understanding of that passage, either that God is disappointed in His wishes, or that all men without exception must be saved … why, if such be the case, God did not command the Gospel to be preached to all men indiscriminately from the beginning of the world? why [did] He [suffer] so many generations of men to wander for so many ages in all the darkness of death?" Confessions and catechisms The Canons of Dort affirm an abundant sufficiency in the death of Christ of "infinite worth and value" for the whole world. The word offer or free offer was used in the Westminster Standards and the Westminster Larger Catechism leaves no room for doubt that the phrase "grace offered" is used in reference to persons who "never truly come" to Christ. In his "Question & Answers on the Shorter Catechism", John Brown addressed and answered questions concerning the free offer of the gospel; he reasoned that God commands every person that hears the gospel to "take his gift Christ out of his hand", that Christ offers himself "Fully, freely, earnestly, and indefinitely" to all persons that hear the gospel "without exception", that this offer is for every person's case "as if he was named in it" and that to embrace the offer of Christ is to be persuaded that "Christ in the promise is mine." Opposition to the doctrine Both Calvinistic and non-Calvinistic ministers have expounded on several Bible passages as contradicting the doctrines which are considered to be Hyper-Calvinism. Verification that such scripture citations were a matter of doctrinal controversy may be seen in William Jeyes Styles' A Manual of Faith and Practice, Andrew Fuller's The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation, John Gill's The Cause of God and Truth, Richard Baxter's Universal Redemption, Daniel Whitby's A Discourse Concerning Election and Reprobation and William Button's The Nature of Special Faith in Christ Considered. Arthur Pink wrote an article arguing for the doctrine of faith as the bounden duty of every person who hears the gospel. Biblical references used in favor of orthodox Calvinism Matthew 23:37 "...how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" Adam Clarke believed that here it is evident that there were persons whom Jesus "wished to save, and bled to save" who perished because they would not come unto him. Richard