Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest

gone. Here we see that the Jews, having waited four thousand years for their own Christ, stumbled
over Him, plunging into hopeless ruin. Till Christ came the Jews were normally the true people of
God. The ministry of Christ, living and dying, proved the fatal epoch in the apostasy of Israel. Before
that epoch the Jewish church was adorned with brilliant examples of holiness. Since that day she
exhibits not a solitary light, but goes deeper into the darkness of infidelity and atheism as the ages
go by. In a similar manner, Romanism stumbled over Christ preached by Luther and his compeers.
Before that day Saint Bernard, Abbey de Rance, Thomas a Kempis and many other exemplars of
entire sanctification shone brilliantly in their ranks. But, oh, how dark their escutcheon today,
unilluminated by a solitary confessor! In a similar manner the Episcopal Church stumbled over
Christ preached by Wesley and his heroic comrades, plunging into darkness and sinking deeper into
worldliness. Oh, what a memorable epoch in the history of the Protestant churches the present
Holiness movement is marking! We live in an age of thrilling prophetical fulfillments, when “men
will not endure sound doctrine.” God has raised up an army of Holiness people, girdling the globe
with the evangelism of Christ, the great Protestant churches in all lands stumbling over Him, as
revealed by the Holy Ghost in His Omnipotent, sanctifying power.