W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest

a great mistake in living a life so restricted and scrupulous. Thus they all combined and talked me out of
countenance. When they saw no signs of relenting, two of them grabbed me by either arm and carried me away
with them. We passed through dense primeval forests, over high hills, and across deep valleys, a route strange to
me, till we reached the waters. By the time we got there I was under awful conviction, having yielded to the
lashings of a guilty conscience. They saw it, and all spread themselves to cheer me up by telling funny jokes and
laughing over them. As I had never gone fishing in my life, of course I had no tackle, but they determined to
make a success of their convert, so fitted me out with their best book and line. Meanwhile the reaction of my
conscience got stronger and my conviction went down deeper, and I became so sad that I could not fish, and quit
trying. I would have gone home, but was afraid I would get lost in the woods, as we had come through the
unbroken forest with not so much as a path. They saw they had a mourner on their hands and did their best to
comfort me, but their silly, carnal condolment only added to the burden of my sorrows.
I stayed with them till they returned late in the afternoon, when, passing by our house, of course I dropped off.
By this time the evening shades were falling fast. I went off behind the garden and oh, how I wept! I confessed
my sins, pleading with God to forgive me and promising never to desecrate the Sabbath any more, nor to
disobey my parents, nor to violate His commandments. While I was thus pleading, crying, and praying with a
broken heart, my mountain burden rolled away and I became light and happy. I do believe that I was there
reclaimed from the apostasy into which I had gradually drifted after my conversion at the age of three years.
We lived in a very wild, rough, ignorant community off in the country, where sins and follies ran riot. There was
no Methodist Church nearer than three miles and preaching there only once a month, and, as we were poor and
had no conveyance, if we went we had to walk. The Baptists had preaching once a month within one mile. We
generally attended. The Campbellites preached more in that neighborhood than all other denominations
combined. But they ridiculed and condemned Holy Ghost religion with the bitterest denunciations, pronouncing
it wild fanaticism, and preaching nothing but their water doctrines all the time without exception. Of course they
were spiritually detrimental rather than helpful. I did not claim to be a Christian at all, as for the want of
instruction I did not know that the above-mentioned blessings were really my conversion and reclamation, as I
now verily believe. There was no Sunday School in all that neighborhood, consequently I never attended any.
The Methodists at that time, and I may include the Baptists in that country, though very few in number, the
Campbellites having four or five times as many members as all others united, were really humble and spiritual,
consequently preaching and talking experimental religion, and doing their best to hold up the banner of the cross
and spiritual regeneration against the overmastering tide of Campbellism, which was the popular religion.
Meanwhile their preachers [Campbellites] in every sermon denounced and ridiculed Holy Ghost religion in all
its forms and phases and preached water baptism for the remission of sins. I heard them more than all others, but
they did me no good spiritually, and I honestly believe I suffered spiritual detriment by hearing them. I do not
think the many preachers I heard of their denomination knew the Lord. I am satisfied they were false prophets,
misleading the people. In that great woodland country it was customary for every farmer to have a log rolling, in
which the neighbors would all gather and pile his logs, so he could burn them. They also had corn huskings. I
was in these gatherings, heard their conversations, and saw them drinking whiskey, and found those
Campbellites saying and doing evil things which shocked me, though I did not profess to be a Christian, but
only a poor sinner. They claimed to be the only Christians in the world, condemning all others and urging them
to come and join them and be Christians, boasting in their exclusive appropriation of the name.
I feel it my duty as a faithful autobiographer here to state that my infant baptism was, in the providence of God,
a great blessing to me. My parents often told me about it when I was little, reminding me that I was a church
member, having been solemnly dedicated to God in baptism, therefore I must be good and obedient to all of His
commandments. I became a good reader when only six years old, reading the Scriptures with great interest.
Finding the commandment, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord,” I remembered it with the deep and
constant realization that, when I disobeyed my father and mother in anything, I was violating the commandment
of God. The constant realization that I had been baptized and in this way dedicated to God, rested on me as a
potent incentive to obedience, good behavior and rectitude. Baptism should not be given to infants recklessly
and improvidently; afterward disregarded, while the children are permitted to go unscrupulously into sin; as in
that case it is really taking the name of the Lord in vain, ultimating with the recipients as a hardener of their