Lyr. Add: OLD TIME RELIGION
^^ Arr. Charles Davis Tillman

Refrain:
'Tis the old time religion, (3x)
And it's good enough for me.
2.
It was good for our mothers. (3x)
And it's good enough for me.
3.
Makes me love everybody. (3x)
And it's good enough for me.
4.
It has saved our fathers. (3x)
And it's good enough for me.
5.
It will do when I am dying. (3x)
And it's good enough for me.
6.
It will take us all to heaven (3x)
And it's good enough for me.

Heard by Charles Tillman (1861-1943) at an 1889 Black camp meeting in Lexington, SC, titled "My Old Time Religion." Tillman arranged and published it with other gospel songs in one of his Songbooks, 1891. He published 20 songbooks, all very rare. For a time he was song leader at the Indian Springs Holiness Camp Meeting at Flovilla, Georgia (still held yearly).
The lyrics above are from Cyberhymnal; I have not seen the Songbook and am not sure that these are the words he published.

The origin and date of composition of this gospel song are unknown. The song is generally presumed to be African-American, the evidence for this being first publication in Marsh, "The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with Their Songs," c. 1880. Their version is given in the text following the Tillman version.


http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/l/oldtimer.htm

Lyr. Add: THIS OLD TIME RELIGION
^^ Version by the Jubilee Singers, c. 1880

Refrain (sung after each verse):
Oh! this old time religion,
This old time religion,
This old time religion,
It is good enough for me.
1.
It is good for** the mourner,
It is good for the mourner,
It is good for the mourner,
It is good enough for me.
2.
It will carry you home to heaven,
It will carry you home to heaven,
It will carry you home to heaven,
It is good enough for me.
3.
It brought me out of bondage* (3x)
It is good enough for me.
4.
It is good when you are in trouble, etc.

No. 36, with score, p. 158, J. B. T. Marsh, 1880's, "The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with Their Songs," Revised edition (seventy-fifth thousand), Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston.
*Verse post-Emancipation. **Sheet music shows a marked pause before the last three syllables.

The song in my opinion is old gospel, although often called a 'spiritual.'
Previous threads at Mudcat, and the three versions in the DT, are parody.

An entry at pdmusic gives a date of 1865; source not given, probably an error or opinion. It would not be surprising to find that the song appeared soon after the Civil War; camp meetings were flowering again. The well-known Des Plaines Camp Meeting in Illinois began in the early 1860's as did others.