The preacher belonged to that period of this century when the religious
world first threw off its contempt for the present earthly life and
began to preach, not a salvation from sin's punishment so much as a
salvation from sin.

It was the old cry: "Repent, believe; for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand." The doctrine that was set forth had not only the vital growth of
ages in it, but it had accreted the misunderstanding of the ages also;
yet this doctrine did not hide, it only limited, the saving power of
God. "Believe," cried the preacher, "in a just God and a Saviour." So he
preached Christ unto them, just as he supposed St. Paul to have done,
wotting nothing of the fact that every word and every symbol stand for
a different thought in the minds of men with every revolution of that
glass by which Time marks centuries.

It mattered nothing to Bart just now all this about the centuries and
the doctrines; the heart of the preaching was the eternal truth that has
been growing brighter and brighter since the world began--God, a living
Power, the Power of Salvation. The salvation was conditioned, truly; but
what did conditions matter to Bart! He would have cast himself into sea
or fire to obtain the strength that he coveted. He eagerly cast aside
the unbelief he had imbibed from books. He accepted all that he was told
to accept, with the eager swallowing of a man who is dying for the
strength of a drug that is given to him in dilution.

At the end of the sermon there was a great call made upon all who
desired to give up their sins and to walk in God's strength and
righteousness, to go forward and kneel in token of their penitence and
pray for the grace which they would assuredly receive.