ople into unresisting and deluded slaves. An exaggerated nationalism
has taken the place of human solidarity, and a selfish domination of the
world has become the goal of national ambition. All the atrocities of
this war might have been spared us, if the nations of which Germany is
the most conspicuous offender had derived their ethics and their
practice from the divine love which rules above, rather than from the
seeming necessity of competing with the nations around them. A new
interpretation of Scripture is needed to set the world right. But as
Germany will never be convinced that the worship of Force is vain,
until she sees herself plunged in defeat and ruin, so the advocates of
this so-called historical method will never make deduction a primary
part of their procedure, and will never take the eternal Christ as their
key to Scripture interpretation, until Christ himself shall by a second
spiritual advent enter into their hearts and dissipate their doubts, as
he did when he showed himself to Paul on the way to Damascus.

I have tried to point out the inherent error of the method to which I
have been objecting, and to show its ill effects upon systematic
theology, upon our theological seminaries, upon our Baptist churches,
and upon our missionary work abroad and at home. I have intimated that
the influence of this perverse treatment of Holy Writ may be seen even
in the present internecine conflict in which the professedly Christian
nations are engaged. I shall very naturally be asked what remedy I
propose for so deep-seated and widespread an evil. I can only answer
that I see no permanent cure but the second coming of Christ. But do not
misunderstand me. I am no premillennarian of the ordinary sort. Indeed,
I am as much a post-millennialist, as I am a premillennialist. I believe
that both interpretations of prophecy have their rights, and, believing
also as I do that Scripture is a unity and that its seeming
contradictions can be harmonized, I hold that Christ's spiritual coming
precedes the millennium, but that his visible and literal coming follows
the millennium. I therefore look for such a spiritual coming into the
hearts of his people, as shall renew their faith, fulfil their joy, and
answer to the prediction of "the rapture of the saints." In other
words, I look for a mighty revival of religion, which will set the
churches on their old foundation, and endow them with power to subdue
the world. This war seems to