“In the evening (not knowing how it might please God to dispose of me), to prevent vile panegyric, I wrote as follows:
Here lieth the Body
of
JOHN WESLEY,
A BRAND PLUCKED OUT OF THE BURNING:
WHO DIED OF A CONSUMPTION IN THE FIFTY-FIRST YEAR OF HIS AGE,
NOT LEAVING, AFTER HIS DEBTS ARE PAID,
TEN POUNDS BEHIND HIM:
PRAYING,
GOD BE MERCIFUL TO ME, AN UNPROFITABLE SERVANT!”
John Wesley
He ordered that this, if any, inscription should be placed on his tombstone.
He survived and went on to preach for a good many years before dying at a good age.