n and his
group. I am growing somewhat gray, but I'm still in the fight. I aim to
push the battle. I believe that in defending his faith a man is
justifiable in using almost any means imaginable. Let us pray: Lord, we
thank thee for this hour in which we have defended thy cause. Lord,
bless this church and curse those who seek its harm. Smite any person or
persons in this community who seek to propagate false religion. And now
may the grace of Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of
the Holy Ghost rest and abide with us now and forever, amen."

So closed a service a picture of which today still hangs on the walls of
the memory of those present.

How hidden is the path of one's future. When Preacher Bonds mounted his
sorrel horse at the church that noon-day, just as he had done for many,
many years, little did he think that the same sun which afforded him a
chance to illustrate in his morning sermon the multiplicity of his own
sins would, before setting that day, shine upon his lifeless form.

It so happened that day that Preacher Bonds invited one of his brethren
home with him to dinner. As he and this member, who was a pillar in the
church, rode along the country road to Bonds' home, Bonds gave the
member a full outline of his intended sermon on the Hellish Heresy of
Holiness. When the two men had reached the barn of the Bonds' premises
and had fed their horses they started for the house. They were just
passing in at the yard gate when Preacher Bonds staggered and fell to
the ground. He was carried into his house and placed on a cot, and a
doctor was called; but within a half-hour from the time he fell at the
gate his breath ceased and he began his eternity. The doctor pronounced
his death due to heart trouble. There was no sermon at the church that
night on the Hellish Heresy of Holiness. The following day Bonds'
remains were started on the journey to Kentucky, where burial took place
at the old boyhood home.

With the passing of Bonds the last candlestick was removed from Mount
Olivet church. Bonds' sermon was the last one of the sin-you-must type
preached there. The church was entirely disbanded and the dilapidated
building finally fell into the hands of those who came after Jake
Benton. In recent years the old church has been torn away and replaced
by a beautiful white building surpassing even the former beauty of the
old one. Over its door were written these words: The Church of God--the
Pillar