Introduction⤒🔗

After having considered the first three Beatitudes, it is perhaps useful to briefly review the entire structure of the first seven before we proceed to focus on the fourth and central of these Beatitudes.

In observing these seven indispensable jewels of the Christian's experience comprehensively, it is noteworthy that this fourth Beatitude has the central and pivotal position among all of them. We shall soon discover that this Beati­tude is Christ's description of the exercise of saving faith, an experience which Christ here establishes as the central experience of the Christian life. The exercise of faith is so to speak the axle around which all Christian experience revolves.

Thus it becomes evident that, relative to this fourth and central Beatitude, there is a unique relationship between the first three and last three Beatitudes. Briefly stated, in the first three Christ describes the disposition of heart which results in the exercise of faith, and in the last three the disposition of life which is the fruit of the exercise of faith. We could also say that the first three Beat­itudes give us the inner dimension of Christian experience, whereas the last three give us the external dimension – both dimensions being inseparably united by the exercise of faith. In other words, it is the internal operation of the Holy Spirit in the heart which will inevitably cause the Christian – be it for the first time or by renewal – to hunger and thirst after the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. This in turn will inevitably bring forth the fruits of Spirit-wrought holiness.

We have thus far considered the disposition of heart which results in the exercise of faith; that is, we have listened to Christ as He has defined for us the essential elements of the discovering ministry of the Holy Spirit, whereby He prepares the heart of an elect sinner for the exercise of faith. We have learned that the first of these three marks is the discovery of one's spiritual poverty. The Spirit will make the sinner conscious that he is without God and without hope in the world that the very essence of our deep fall is that we have lost God Himself and thereby have become inexpressibly poor. He thereby makes room for Christ as the way whereby sinners are restored in the presence and fellowship of God.

This in turn will cause the sinner to mourn, for by the mysterious operation of God's Spirit he now yearns for the very God he misses. How the sinner mourns when it pleases God's Spirit to hold before him the mirror of God's holy law whereby he discovers sin to be the reason why there is a breach between God and his soul! How this will cause such a sinner to mourn with David, "Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight."

This poor, mourning sinner will also become a meek sinner when the Spirit of God confronts him with the spotless attributes of the God whom he misses and against whom He has sinned. He will teach him that such a God can by no means clear the guilty, and that His holy and just character demands eternal judgment upon despisers of His holy law. For such a sinner who has been made poor, mourning, and meek by the Holy Spirit there remains but one confession: "Woe is me! for I am undone." It is only in this way that a sinner will learn to despair of ever restoring the breach between God and his soul by his own efforts. He will instead begin to hunger and thirst for the perfect righteousness of Christ who alone has perfectly met the perfect requirements of the perfect attributes of His perfect Father.

Thus in the first three Beatitudes Christ answers the following critical questions for us: "What is saving conviction? What are the essential elements of a Spirit-wrought knowledge of misery?" Christ here states with divine precision what His Spirit has taught the saints of all ages, namely, that only those sinners will truly hunger and thirst for His righteousness who are acquainted with their spiritual bankruptcy, who mourn over their sin, and as meek sinners subscribe to the justice of a holy and righteous God. Something of these three elements – be it to a lesser or greater degree – will be present in every saving conviction, elements which have in common that they are all God-focused – the focus being on the person of God, the law of God, and the attributes of God.

Such sinners will need a righteousness which exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Such sinners will yearn for the God-given righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Definition of Terms←⤒🔗

In order to better understand Christ's definition of the exercise of faith, we must briefly examine the meaning of the key words in this text, namely, "righteousness," "hungering," and "thirsting!'

Righteousness←↰⤒🔗

The meaning of the English word "righteousness" is very simple and straightforward: "that which is right.'' This is closely related to the meaning of the Greek word found in our text. This word is a derivative of the Greek word for "justice," and it therefore means that which fulfills the claims of justice. Within the context of Scripture – when used in reference to God – this word then obviously means that which fulfills the claims of divine justice. "Righteousness" is therefore that which perfectly conforms to the requirements of God's attributes as expressed in His holy law. In relating all this to our English word we could say that "righteousness" is that which is right, that is, that which perfectly conforms to God's perfect standard – His law.

In examining the usage of this word in Scripture (and all words related to it) it is evident that this word is used in a twofold sense. To be righteous either means "to be in a right relationship to," or "to do that which is right." Relating this to our aforesaid definition, a righteous person is one who is in a right relationship to God and who does what is right in the sight of God.

It will at once be clear that this was true for Adam before he fell. In our cov­enant head we were created in a right and harmonious relationship to our Creator, a relationship which fully and flawlessly conformed to His holy and righteous character. The inevitable fruit of this relationship was very evident, for it was Adam's chief delight to do what was right – to live in perfect, loving, devoted, and worshipful obedience to his Maker. Adam was truly a righteous man in the dual sense in which we find it throughout Scripture.

How tragically this changed as a result of his and our deep fall! The blessed relationship with our magnificent Creator was broken. From that day on we are no longer righteous – we are no longer in a right relationship to God and we no longer desire to do that which is right. Ever since that wretched day the words of the Apostle Paul have been an unmistakable reality for Adam's posterity: "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Rom. 3:10).

Our fall, however, did not change God's character at all. From eternity to eternity He is a righteous God. Scripture bears abundant testimony to this. "For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness" (Psa. 11:7); "Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne" (Psa. 97:2); "The LORD is righteous in all His ways" (Psa. 145:17). This means, therefore, that in order for man to again be in a right relationship with God the requirements of His righteous character must be met. This, however, has become a total impossibility for fallen man, an impossibility so powerfully stated by Christ Himself in Matthew 5:18,20, where we read, "For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." What a wonder it is therefore that that which is utterly impossible with man is fully possible with God! For it has been the eternal good pleasure of the very God whom we have rejected and offended to provide a perfect righteousness whereby fallen and unrighteous sinners can become righteous again, that is, whereby fallen sinners can again be restored into a right relationship with God and do that which is right in His sight.

How evident it is that this righteous­ness is none other than the matchless righteousness of the one Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ, who by His active obedience has done that which was perfectly right on behalf of unrighteous sinners and who in His passive obedience restored the broken relationship between God and His people. It is therefore no wonder that Scripture so highly exalts that righteousness. Daniel already prophesied of it when he wrote, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness" (Dan. 9:24). With His one substitutionary sacrifice Christ brought in the everlasting restoration of the rela­tionship between God and His fallen creatures, a wonder which caused Paul to jubilate, "For he hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21).

Yet, how blind is the natural man for all that has been stated in the foregoing blind for the infinitely holy character of his Maker, blind for his own righteousness, and blind for the fact that by his own doings he can never again meet the requirements of God's holy law. This is why Paul writes about fallen men especially fallen men who are religious – that they "being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God" (Rom. 10:3). Therefore, apart from the mighty, discovering ministry of God's Spirit, fallen man will never despair of his own righteousness and hunger and thirst for the divine righteousness of Jesus Christ. What a miracle it is therefore, a miracle which exceeds the miracle of creation, that throughout the world sinners are yet to be found who do indeed hunger and thirst after that righteousness! The nature and intensity of that desire will become evident when we examine the words "hungering" and "thirsting."

Hungering and Thirsting←↰⤒🔗

Christ, in describing the desire of His spiritual subjects, could not have selected two better words – so universally understood – than the words "hungering" and "thirsting.'' There is not one human being who cannot identify with this intense yearning for sustenance and refreshment, a yearning which relates to the most basic and fundamental desires and needs of human existence. All living human beings cannot but hunger and thirst. From our own experience we know that the nature of hunger and thirst is such that these desires must be satisfied. Prolonged deprivation from food and drink will result in an intolerable situation and will ultimately incapacitate us. Therefore, throughout human existence, men and women who have had to suffer from hunger and thirst have become ingenious in devising ways to satisfy those throbbing desires in some way, even if as in World War II it meant eating flower-bulbs and licking out empty soup barrels. A living man must eat and drink or else he faces certain death.

It is this most basic of all human desires which Christ uses here to describe the true spiritual desire of all the citi­zens of God's kingdom. The logical deduction is very obvious here: Where there is spiritual life there will be such spiritual hungering and thirsting. Those who have been made spiritually alive by God's Spirit cannot but hunger and thirst after righteousness. It is equally obvious that this spiritual hungering and thirsting is as intense as natural hungering and thirsting and that also this spiritual desire is therefore a desire that must be satisfied.

We may thus say that the spiritual citizen of God's kingdom yearns with an intense yearning for that twofold righteousness: he yearns to be in a right relationship with God and he yearns to live right before God, or we could simply say, he yearns to be justified and sanctified. Christ, the living person­ification of the written Word of God, here conveys to us the inseparable relationship between these two cardinal benefits of the covenant of grace. What we read in the following pas­sages is therefore characteristic of what we find throughout Holy Writ: "I have longed for Thy salvation, O LORD; and Thy law is my delight" (Psa. 119:174); "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous" (1 Jn. 3:7).

Thus it is this intense yearning for divine righteousness that Christ here identifies and describes as the exercise of faith. Since this twofold righteousness directly relates to God Himself – a right relationship to Him and a right life before Him – it at once becomes plain that it is God Himself whom the true Christian yearns for and that God in Christ is the true and only object of saving faith. How beautiful is the harmony of the Beatitudes! For we observe here that a God-centered knowledge of our misery will inevitably and of necessity result in a God-centered and God-focused panting after the righteousness of Jesus Christ, a righteousness which fully conforms to the perfect demands of a holy and righteous God.

Therefore, in conclusion we can say that the true citizen of God's kingdom is a person who, with his whole being, pants after God Himself with a yearning as intense as for natural hunger and thirst, and a yearning which of necessity must be satisfied. This is the yearning which we find expressed in Psalm 42:1: "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God," and in Psalm 84:2, "My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God" This hungering and thirsting after righteousness is the yearning of a poor, mourning, and meek sinner, who in the depths of his lost condition learns to cry out, "Give me Jesus else I die!" It is a yearning of the soul which is exclusively the result of the saving oper­ation of God's Spirit, and which He in His time will also satisfy, "for they shall be filled"!

We hope to consider the all-important experiential implications of these words to which we have alluded already and which we find expressed by Paul: "That I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith" (Phil. 3:8-9). May God grant that by His grace this may also be or become the confession of our life.

In Hebrews 11:6 we read, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him." These words declare plainly that faith and its exercise are of fundamental importance, the exercise of faith being the very heartbeat of spiritual life and Christian experience. As a matter of fact, the writer of Hebrews clearly implies that the absence of faith displeases the Lord. The truth of these words is confirmed in the lives of all God's children. What strife and darkness they must endure when unbelief has the upper hand – a darkness when all the beasts of the forest come forth and when Satan seems to have free play! The most grievous consequence of unbelief, however, is the hiding of God's loving countenance, a countenance which they so delight to behold. How bitter is the price they must pay for unbelief! God's children are therefore experientially acquainted with the truth of these words, namely, that without faith they cannot please the Lord.

However, they may also know from experience how pleasing it is to the Lord when they do exercise faith – when they flee to His Son for refuge and take hold of His righteousness. Then they may behold the friendly countenance of God unveiled in the Lord Jesus Christ, and taste something of His unfathomable love for them. Then they may experience that nothing so honors and pleases the Lord as when sinners by faith make use of His beloved Son. How richly the Lord rewards those sinners, for He will fill their souls to overflowing with His love and will satisfy them with His goodness! Not only does the exercise of faith open the door to the very heart of God, but in Christ God draws near to His child, embraces him in the arms of His everlasting love, and kisses him with the kisses of His mouth. With the deepest reverence we may say that in the exercise of faith God and His elect may embrace each other in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This explains at once why Christ has assigned a pivotal and central position to the beatitude we are currently considering. This hungering and thirsting after righteousness is Christ's defini­tion of the initial phase of the exercise of faith – an experience which will culminate in being filled to overflowing with the love of God which passes all understanding. And thus Christ, as the Author of al! true experience teaches us explicitly, by way of the beatitudes, that all Spirit-wrought experience revolves around the exercise of faith. By His, Spirit He makes room for the exercise of faith, exercises faith, and brings forth the fruits of faith. Or to use the words of the beatitudes: poor, mourning, and meek sinners will hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ, and having been filled with the love of God they shall manifest the fruits of being merciful, pure in heart, and of being peacemakers.

Since thins beatitude represents the very core of Christian experience, its words are of cardinal importance. In our previous article we observed that these words are expressive of the experience of the sinner, who having been fully stripped of his own righteousness by the discovering ministry of God's Spirit, longs with an intense yearning for the righteousness of Christ. We concluded furthermore that this yearning is ultimately the elect sinner's yearning after God Himself – a yearning to be in right relationship with Him again and to live rightly before Him in true holiness.

Let us now enlarge upon some of the initial conclusions we have drawn concerning the exercise of faith, and seek to glean what Christ is teaching us here about the chief activity of the Spirit's saving work.

The Sole Objective of the Spirit's Convicting Work: The Exercise of Faith in Jesus Christ←⤒🔗

The first truth which presents itself to us is that the exercise of saving faith cannot and will not occur unless there is experiential acquaintance with the first three beatitudes. No sinner will ever need Jesus in truth unless he is in some measure experientially acquainted with his spiritual poverty, grieves over his sin, and in meekness has learned to own his guilt in light of the attributes of God. In other words, the experience of deliverance will always be preceded by the experience of our misery. Sin­ners who hunger and thirst after Jesus know why they hunger and thirst after Him. They yearn for Him and He is so exceedingly precious to them precisely because He fully meets the deep need of their soul – a need made known to them by the discovering work of God's Spirit. This is the singular method God employs in the hearts of all His people, a method to which the Lord clearly alludes in Isaiah 66:2: "But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor (poor in spirit) and of a contrite spirit (who mourns), and trembleth at My word (who is meek)."

Secondly, it is evident that righteousness is the objective of the exercise of faith. The elect sinner, wrought upon by God's Spirit, does not primarily flee to Jesus to obtain the forgiveness of sin and the blotting out of his guilt, but rather he flees to Him and hungers and thirsts for Him because, on the basis of forgiven sin, he can be righteous again – that is, the breach be­tween God and his soul can be filled. That is the critical issue in saving experience! The soul who is drawn to Jesus by God's Spirit yearns to be restored in God's favor and fellowship. Thus we may say that God's children need Jesus because they need God – they need to have Him as their portion again, to be in a right relationship with Him, and to serve Him aright. Therefore they yearn for righteousness, a righteousness which is the rich benefit annexed to saving faith. Scripture bears witness to this throughout its contents: "And he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6); "But to him that … believeth … his faith is counted for righteousness … even the righteousness which is of faith" (Rom 4:5; 9:30); "For with the heart man believed unto righteousness" (Rom 10:10).

We must furthermore conclude that as essential and crucial as the saving experience of our misery is as a preparation for the exercise of faith, it is not the goal and substance of saving experience. The saving knowledge of our misery is the way by which the Spirit leads the sinner to Christ and causes him to experience salvation, but it is not salvation itself. Any acquaintance with our misery which does not culminate in the exercise of faith is not the fruit of the Spirit's saving work. The Spirit's work is progressive and He will therefore not rest until He leads the sinner, whose heart He has prepared for Christ, to Christ. It is only this coming to Christ as a poor, undone sinner which truly validates our experience as being the work of God. God's Spirit does not only lay the foundation for the exercise of faith, but He will never fail to proceed to work faith itself; He will never do a half work. What we read in Zechariah 4:9 is also applicable to the experience of God's children, namely, "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it" (Zach 4:9). This is clearly underlined in the following passages as well: "Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD" (Isa. 66:9); "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).

And thus the critical question for us is not so much whether I am acquainted with my misery, but whether my ac­quaintance with my misery leads me to hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Then alone will there be evidence that I am truly taught of God, for "Every man … that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me" (John 6:45). How evident is the harmony between this passage and the beatitudes! Both clearly teach how the Lord leads His people. The question, "How does the Lord lead His people?" is answered most explicitly for us: The Lord always, without exception, leads His people to Christ! The Father's drawing work by His Spirit will never fail to bring the sinner to the Son. That and that alone is the hallmark of the Father's instruction in the hearts of all His people; He draws them to Christ. Therefore, even though we may perhaps have a hope that the Lord has begun a good work in us, we have no basis for any measure of assurance that God's Spirit is truly savingly at work in us unless we know something of this coming to Christ – something of being irresistibly drawn by the Father to His irresistible Son – something of this hungering and thirsting after the Person of Jesus Christ and His impeccable righteousness.

The Fruit of the Spirit's Convicting Work: An Intense Yearning for Jesus Christ and His Righteousness←⤒🔗

We explained that Christ's choice of words is very deliberate here. In order to graphically illustrate for His hearers what constitutes a longing after divine righteousness, He refers to the most basic of all human desires, hungering and thirsting. Oh, how the magnificent wisdom of the Prophet of all prophets shines forth here!

First of all, it will at once be evident that this hungering and thirsting is an experience and not merely an intellectual notion. It is not merely a conclusion drawn from an intellectual knowledge of divine truth. Hungering and thirsting is not something you discuss intellectually; it is a deep-felt, experiential need. Such is also true of the hungering and thirsting of all who are wrought upon by the Holy Spirit who, as the great heavenly designer, with cunning workmanship prepares the sinner for the revelation of the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. Out of a heartfelt need the poor, mourning, and meek sinner yearns for righteousness, yearns to be restored into the favor and communion of God, yes, yearns for God Himself. Such a yearning is not discussed; such a yearning is experienced and causes the soul to cry out with Job, "Oh that I might have my re­quest; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!" (Job 6:8), and with the psalmist, "I have longed for Thy salvation, O LORD" (Psa. 119:174).

Secondly, hunger and thirst are human desires that must be satisfied. God in His marvellous wisdom as Creator has designed the human body in such a manner that in order to receive the nourishment and liquid it needs, it will yearn for food and drink in such a fashion that man will not cease to pursue food and drink until his hunger and thirst have been satisfied. What is true in the natural realm is equally true in the spiritual. The nature of spiritual life, which originates in the very same Creator, is therefore also such that the person who is a partaker of that life cannot rest until his hungering and thirsting after the righteousness of Jesus Christ is satisfied with the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. Such a person cannot be satisfied with the fact that he hungers and thirsts. He cannot be satisfied with the fact that he is a missing person. He cannot cease to weep and cry after God until he has obtained that which he so sorely misses – God and His favor. In other words, such a person cannot cease until he may know that Jesus is his Savior, and until His righteousness has been applied to his soul. For only then will his deepest desire have been satisfied – to be reconciled with the God he loves and after whom he yearns with his whole being. Therefore, those who have been made to hunger and thirst after righteousness know something of what Jacob expressed, "I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me" (Gen. 32:26).

Having sought to explain why the poor, mourning, and meek sinner cannot let go of God until the deep need of his soul has been satisfied in Jesus Christ, there is nevertheless a deeper reason why such a sinner cannot let go of God. We cannot properly understand the nature and purpose of the experience of God's children unless we view it first and foremost from God's perspective. What is the deepest reason why this hungering and thirsting sinner cannot let go of God? It is because God cannot and will not let go of that sinner! The panting of the elect sinner after God is the inevitable fruit of God's eternal panting after that elect sinner. Therefore, this intense yearning after God and the righteousness of His Son flows directly out of the sovereign good pleasure of a triune God. It is the infinite love of the Father which moves Him to send forth His Spirit in the heart of His elect, having as His singular objective to draw them to His Son. Oh, how the Father longs to see the elect sinner come to His Son, for there He can meet him! There He can unveil His loving countenance to them; there He can open to them His heart filled with His infinite love, which is from everlasting to everlasting. There He can kiss them with the kisses of His mouth, and there the barrier between God and the sinner is gone as righteousness and peace have kissed each other in the Son of His good pleasure. With the deepest reverence we may say, that when God and His child in the exercise of faith meet in the person of Jesus Christ, and when God may embrace that sinner in the arms of His eternal love, God's eternal desire is fulfilled – namely, to manifest His love to that sinner whom He has loved with an everlasting love is taught by Rome. What a comfortless teaching this is for those who ascribe faith, repentance, and perseverance to the power of man!

The fifth head of the Canons of Dort explains the doctrine of perseverance. We all know that God's children can fall into abominable sins; nevertheless God does not wholly withdraw His Spirit from them, although it can become very dark in spiritual life. They cannot lose the grace of adoption, nor fall out of the state of justification: The elect "are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1:5). (See also the fifth head of the Canons of Dort.)

The widespread influence of the Arminians←⤒🔗

I am convinced that what I have written is only the tip of the iceberg, because in my studies I have found more than twenty major differences between the followers of Arminius and the Calvinists, but have limited myself to the five errors mentioned by Rev. Hellenbroek.

These matters of Arminianism don't move the people as much in our day as they did about four hundred years ago. Then the whole of The Netherlands resounded with theological controversy. Especially the well-known Professor Gomarus has fought against these false doctrines. To settle the questions in dispute, a national Synod was held in Dort from November 13, 1618 to May 9, 1619. The Synod of Dort was the greatest Synod ever held by the Reformed Churches. Delegates from throughout Europe were present and gave their views.

The Synod unanimously rejected and very positively condemned the teachings of the Arminians. It stated the true Reformed doctrine in the Canons of Dort which is so well-known among us. It is much praised, but I fear not so well read!

The Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort are to this day the creeds of doctrinal standards of the Reformed churches in the Netherlands and America. It is very sad that these creeds are still signed in many churches, but don't function anymore in the preaching. It is as an old piece of furniture which is used for show, but is not used in practice.

Although Arminianism was condemned in Dort, it was not exterminated. It had great influence in England. It invaded the Anglican Church and almost all the dissenting denominations. John Wesley adopted Arminianism and it became the creed of the Wesleyan Methodists. Today it has become the accepted doctrine in nearly all the churches in America. This means that its influence is great.

If we know a little about contemporary theological literature, then we must be impressed by the leaven of Arminianism. What they could not achieve by debate has been accomplished by peaceful penetration. This is a method which is still used: Don't fight, but keep quiet and it will fall as a ripe apple in your lap. So we must realize that Arminianism has influenced theological thinking to an extraordinary degree. The "revival" literature of our day is full of it, and it is the same in the religious press.

"Warnings from the pulpit are not heard as in former days," Rev. D. Beaton wrote in the church paper of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. In some measure this can be explained, because so many new errors and sects arise and the majority of the people believe that the old foe is dead. Unfortunately, this is not true; it is very much alive and still enjoys great favor with the religious public. When we remember the horror with which our forefathers have opposed Arminianism, then modern attitudes indicate how far the professing church has drifted away from the position of theologians of those days.

The late Rev. Vergunst wrote in the Saambinder: "It is so necessary, very necessary, that from all our pulpits a warning is issued against this Arminian doctrine, because it is under a Reformed cloak and is very effective, sometimes more than we suspect."

May the Lord make us faithful to combat it with might, and may He gird us and enlighten us to recognize this evil.

At our Synod of Dordt the Belgic Confession was also examined by the Dutch and foreign divines. After the examination the foreign divines expressed this wish: "May this orthodox, pious, and plain confession of faith always persevere; may it be passed on unstained to your descendants and be kept until the coming of our Lord Jesus." May the Lord Himself make this wish precious to us, so that we may combat Arminianism among us and abhor it, and the confession of our forefathers may be passed on to the following generation.

It is our prayer that the God of our fathers may give us to be faithful to the old, scriptural doctrine of free grace, not only with our lips, but experientially with our whole heart.