This essay proposed to answer the question whether this was a period of religious decline or revival. The editorial staff of the Mercure de France had posed the question to leading European public figures and Kuyper’s answer was included in this issue as the second of thirty-three responses, which were published in full without editorial commentary. A short caption next to his name described Kuyper as a “former prime minister of the Dutch cabinet.”

In five short paragraphs Kuyper describes religion as a relationship between God and humans, which thus always functions from two sides—i.e., on one side from God to human beings and on the other from human beings to God. Though the effect of God’s action depends to a great extent on one’s state of mind, God can nevertheless overcome an individual’s lack of sensibility. History has taught us that low points are followed by high points. The present era of weakness would be followed by a new period of renewed religious sensitivity, which would surpass the religious sensibilities of the past in its intensity.

A Dutch version of the response was published in De Heraut, no. 1532, May 12, 1907.