(“Nadere Reformatie”) by Dr. J. R. Beeke* The Dutch Reformation proper may be divided into four periods: the Lutheran period (1517–26), the Sacramentarian phase (1526–31), the Anabaptist movement (1531–45),1 and the most influential—the Calvinist infiltration.2 From the outset of the Calvinist penetration into the Netherlands (southern Netherlands, c. 1545; northern, c. 1560), the movement showed greater strength than its persistent numerical inferiority might suggest.