II. Cinifi^sio Ililntica Posterior, the second Helvetic Confes.sinii, A.l ). l-iiiC. The first Confession above men- tioned, tliougii gciKially received, did not give universal satisfactiiui in Switzerland, especially as it was believed that the Lutheran influence had been allowed to operate in its formati(jn. Bullinger undertook to revise it, and, at the request of the elector Palatine, Frederick HI, he finished the work, with the aid of Beza and Gualter, and handed over the Confession, thus prepared, to the elec- tor, who printed it in German, and adopted it (A.D. 1565) as the Reformed standard in his territorj\ The elector also made use of it to vindicate the Reformed doctrines against the Lutherans at the Diet of Augsburg, January, 1566. The attention of the Swiss churches
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was called to this revised Confession as a standard under wliich tliey could all agree. By the year 1578 the Con- fession had received the sanction of the Swiss cantons, and had also been approved by the Reformed churches of Poland, Hungary, Scotland, and France (the latter re- ceiving it in Beza's translation). It adopts Calvin's doc- trine on the Lord's Supper, but " presents the Augustin- ian doctrine of election in a mild form, far behind Cal- vin" (Gieseler, Church History, ed. H. B. Smith, iv. -i-2-i). No Keformed Confession has been more widely ditfused. The title of the Confession is Confessio et Expositio Brt- vis et Simplex siiicerm Religionis Christiarm. It consists of thirty chapters : chaps. £ and ii treat of the Scrip- tures, Tradition, etc. ; iii, of God and the Trinity ; iv and V, of Idols or Images of God, Christ, and the Saints, and of the Worship of God through Christ, the sole Me- diator; vi, of Providence; vii, of the Creation of all Tilings, of Angels, Devils, Man ; viii, of Sin and the Fall of JIan ; ix, of Free "Will. The condition of man after the fall is thus stated : Non suUatus est quidem homini iiitellectus, non erepta ei voluntas, et prorsm in lapidem ret trmicum est commutatus (The intellect of man was not taken away by the fall, nor was he robbed of will, and changed into a stock or stone). Art. x treats of Predes- tination and Election. The second paragraph runs thus : Ergo non sine medio, licet non propter vllum mei-itum nos- trum, sed in Christo et jyropter Christum, nos elegit Beus, Ht qui jam in Christo insiii per Jidem, illi ipsi etiam sint electi, reprobi vero, qui sunt extra Christum, secundum il- lud Apostoli, 2 Cor. xiii, 5 (Therefore, not M-ithout a me- dium, though not on account of any merit of ours, but in Christ, and on account of Christ, God elected us ; so that they who are ingrafted in Christ by faith are the elect, while the reprobate are those who are out of Christ, according to the apostle, in 2 Cor. xiii, 5). This chap- ter has been the subject of much controversy, both Cal- vinists and Arminians finding their own doctrine in it. Chap, xi treats of Christ as God-man, the only Saviour ; xii and xiii, of the Law and the Gospel ; xiv-xvi, of Eepentance and of Justilication by Faith; xvii-xxii, of the Church, the Ministry, the Sacraments; xxiii and xxiv, of Assemblies, Worship, Feasts, and Fasts; xxv- xxix. Catechism, Kites, Ceremonies, etc. ; xxx, of the Civil ^Magistracy. This Confession is given in Latin m the Sylloge Confessionum (Oxon. 1827, 8vo) ; by Nie- meyer, Collectio Confessionum, p. 462 sq. ; by Augusti, Corpus Libroruin Symholicorum, p. 1-102. A tercen- tenary edition, edited by Dr. E. Bohl, was published at Vienna, 1865 (120 pp. 8vo). See Gieseler, Church His- tory, 1. c. ; Sliedd, History of Doctrines, ii, 469 ; Hagen- bach, History of Doctrines, § 221 ; Fritzsche, Conf. Heli: Postei'ior, Zurich, 1839 ; Augusti, Ally, christl. Symbolik, 1861, p. 158.
Helvetic Consensus {Formula Consens^is Hel- vetica), a confession of faith drawn up in 1675 by J. G. Heidegger at the request of the Calvinistic divines of Switzerland. It was chiefly designed to restrain the progress of the mitigated Calvinism of Amyraldus and the school of Saiimur generally, Avhich was spreading in Switzerland. See Ajiykaldus. Turretin, Zwinger, Werenfels, Hottinger, and other Swiss theologians aided in its preparation, but its form is cliiefly due to Heideg- ger.
It consists of a preface and twenty-six canons. Can- ons 1-3 treat of the Scriptures; and the second (against Cappcl) maintains that the Hebrew text is to be re- cei\ed as diviuelj- inspired, not only as to the substance, but as to the very words, consonants, vowels, and vowel- points {tum quoad consonas, turn quoad vocalia, sire puncta ipsa, sive punctorimi saltern potestatem, et turn quoad res, tum quoad verba QeoTrvEVfTTog). The remain- ing canons are chiefly occupied with definitions of the Calvinistic view of predestination, sin, grace, the ex- tent of the atonement, etc., all which are set forth in language as decided as that cited above with regard to the Scriptures. The Formula is given in full by Au- gusti (Corjnts Libr. Symbol. Reform, p. 443 sq.) and by
Niemeyer {Collectio Confess. p. 729). Within a year from its promulgation it was adojited by tlie magistrates of Basle, Zurich, Berne, etc., but it was not received at Geneva until 1679. It was finally made autliorita- tive throughout Switzerland: all ministers, teachers, and professors were bound to subscribe to it ; and it was ordained that no candidate for the ministry should be admitted except upon declaration that he received it ex animo (Augusti, 1. c. p. 646). But these strong meas- lu-es, together with the influence of the French clergy, and especially the intercession of Frederick A^'illiam of Brandenburgh, produced a reaction; and in 1686 the magistrates of Basle aOowed the admission of candidates without subscription to the Formula. By 1706 its strict obligation had fallen into disuse at Geneva. In the other cantons it was still retained, but gave rise to long conflicts. In 1722 the kings of Prussia and England sent letters to the Swiss Cantons, for the sake of the unity and peace of Protestantism, to drop the use of the Formula as a binding creed. In 1723 they renev.xd these letters to the same purpose. By 1740 the J'or- mida had fallen entirely into disuse. " It never ac- quired authority outside of Switzerland. Within about fifty years it was abrogated. One of the strongest ad- vocates of this last measure was Turretin's own son, Alphonso Turretin, who was as zealous in opposing as his father had been in advocating it. If there was ever a creed which deserves to be called the manifesto of a theological party rather than a confession of faith on the part of the Church, the Formula Consensus is that one" (Fisher, in Neto Eiiglander, July, 1868, p. 502). See Hottinger, Formuloi Consensus Historia (1723, 4to), in favor of the Consensus ; PfafF, Schediasma theol. de Form. Consens. Helvet. (Tubingen, 1723, 4to), on the Lutheran side; Schrockh, Kircheng. seit der Reformation, viii, 659 sq. ; Barnaud, Memoires pour servir a Thistoire des trou- bles a Voccasion du Consensus (Amst. 1726, 8vo) ; Mos- heim, Ch. History, cent, xvii, pt. ii, ch. iii; Trechscl, m Herzog, Recd-Encyllop. v, 719 sq. ; Shedd, Hist, of Doc- trines, ii, 472; Augusti, Ally, christl. Symbolik, 1861, p. 160 ; Schweizer, in Zeitschrift fiir d. hist. Theol. 1860, p, 122 ; Hagenbach, History of Doctrines, ed. H. B. Smith, § 222, and references there.