W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest

the deep interior of every heart, “What shall I do to be saved?” Even the presiding elder, who, with all his
culture, (for he was both an. A. M. and a D. D. had been deluded by Satan and, manipulated to run me out of the
whole country, in one short hour after his arrival radically revolutionized, confessed, and rescinded all of his
actions against me, and became my right hand helper, throwing every door open and writing to all the preachers
notifying them that it was a God-sent opportunity to have such a revival in their churches which they badly
needed but never dreamed of.
My own heart was never disturbed by all of those machinations of the enemy, but I rested perfectly in Jesus,
fully assured that He would manage His part if I would be true. Though I was fifteen hundred miles from home,
having come that distance to answer the calls of the preachers, still God took care of me and gave me victory.
Never be discouraged at the most formidable combinations against you; great things are as easy for
Omnipotence as the smallest.
From Uvalde, we went to Florisville, another county seat. There, with an audience of fifteen hundred, the Lord
gave us another glorious revival, hundreds getting converted, reclaimed or sanctified. While I was moving
ahead, preaching the Sinai Gospel with all my might, utilizing the enginery of prayer and testimony, cooperatively
with my Sinaic thunder, lightning, earthquakes, cyclones and typhoons, the Baptist pastor who had
already been sanctified and was taking an active part in the meeting, got up and spoke about two minutes, then
threw the altar open for sinners who wanted salvation to come and seek. About eighty of those wild cowboys
crowded to the altar. I had already been inviting seekers for sanctification, but had given no invitation to sinners
because I did not think the conviction was sufficient.
In those days I never held little short meetings, as I do now, for the especial edification of the Lord's people and
the conversion of sinners who are ripe enough, but at that time I made it a rule to stay till Satan was defeated
and the glorious victory came.
This premature call for sinners really damaged the work, because we found it difficult for them to reach a
satisfactory conversion, because their conviction was not deep enough. As a rule, our holiness people are too
expeditious in their revival work. They call for penitents prematurely and find them difficult to lead into a bright
and glorious experience. Without a genuine Holy Ghost conviction, all sinners are gum logs, neither splitable
into rails, nor rivable into boards, but the real and potent illumination and conviction of the Holy Ghost turns all
of these old gum trees into chestnut and white oak, so that they split like a top and rive like lightning.
While I was always flooded with calls, I made it a rule never unduly to expedite the work, thus going ahead of
the Holy Ghost. Consequently other calls had to wait till I could reach them. I made it a rule to preach Sinai till
conviction settled on the people like a nightmare. Then it was easy to get them brightly and triumphantly
converted. I have closed many a meeting without any altar call, when I knew that they would crowd it if I gave
them an invitation, but I wanted the Spirit to have time to do His work. I have frequently gone on till the sinners
would come to me, trembling like Belshazzar, and say, “Preacher; are you never going to have a mourner's
bench? I feel that I will be dead and in Hell before the sun goes down, if you do not give me a chance to seek
the Lord.” Then of course I would open the altar.
Premature calls not only give unworkable material, on which to wear ourselves out, but conduce to superficial
professions, which are worse than none. Evangelists often think that a long meeting will not receive proportional
financial support. I always found it the very opposite. The most liberal financial remuneration I ever received
was for meetings running for six weeks. Paul's first protracted meeting at Corinth lasted eighteen months. An
eleven months' protracted meeting constitutes a bright oasis in my pilgrimage.
Seguin, Texas, a flourishing county seat of eight thousand; was also the scene of a great battle and a glorious
victory. On arrival, the cultured pastor a collegiate graduate and a member of the General Conference,
responsive to my interrogations in reference to Christian union and cooperation, answered me very
encouragingly, “Yes, brother, that is all right. Our eight churches in this city are in perfect harmony, and we all
work together in our revival meetings. Therefore you can perfectly rely on their sympathy and co-operation.
However, to my sorrow, I soon found that the union was in the dance, at the card table, and in the whiskey
bottle. Looking out of my window I saw two men drinking alternately out of the same bottle, and asked a citizen