James Sigston's Academy - Bramwell (1818)
"After he had entered his chamber, Mr Johnson, one of the teachers who slept in the opposite room, heard him praying most fervently, and, among Other petitions, he recollects the following sentence, which was repeated several times, ‘O Lord, prepare me for thy kingdom and take me to thyself!' Mr Johnson was awakened again about two o'clock in the morning, by the fervent prayers of Mr Bramwell, when he heard him frequently offering up this supplication, ‘Lord, bless my soul and make me ready!' At half-past two o'clock precisely, he came downstairs, without having been called, and took his coffee and bread and butter, with as good an appetite as usual. During the time of this early repast, he very often lifted up his hands and his eyes, and with great earnestness said, ‘Praise the Lord! Glory be to God!' etc. He then said to the servant, ‘We will pray a little.' They knelt down; and he prayed very fervently for himself, for her, and for the whole family, beseeching God that she, as well as himself, might be fully ripened and made ready for heaven. After this she went to open the yard door, and he immediately followed her, shook hands with her, and said, ‘The Lord bless you, Alice!' He departed; she locked the door after him and returned into the house. This was about three o'clock; and, before she had time to undress herself, she heard some person knocking at the yard door. She opened a window, and a man said to her, ' Has a gentleman left your house this morning?’ She replied, ‘Yes.’ The man then said, ' I believe he is dying in the lane.' She alarmed the family, several of the members of which instantly ran down into the lane. She also ran, shrieked, and kneeling down, said, ‘Mr. Bramwell! Mr Bramwell!' She thought that he attempted to speak to her, but he was not able to articulate anything distinctly. One of the patrol ran for a surgeon; the other, assisted by Mr Sigston and his young men, conveyed him back to the house. A surgeon arrived in a few minutes afterwards, but, alas! the vital spark was quite extinct.
From, ‘Memoir of the Life and Ministry of William Bramwell, by James Sigston, published in 1836, p324-5.
http://www.archive.org/details/memoirlifeandmi00sigsgoog.
Additional Information
William Bramwell was very good friends with James Sigston who ran a wonderful Academy which raised up powerful Christian men. He went to stay with him as the Methodist conference for 1818 was in Leeds. Bramwell had been believing for a while that it was his time to die.
The photo is reproduced by permission of the West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds, Reference LC/ENG/Box 117/61