W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest

Here our glorified Lord, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, having completely and forever
conquered sin death and Hell, is ready freely to dispense the full benefits of His wonderful vicarious atonement
to every bumble believing soul. Thus He administers a complete expurgation of all iniquity of the heart,
crucifying the old man of sin and sepulchering him forever; giving you the victory world without end and
leaving us all nothing to do but shout,
“I have found a friend In Jesus;
He's everything to me;
He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul!
The 'Lily of the Valley,' in Him alone I see,
All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.
In sorrow He's my comfort, in trouble He's my stay;
He tells me every care on Him to roll;
He's the 'Lily of the Valley,' the bright and morning Star;
He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul!
He all my grief has taken, and all my sorrows borne;
In temptation He's my strong and mighty tower;
I've all for Him forsaken, I've all my idols torn
From my heart, and now He keeps me by His power.
Though all the world forsake me, and Satan tempts me sore,
Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal;
He's the 'Lily of the Valley,' the bright and morning Star;
He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul!
“He'll never, never leave me, nor yet forsake me here,
While I live by faith and do His blessed will;
A wall of fire about me, I've nothing now to fear;
With His manna He my hungry soul shall fill.
When crowned at last in glory, I'll see His blessed face,
Where rivers of delight shall ever roll,
He's the 'Lily of the Valley,' the bright and morning Star;
He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.”
“Oh, Brother Godbey, you utterly take immersion out of the Bible.” You are entirely mistaken.
2 Cor. 5:17 gives us all the authority we want to immerse all the people in the world, if they get saved and desire
it That Scripture is, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” God has made plenty of water; if He is not
stingy with it, we ought not to be. My infant baptism was a great blessing to me, fortifying me against the vices
and follies which generally blacken and ruin childhood and youth. I was the only boy in the neighborhood who
had received it, but the balance, almost without a single exception, cursed like demons and plunged headlong
into wickedness. The Campbellite preachers, the pastors of their parents, were constantly fighting infant
baptism. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Instead of participating in their wickedness, I faithfully warned
them of their impending danger. That baptism was worth more to me than gold and silver, which my father and
mother did not possess and could not give me. My patrimony did not consist of a nickel, yet it left me the
princely fortune of my dedication to God and the faithful instruction and restraints characteristic of a godly
home. When I reached sixteen and God gloriously converted my soul, and I soon got convicted for the victory of
full salvation and knew not how to seek it, doing my best, leaving no stone unturned, I constrained the M. E.
preacher to give me immersion. I am so glad he did not because it satisfied me that more water was not what I
needed, but more grace. It actually gave me the victory over water, and Church rites of every form and phase,
convincing me that God alone could satisfy my longing soul.
In the absence of all human help in the way of preaching and testimony, I sought sanctification for nineteen
years; then Jesus gave me what I had sought in the water and over hill and dale, mountain and plain. Glory to
His name, I found it all in Him alone! If you say, “Brother Godbey is opposed to immersion,” you will treat me