W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest

sense. They constantly keep the lines distinctly drawn between themselves and all other denominations;
contemptuously and condemnatorally denouncing them “sects,” in contradistinction to themselves the
“Christians,” exclusively of all others. At the same time they sedulously, vociferously and incessantly denied
that they ever were a denomination, claiming to be the only Christians in the world because they had no creed
and took the Bible as their only authority, rejecting all sectarian names, and were consequently the Christians.
They often said that if the Savior was on the earth He would walk through the towns, passing by every other
church edifice but theirs, which He would enter and recognize them for His people, to the exclusion of all
others. Their constant and unequivocal preaching, uncompromisingly condemnatory of all the people who
claimed Holy Ghost experimental religion, not only denied the personal existence of the Holy Ghost, simply
identifying Him with the Word and utterly eliminating Him from the Trinity, but ridiculed His presence and
operation on the hearts of the people, so that they developed an awful trend of the popular mind in the direction
of the unpardonable sin. (Matt. 12:30-32.) This our Savior pronounces the “blasphemy of the Spirit.” The
meaning of blasphemy is contemptuous treatment of God. In this awful blasphemy of the Holy Ghost their
preachers led the way, and the people followed them like sheep follow a shepherd.
The normal trend of their work was to drive all real conviction, which the Holy Ghost alone can give, out of the
popular mind, and superinduce a species of bold, predominant infidelity on all sides, while at the same time
claiming to be the only genuine article of Christianity in all the country, and consigning everything else to Hell.
The inevitable result of this pseudo Gospel was to actually eliminate a knowledge of God entirely out of the
country. This conclusion follows as a normal sequence from God's Word, which plainly teaches that no one can
know the Son of God without the Holy Ghost, as He is His only revelator. (I Cor. 12:4.) We read in our Savior's
preaching the positive statement that “No one knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son reveals
Him.” Therefore you see that when people reject the Holy Ghost they never can know either the Father or the
Son; consequently those who do so actually retrogress into practical heathenism.
Their system of theology is so small and simple that they never lack preachers, because any one who has natural
colloquial and oratorical gifts can, in a very little time learn all of their doctrines, which really are condensed in
the simple statement, “Immersion for the remission of sins.” This is really their only positive doctrine. All the
balance is negative, denying not only the personal existence of the Holy Ghost, but all of His mighty works, in
illuminations, conviction, conversion, regeneration, witness of the Spirit and sanctification.
The personal Father sits upon the throne of the universe, while millions of worlds wheel in their orbits,
responsive to His sovereign mandate. The personal Son now sits at the right hand of the Father and administers
the mediatorial kingdom of human redemption, through the personal Holy Ghost whom He sends into the world
to shine into every heart, convict every soul, save every penitent, sanctify every believer, and reveal the glorified
Savior to every human soul. He gives every faithful pilgrim all needed help, with the eye of Jesus, the infallible
Paragon, to travel the King's highway of Holiness, successfully fighting the battles and winning victories, till the
probationary war is ended and the ipse dixit rings, “It is enough, come up higher.” Since Campbellite theology,
significantly multum in parvo, “much in little,” is all told in the terse phrase, “Immersion for the remission of
sins,” they can all quickly learn to graduate. They have nothing to do but to deny the whole curriculum of
spiritual truth, in which they shrewdly and adroitly bring into availability wit, humor, sarcasm, ridicule,
burlesque, and even the awful and horrific blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. Hence our country swarmed with
preachers who, to all spiritual people, sadly exposed their experimental ignorance of God; e. g., two of them
were holding a revival meeting and doing their best to get joiners all the time. One of them was preaching a
powerful sermon against experimental religion and assuring the people that there is no such thing, and proving it
by the fact that he did not have it. He said: “Here you see me; I have been through college and read the Bible
through, and of course if there was any such thing as experimental religion I would have found it and would
have it. But, brethren, I tell you frankly and honestly I have never seen anything of it, and I have not got it.”
Then turning to his brother preacher, sitting in the pulpit, he said: “Brother Martin, have you got it?” He spoke
up: “No, I have not got it.” Then he turned to his audience and said: “I prove by us two witnesses that there is no
such thing as Holy Ghost religion.” Now recognize and diagnose that meeting for a moment. You see two
sinners, utterly unacquainted with God, there pretentiously preaching the Gospel, of which they were utterly
ignorant and had no more qualifications to preach than a Hottentot. It is utterly impossible for a man to preach