HELP-MEET
HELVETIC CONFESSIONS
the same conclusion (Stn-pe's Life ofLighffoot, prefixed to his Works, p. 4, Lond.'l68J). But Lightfoot himself explains the word " persons who accompanied the apos- tles, baptized those who were converted by them, and were sent to places to which they, being employed in other things, could not come, as Mark, Timothy, Titus." He observes (ii, 781) that the Talmudists sometimes call the Levites d-i^nab i"I"D^, "the helpers of the priests." Similar catalogues of miraculous gifts and of- ficers occur Eoro.. xii, 6-8, and Eph. iv, 11, 12 ; but they neither curespond in number nor in ifie order of enu- meration. In thefo7-me7; "prophecy" stands first, and in the latter second; and in the former many of the terms are of wide import, as " ministering," while minute distinctioiw are made between others, as between "teach- ing" and "exhortation," "giving" and "showing mer- cy." Other writers pursue different methods, and ar- rive at different conclusions. For instance, Hammond, arguing from the etymology of the word, and from pas- sages in the early writers, which describe the office of relieving the poor as peculiarly connected with that of the apostles and bishops by the deacons, infers that dv- n\. "denotes a special jmrt of the office of those men which are set down at the beginning of the verse." He also explains Kvj3tpvl](7tiQ as another part of tlieir offi.ce (Hammond, Comment, ad loc). Schleusner understands " deacons who had the care of the sick." Rosenmllller, "Diaconi qui pauperibus, peregrinis, ajgrotis, mortuis, procurandis prreerant." Bishop Pearce thinks that both these words may have been originally put in tlie margin to explain SvvajisiQ, "miracles or powers," and urges that avTiX. is nowhere mentioned as a gift of the Spirit, and that it is not recapitulated in ver. 29, 30. Certainly the omission of these two words would nearly produce exactitude in the recapitulation. Bowyer adopts the same conjecture, but it is without support from iMSS. or versions. He also observes that to the end of ver. 28 some copies of the Vulgate add " interpretationes sermo- num," tpi.ir]Viiac yXioaaihv ; as also the later Syriac, Hilary, and Ambrose. This addition would make the recapitulation perfect. Chrj'sostom and all the Greek interpreters consider the dvriX. and icvfiipv. as import- ing the sajne thiiuj, namely, functionaries so called with reierence to the two different parts of their office: the avrik. superintending the care of the poor, sick, and strangers ; the Kvjieov. the burial of the dead and the executorship of their effects, including the care of their widows and orphans, rather managers than governors (Blomfield's Recensio Synopf.). After all, it must be con- fessed, with Doddridge, that " we can only guess at the meaning of the words in question, having no principles on which to proceed in fixing it absolutely" {Family Expositor, on 1 Cor. xii, 28). (See Alberti, Glossar. p. 123 ; Suicer, Thesaurus, in voc. ; Salmasius, Be Fcenore Trapezitico, p. 409, Wolfii Curm Philolog. Basil. 1741.) — Kitto, s. V. Stanley remarks {Comment, ad loc.) that the word " avTi\r]'\/iQ, as used in the Sept., is not (like StaKovia) help ministered by an inferior to a superior, but by a superior to an inferior (comp. Psa. Ixxxix, 18 ; Ec- clus. xi, 12 ; li, 7), and thus is inapplicable to the minis- trations of the deacon to the presbyter." Probably it is a general term (hence the plur.) to include those occa- sional labors of evangelists and special laborers, such as Apollos in ancient times and eminent revivalists in mod- ern days, who have from time to time been raised up as poweri'ul l)ut independent promoters of the Gospel. See Gifts, SriniTUAi,.
Help-meet (or rather, as the best editions of the Bible now punctuate it, help meet ybr him, i'^553 ^t>' e'zer, ke-negdo', a help as his counterpart, i. e. an aid suit- able and supplementary to him), a delicate and beauti- ful designation of a wife (Gen. ii, 18-20), which exactly exjiresses her relation. See Makriage.
Helve {yS, ets, vood, as often elsewhere), the han- dle or wooden part of an axe (Deut. xix, 5), See Axe ; Tree.
Ancient Egyptian Axes and Hatchets. Helvetic Confessions, the later Confessions of faith of the Reformed chiurches of Switzerland. See Basle, Confessions of.
I. The Confessio Helvetica prior (the second Confes- sion of Basle") was framed by a convention of delegates from Basle, Zurich, Berne, Schaflfhausen, IMiilhausen, St, Gall, and Biel, which began its sessions at Basle Jan. 30, 1536. Among the eminent theologians who took part in it were Megander of Berne, Grynajus and Myconius of Basle, Leo "judaj and Bullingcr of Ziirich. During their sessions, Bucer and Capito, who were striving earn- estly to unite the Lutheran and Reformed chiu-ches, ar- rived in Basle, and seem to have exercised a decided in- fluence in the formation of the Confession, though they had no vote in the Convention. The Confession wa* drawn up by Bullinger, IMyconius, and Grynreus, in Lat» in, and translated into German by Leo Judaj (Augusti, Lib. Symb. Reform, p. 626). In March, 1536, it was adopt- ed as the standard of doctrine. It consists of twenty- seven short articles : i-v, of Scripture and Tradition ; vi, of God ; vii, viii, of Man, the Fall, and Original Sin ; ix, of Free Will ; x-xiii, the Person and Work of Christ as Saviour; xiv-xix, the Chiurch and Ministry; xx-xxiv, the Sacraments ; xxvi. Civil Government ; xxvii, Mar- riage. The Latin title of the Confession is Ecclesiarum perHelvetiam Confessio fidei summaria et generalis, com- jmsita Basilece, A.D. 1536. It is Calvinistic and (mod- erately) ZwingUan in doctrme. The Confession, in both German and Latin, is given in Niemeyer, Colleciio Con- fessionum, p. 105-122.