therefore superseded the Will, with respect to the books, &c. The Deed was then presented to the Judge of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, who received it as the third Codicil of Mr. Wesley's Will; on which the three Executers delivered up their general Probate, and received a new one limited to those particulars which were not mentioned in the Deed. At the same time a Probate was granted by the Court to the seven Trustees, constituting them Executers for all the books, pamphlets, and copy-right, of which Mr. Wesley died possessed ; and empowering them to pay all his debts and legacies,

Ꮧ

The first Preachers began to assist Mr. Wesley as Itinerants in the year 1740. Twenty-five years after, viz. in the year 1765, their names and stations were, for the first time, published in the Minutes of the Conference. All therefore who came into the connexion, during that period, may be considered as the first race of Methodist Preachers. The last Conference which Mr. Wesley presided at, was in the year 1790, exactly twenty-five years from the year 1765. The Preachers who were admitted into the connexion, during this period, may be considered as the second race of Methodist Preachers. Those who have been admitted since Mr, Wesley's death, may be considered as the third race,

The following Inscription is put on Mr. Wesley's Tomb :

To the Memory of

THE VENERABLE JOHN WESLEY, A. M.

Late Fellow of LINCOLN College, OXFORD.

This GREAT LIGHT arose
(By the singular Providence of God)
To enlighten THESE NATIONS,

And to revive, enforce, and defend,

The Pure, Apostolical DOCTRINES and PRACTICES of
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH:

Which he continued to do, by his WRITINGS and his
LABOURS,

For more than HALF A CENTURY:

And, to his expressible Joy,

Not only, beheld their INFLUENCE extending,
And their EFFICACY witnessed,

In the Hearts and Lives of MANY THOUSANDS,
As well in the WESTERN WORLD, as in these
KINGDOMS:

But also, far above all human Power or Expectation, Lived to see PROVISION made, by the singular Grace of

GOD,

For their CONTINUANCE and ESTABLISHMent,

TO THE JOY of FUTURE GENERATIONS!

READER, If thou art constrained to bless the INSTRUMENT, GIVE GOD THE GLORY!

After having languished a few days, He at length finished his COURSE and his LIFE together: gloriously triumphing over DEATH, March 2, An. Dom. 1791, in the Eighty-eighth Year of his Age.

The following Epitaph, written by Dr. Whitehead, is inscribed on a Marble Tablet, and placed in the New Chapel, City-Road.

Sacred to the Memory

Of the Rev. JOHN WESLEY, M. A.
Some time Fellow of LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD.

▲ Man, in Learning and sincere Piety,
Scarcely inferior to any :

In Zeal, Ministerial Labours, and extensive Usefulness,
Superior (perhaps) to all Men

Since the Days of St. PAU L.

Regardless of Fatigue, personal Danger, and Disgrace,
He went out into the highways and hedges,
Calling Sinners to Repentance,

And Preaching the GOSPEL of Peace.
He was the Founder of the Methodist Societies;
The Patron and Friend of the Lay-Preachers,

By whose aid he extended the Plan of Itinerant preaching
Through GREAT-BRITAIN and IRELAND,

The West-INDIES and AMERICA

With unexampled Success.

He was born June 17th, 1703,

And died March 2d, 1791;

In sure and certain hope of Eternal life,

Through the Atonement and Mediation of a Crucified Saviour.

He was sixty-five Years in the Ministry,

And fifty-two an Itinerant Preacher:
He lived to see, in these KINGDOMS only,
About three-hundred Itinerant,

And a thousand Local Preachers,

Raised up from the midst of his own People; And eighty-thousand Persons in the Societies under his care. His Name will ever be had in grateful Remembrance By all who rejoice in the universal Spread Of the Gospel of CHRIST.

Soli Deo Gloria,

J

Having now, according to our engagements with the pub. lic, traced the life of this great and extraordinary an to its close, and having even exceeded our promises in adding to his Journal, not only an account of his death and funeral, but also a copy of his Last Will and Testament, we had intended here to conclude this first part of our work, and to refer those of our readers, who wished to see a delineation of his character, to his Life, in one vol. 8vo. by Dr. Coke and Mr. Hen. Moore; or, to that published in two vols. by the late Dr. Whitehead. But it having been suggested to us by some friends, that this edition of his works will probaby fall into the hands of many hundreds who are not in possession of, and will not have an opportunity of perusing, either of these publications; that some sketch of his character, however short, will naturally be expected from us; and that the history of Mr. Wesley will be very incomplete without it in order that we may not entirely disappoint the hopes of any of our readers in this particular, we shall bestow a few pages on this subject also; but they must be but few, our engagement being to publish Mr. Wesley's Works and not those of any other man.

A short Review of Mr. Wesley's Character.
Half boil, bai.

A

ก

Every intelligent reader who has perused with attention the preceding Narrative, and, has considered the many par ticulars of Mr. Wesley's Life, both of a public and private nature, which have been brought in review before him, must have found himself enabled, by this time, to form an opinion of the character of this great man on good evidence. But it must be remembered, as Dr. Whitehead observes, (from whose Review of Mr. Wesley's character the following sketch is extracted*,) "That some particular circum

* We have made this extract from Dr. Whitehead's Life of Mr. Wesley, rather than from that by Dr. Coke and Mr. Moore, because we know the former is in the hands of very few of our readers, whereas, we believe, many of them are in possession of the latter.