W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest

awful contagious disease which they would contract. But it so happened that an old Dutchman was living in the
village, who had been to the meetings and got knocked down and wonderfully saved, so when he came he told
the people not to be afraid, that the man had no contagious disease, but he had been to that campmeeting and it
was the power of God on him to save his soul. They were to rest easy, for in due time he would be all right.
Then the Dutchman asked them to help him carry the young fellow into his house (for he was large and heavy).
Though the old fellow's speech was so indistinct that it was hard to understand him, he spent the whole night
with him in prayer and exhortation. With the dawn of the ensuing morning, the glorious heavenly daybreak
peered into his soul. Therefore with tremendous shouts of victory, mounting his horse he went on his way
rejoicing, confirming the testimony of his predecessors that nobody could go to that campmeeting and not get
knocked down by the power of the Holy Ghost. He became one of the greatest Methodist preachers that ever
blew the Gospel trumpet. You would all do well to purchase the “Life of Rev. Jas. B. Finley,” and read it
appreciatively. I assure you it will prove an exceedingly profitable inspiration.
God is not going to let Satan's people capture this world and run away with it, without so revealing his
supernatural power to the elect that the lost millions will be left without excuse. The reason why He so
miraculously interfered at Cane Ridge, Ky., was because the people were pouring into this great, rich, and
beautiful valley of the Ohio and Mississippi by millions, and without the means of grace requisite to resist the
awful tide of infidelity which was threatening to inundate and really capture this country, through the current
circulation of that dangerous book, Payne's “Age of Reason,” which was everywhere scattered through the
settlements of this new country. The French infidels had captured that empire but a short time previously, when,
during the French Revolution, they got the political power into their hands, banished the Bible, closed all the
churches and turned them into lecture halls, abolished the Sabbath, appointing every tenth day for recreation and
rest, and sending agents throughout the whole country to superscribe on every graveyard, “Death is an eternal
sleep.” Payne. Voltaire and Rousseau had filled the whole country with their infidel writings, which had been
carried into this new country and circulated extensively, before the people bad time to organize churches. God
wanted this delightful land to become the grand citadel of His kingdom, as we now rejoice to recognize that it is,
that it might send millions of missionaries to light the dark regions of the antipodal world Therefore He came
among them with His miraculous power, which put to shame the votaries of Satan's Hell-hatched lies.
During my late tour around the world, as I paused and gazed on the statue of Voltaire on the public square in
Paris, I thought about his prophecies, that one hundred years would take the Bible out of the world forever. It is
a significant fact that in less than a hundred years, his own office, in which he wrote that awful prophecy,
became a Bible Depository, and is still used in that way. Well did Dr. Talmage say that the age of miracles is not
passed, but we are sad to admit that with many the age of faith is past.
For reasons I know not, this extraordinary power was principally manifested in the South. I surmised that it was
a manifestation of God's presence rebuking the sin of slavery and emancipating those people who had toiled in
hard bondage for two hundred years. I am so glad you may see this extraordinary manifestation of His power
among the heathens and especially in India today.
In 1884, the Lord gave us a wonderful revival at Piedmont, Mo., doing mighty works. In that meeting I observed
an extraordinary phenomenon among the railroad men. That is a great railroad center where they have extensive
shops and all change engines. A leading railroad man received conversion, reminding me of Saul of Tarsus in
the brilliancy which characterized it. He at once turned evangelist among his comrades, like a cyclone of fire.
Many of them were unable to reach the meetings till nine o'clock P. M., so we at once accommodated ourselves
to their conveniences with great delight, not only holding the meetings at other hours accommodatory to the
citizens, but continuing on till midnight, and after, in the especial interest of the railroad people, male and
female, who came pouring in about nine; and it seemed, so far as I could tell, that the revival reached everybody.
Our newly saved and sanctified railroad evangelist organized a meeting in a running car, for the benefit of the
train men who had no chance to attend church. Those fire-baptized railroad men thus prayed and preached their
lost comrades through into the kingdom, while the train was speeding over the track at forty miles an hour.
While the work was glorious in the local churches and among the citizens, this railroad phase of the revival far
excelled all I ever knew. I mention it by way of special encouragement in the interest of our railroad people.