W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest

“Life of Jesus and His Apostles”
My “Life of Jesus and His Apostles,” containing nearly five hundred pages, elegantly bound in cloth, should be
read and studied by every lover of the Savior. In it you will find a lucid exposition of His wonderful life,
inimitable ministry, mighty works, tragical death, triumphant resurrection and glorious ascension. His life is
really the only model in all the world to which we can look without the shade of possible cavil or criticism. Oh,
the inestimable value of that life! We have but to read it and see how to live and die. In the old world a thousand
millions of people are looking upon Buddha, Confucius and Zoroaster, whose bright light did shine out in India,
China and Persia about 500 B. C. There can be no doubt but that they were great intellectually, morally,
educationally and philanthropically, as the people to the day are looking to them for examples. They were not at
all satisfied with their own lives, and died longing after a perfect example. Oh, if they had only lived in the
Gospel dispensation, received the Bible and learned about the Son of God living and dying upon the earth, not
only to redeem us all from sin, death and Hell, but to give us a perfect model of human life! He is really the only
Man that ever came into this world perfect and left it in the same glorious plight. Adam began alright and how
long he enjoyed his original perfection in Eden we know not. But to our sorrow we know that Satan slew him,
and for that reason Satan is called, “A murderer from the beginning.” Jesus Christ is the only son of Adam and
Eve who ever retained His perfection to the end of life, therefore He is the paragon for every human being to
emulate. Can we receive the perfection of His humanity? We can by the wonderful plan of salvation, which He
died to propagate upon the earth, with the exception of the infirmities which cling to us as the effects of the fill.
Of course He never had any infirmities, neither would we have if we had not fallen. These infirmities will inhere
in our spiritual organism, there to abide till illuminated by the third great work of the Holy Ghost in
glorification.
In regeneration we receive a new heart, I. e., new life into the fallen human spirit. That life is antagonize by the
depravity hereditary is the heart till illuminated by the expurgation of the cleansing blood dispensed by the Holy
Ghost in the human soul, thus conferring a perfect work of grace, which consists with the infirmities,
engendered by the fall, which always encumber the saved soul till this mortal puts on immortality. In the
wonderful economy of grace, justification takes away the condemnation supervenient upon our own
transgressions, and sanctification expurgates our depravity by the wonderful elixir of the cleansing blood, while
it is the province of the Holy Ghost in glorification to eliminate mortality, thus forever removing our infirmities.
The glorious work of God in Christ, wrought by the Holy Ghost, puts us where we cannot only enjoy that
experience of perfection in the heart, but actually live it before the world, however still encumbered with
infirmities, and longing for the glorious redemption which will transfigure both the soul and the body, forever
sweeping away all the dark debris of the fall. Therefore our wonderful Savior leaves us without excuse.
Jesus has done a double work, perfectly redeeming us from the condemnation of the violated law by His
vicarious, substitutionary atonement, clearing every conceivable difficulty forever out of the way, and perfectly
and eternally satisfying the law, so there is no conceivable apology for the damnation of a solitary soul. Besides,
He sends His omnipotent Spirit to awaken, illuminate, convict, regenerate, adopt, witness, sanctify and fill every
soul, thus actually by His own omnipotent energies restoring to humanity the image and likeness of God, and
effecting perfect reconcilement and reinstatement in the kingdom, which we forfeited by the fall and, though
encumbered by the infirmities incident to mortality and consequent upon the fall, yet these infirmities do not
vitiate the beautiful experience of Christian perfection which He has given us.
This is not a perfection of works, I. e., legal obedience, which would be vitiated by our infirmities, but it is a
perfection of love, in which He takes the will for the deed. We “love the Lord with all the heart, soul, mind and
strength, and love our neighbor as ourself,” actually “esteeming others better the ourselves.” This perfect love
our Lord sees in our heart and life, and is delighted with it, neither does He discount it in consequence of the
peccadilloes incident to our frail mortality, which will all eternally evanesce before the transfiguration glory.
This unutterably wonderful Savior has not only satisfied the law passively by paying our penalty, by which He
has redeemed us forever, but He has actually lived our life for us on the earth, actively keeping the law on earth
for us, and thus procuring a double satisfaction. Meanwhile He has exemplified the very identical life we are to
live, leaving us without excuse, because He has taken all the difficulties out of the way, graciously, by His