W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest

similar circumstances. I do not insinuate in this that it frees us from the liability of mistakes, because the mind is
not made perfect until this mortal puts on immortality. Therefore intellect, memory and judgment will make
mistakes. This perfection is simply that of the heart, which, in the superabounding grace of Christ and through
the efficacy of His precious blood, is made perfect; while the mind and body are still encumbered with
infirmities, which are only eliminated by the great work of the Holy Ghost in glorification, when this mortal
puts on immortality.
When I met Brother Donaldson, the pastor of the meeting where the mother in Israel begged him not to let that
“little fop” preach any more, lest he ruin the revival, in the Conference, he came to me and threw his arms
around me and said, “Are you not W. B. Godbey?” (there are many Godbeys preaching). I responded in the
affirmative. Then he said, “I have been reading your revival reports all the year with unutterable astonishment,
to see that four hundred people have been converted under your preaching. I got bewildered as I thought the
signature was that of the brother who preached for me at Pleasant Run, and how such preaching ever converted
so many people I could not understand.” Says I, “Brother, the man you heard at Pleasant Run is dead and gone.
He lives no more. You now meet a new preacher, who retains the old name, W. B. Godbey.” This illustrates the
radical revolution which sanctification develops.
The reason why I was sent to Mackville was because when the Conference ascertained the fact that I had a
glorious revival everywhere I preached, they at once put their heads together in the Bishop's Cabinet to send me
to the hardest field they had; where all revival effort had failed. This was the case at Mackville, where there had
been no revival in a dozen years, though combined efforts had been faithfully put forth. Bishop Kavanaugh had
dedicated a new church at that place five years before and not a soul had ever been converted in it. They made
an especial effort to secure my appointment, owing to the fact that I invariably had revivals.
We had no evangelists then (1870). I am the oldest evangelist in the South, having been put in the field by
Bishop McTieyre when he presided over our Conference in 1884. It came about in a peculiar way. As the
Conference had no evangelistic appointment, they drifted into the habit of appointing me and another man to a
large circuit, or sometimes two thrown together, in order to liberate me for evangelistic work, as my comrade
(and sometimes they gave me two helpers), could stay and hold the fort. The brethren in other Conferences got
to calling me so urgently that, in 1883, I spent all of my time outside of my own Conference, with wonderful
blessing on my labors. When the ensuing Conference convened, the brethren appealed to Bishop McTieyre to
confine me to my own Conference, stating that they wanted me to give them all of my time, as they needed all
that I could do, helping them in their revival meetings. Consequently, the Bishop sought an interview with me
before he opened the Conference, stating the request of the brethren and asking me what I thought of it. I said,
“My dear brother, I am here to go where you send me, and am perfectly willing to be restricted to the Kentucky
Conference; but you know our work is a unit, and souls in other Conferences are worth as much as in ours. We
must also take the 'go' which our Savior put in His commission in its full force. I have been preaching thirty
years in this Conference, and have run nearly all over it, and believe I will be more efficient for God on new
territory.” Then he asked me to read my report, which I had brought to read before the Conference according to
the requirement for every preacher. In the providence of God, it had been one of the most fruitful years of my
ministry, and all of it outside of my own Conference. While I read it, my tears did flow unbidden.
In this I was not alone. The good Bishop well did his part of this joyful and grateful crying. When I got through,
wiping his eyes, he said, “Brother Godbey, I am not the man to confine you to this Conference, or any other. I
am only sorry that we have no regular evangelistic appointment which I can give you. But I can do this, I can
put you in the local ranks, with the distinct understanding between me and you that it is for you to do the work
of an evangelist.” So then and there he took me out of any Conference and sent me to the whole connection;
thus taking the bridle off and turning me loose forever.
For a long time I confined my work to the Southern Methodist Connection, much to my financial detriment, as,
during those times, we had no railroad favors but had to pay full fare, whereas the great North was wide open to
me at half-fare. I continued to confine my evangelistic work to the Southern Methodist Connection, simply
because my membership was there, till the calls from the Atlantic to the Pacific throughout this great
commonwealth bore down on my conscience, and I felt it my duty to discriminate no longer between North,
South, East and West, but, like Paul, to be all things to all men, that I might save some. As the years have rolled