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During the late Eighteenth Century,
the pseudo-science of craniology attempted to explain the
differences between saints and criminals (and other
human differences) in terms of variations in the size, shape,
and proportions of skulls. To advance this research, impressions
of the faces of recently deceased persons were taken, producing
what came to be called "death masks." Methodists
prepared John Wesley's Death
Mask, however, to insure that future statuary would
represent him accurately. The mask is courtesy of the
Drew University Methodist Collection (Madison, New Jersey).
Wesley died
on Wednesday March 2, 1791, in his eighty-eighth year. As he
lay dying, his friends gathered around him, Wesley grasped
their hands and said repeatedly, "Farewell, farewell."
At the end, summoning all his remaining strength, he
cried out, "The best of all is, God is with us,"
lifted his arms and raised his feeble voice again,
repeating the words, "The best of all is, God
is with us."
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