W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest

you have never heard. We have but one God, the great Jehovah, who, accommodatory to the glorious plan of
salvation, has revealed Himself to us in the three persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost – trinity in
unity – and we have this blessed and glorious Trinity all in our wonderful Jesus, “who is the head of all
government and authority,” Col. 2:10, and “you are complete in Him.” Therefore when you get your attention on
anything else, rest assured it is going to prove a snare.
When God had so wonderfully used Gideon to break the yoke of the Midianites and liberate all Israel from their
hard bondage, they elected him to the kingdom by voluntary acclamation. He said to them, “Neither I nor my
son shall ever be your king, but the Lord God of Israel shall be your king forever. But one thing you can do for
me, just give me the gold which you took as a prey from your conquered enemies.” This they did with jubilant
enthusiasm. Then Gideon made a golden image out of it, of course, not dreaming of idolatry, from which God
had used him to liberate his country. He only aimed at it as a souvenir of the great and glorious victory which
they could never forget. But do you not know it proved a snare to Israel and conduced to alienate them from
God, as they had not the stamina to withhold from it that intense admiration which ultimated in the reverence
which is due to God alone? We cannot keep our experience beyond the day of our simplicity, and perfect
humility at the feet of Jesus.
When we entered upon the Campbellite war, their champion invariably affirmed, “Christian baptism is
immersion.” Campbell always affirmed it and claimed it was his prerogative to wield the laboring oar, as he had
the truth. In debate it devolves on the affirmative to prove his proposition; the negative has nothing to do but to
refute the arguments of the affirmative. They had always in their debate affirmed immersion; therefore when
they led off, with me in the negative, my only normal work was to refute their arguments, if I could; if not, of
course they gained the day. In all of these discussions we obligated ourselves in writing to recognize the Bible as
the authority. Of course I had nothing to do but just read the precious, infallible Word and refute all of their
arguments from it. The result was that they so weakened on the mode, that after awhile they refused to take the
affirmative and wield the laboring oar, but said if I would take the affirmative, they would still debate the
subject with me in the negative. To this I acquiesced at once and accepted the situation, granting my opponent
the privilege of stating the proposition to suit himself. Then they stated it, “Christian baptism is effusion,”
saying that if I would lead off in that affirmation they would follow in the negative. Of course in their negative
arguments, disproving effusion, they would prove immersion. As the years rolled on, the battle still raging, they
continued to weaken till they refused to debate at all.
You see from this ten years' war how they fought and lost. As “Immersion for remission” is really their god, they
staked everything on it. They had so long had their own way that they were perfectly confident that their
doctrines were irrefutable. As the years rolled on and the war waxed hot, the whole country got stirred up with
these debates, which we thoroughly advertised long beforehand in the papers of both Church and state, and vast
multitudes came from a distance thronging like great campmeetings. The Campbellites eventually found out that
it was not a one-sided affair, as they supposed, but a game at which two could play, and the people far and wide
were finding out to their surprise the weakness of their course, and seeing that they had been mistaken. The
result was that they got weaker and weaker, till the time came when the tables were all turned around and we
became the challenging party; they operating on the negative.
From the days of Campbell they had affirmed immersion. The time came when they refused to affirm it, and
said they would be willing to debate if I would affirm effusion. This I did with great delight, knowing that my
foundation was sure, the eternal Word of God. The time came when they actually broke down on the negative,
as they had on the affirmative, and refused to debate any more.
They saw that the weakness of their cause had become a matter of surprise and notoriety. While I, having been
brought up under the regime of the good old-style Holy Ghost religion, never had any leaning toward their
heresies, yet I supposed that they had stronger arguments than I found when I crossed swords with them. I was
overwhelmed with astonishment at the very weakness of their cause. So it was like the controversy of Saul and
David, the latter waxed stronger and the former weaker to the end. Consequently, twenty years ago, with our
New Jerusalem blades keener and brighter than ever, behold we found the enemies' camp deserted.
Twenty years of conquered peace have rolled away; the beautiful bluegrass is growing tall and green on the