and betook himself to other fields to suffer and rejoice in the great
work with which God had entrusted him.




CHAPTER XI


Five years had flitted by since Jake Benton was converted down in the
hills. The battle between holiness and sin-you-must religion had waxed
hotter and hotter. Masked mobs had scoured the country at different
times, threatening the very lives of enemies. The sin-you-must group had
decreased in number, but had increased in wickedness. It could
truthfully be said that every member of Mount Olivet church was at this
time a positive force for evil. The membership had dwindled to
one-fourth its former size. Somebody is responsible for the statement
that the blackest deeds known to the world have been done in the name of
religion, love, and liberty. Mount Olivet Church did her blackest deeds
in the name of religion. She was determined to crush her adversaries,
and she was not particular as to the means she used. Every member who
had even the tiniest spark of God's love in his heart had either cast
his lot with the holiness movement or given up his religious profession
altogether. Preacher Bonds had grown more and more zealous in his fight
against holiness.

Deacon Gramps had preached his doctrine everywhere, in his home as well
as in the church, and he had already seen its fruits manifested right in
his home. One of his sons who had now become of age had built a sort of
philosophy of life on his father's teaching. He had reasoned something