THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
of Switzerland objected to this new tendency and threatened to stop sending their pupils to Geneva. The Council of Geneva submitted and peremptorily demanded from all candidates subscription to the older articles. But the conservative elements were not satisfied, and the idea occurred to them to stop the further spread of such novelties by establishing a formula obligatory upon all teachers and preachers. After considerable discussion between Gernler of Basel, Hummel of Bern, Ott of Schaffhausen, Heidegger of Zurich, and others, the last mentioned was charged with drawing up the formula. In the beginning of 1675, Heidegger's Latin draft was communicated to the ministers of Zurich; and in the course of the year it received very general adoption, and almost everywhere was added as an appendix and exposition to the Helvetic Confession.
The Consensus consists of a preface and twentysix canons, and states clearly the difference between strict Calvinism and the school of
Content. Saumur. Canons i.-iii. treat of divine inspiration, and the preservation of the Scriptures. Canons iv.-vi. relate to election and predestination. In canons vii.-ix. it is shown that man was originally created holy, and that obedience to law would have led him to eternal life. Canons x.-xii. reject La Place's doctrine of a mediate imputation of the sin of Adam. Canons xiii.-xvi. treat of the particular destination of Christ — as he from eternity was elected head, master, and heir of those that are saved through him, so in time he became mediator for those who are granted to him as his own by eternal election. According to canons xvii.-xx., the call to election has referred at different times to smaller and larger circles. Canons xxi.xxiii. define the incapacity of man to believe in the Gospel by his own powers as natural, not only moral, so that he could believe if he only tried. According to canons xxiii.-xxv., there are only two ways of justification before God and consequently a twofold covenant of God, namely the covenant of the works for man in the state of innocence, and the covenant through the obedience of Christ for fallen man. The final canon admonishes to cling firmly to the pure and simple doctrine and avoid vain talk.
Although the Helvetic Consensus was introduced everywhere in the Reformed Church of Switzerland, it could not long hold Later its position, as it was a product of the
History, reigning scholasticism. At first, circumspection and tolerance were shown h. the enforcement of its signature, but as soon as many French preachers sought positions in Vaud after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, it was ordered that all who intended to preach must sign the Consensus without reservation. An address of the great elector of Brandenburg to the Reformed cantons, in which, in consideration of the dangerous position of Protestantism and the need of a union of all Evangelicals, he asked for a nullification of the separating formula, brought it about that the signature was not demanded in Basel after 1686, and it was also dropped in Schaffhausen and later (1706) in Geneva, while Zurich and Bern retained it. Meanwhile the whole tendency of the time had changed.
Secular science stepped into the foreground. The practical, ethical side of Christianity began to gain a dominating influence. Rationalism and Pietism undermined the foundations of the old orthodoxy. An agreement between the liberal and conservative parties was temporarily attained in so far that it was decided that the Consensus was not to be regarded as a rule of faith, but only as a norm of teaching. In 1722 Prussia and England applied to the respective magistracies of the Swiss cantons for the abolition of the formula for the sake of the unity and peace of the Protestant Churches. The reply was somewhat evasive; but, though the formula was never formally abolished, it gradually fell entirely into disuse. (Emil Egli.)
Bibliography: The official copy, in Latin and German, is in the archives of Zurich. It was printed in 1714 as a supplement to the Second Helvetic Confession, then in 1718, 1722, and often, and may be found in H. A. Niemeyer, Collectio Confessionum, pp. 729-739, Leipsic, 1840 (Latin), and in E. G. A. Bockel, Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-reformirten Kirche, pp. 348-360, ib. 1847 (German). Consult: J. J. Hottinger, Succincta . Formula Consensus . . historia, Zurich, 1723; idem, Helvetische Kirchengeschichte, iii. 1086 sqq., iv. 258, 268 sqq., ib. 1708-29; C. M. Pfaff, Dissertatio . . de Formula Consensus Helvetica, Tubingen, 1723; A. Schweizer, Die protestantischen Central-dogmen in ihrer Entwickelung, pp. 439-563, ib. 1856; E. Blosch, Geschichte der schweizerisch-reformirten Kirchen, i. 485-496, ii. 77-97, Bern, 1898- 1899; Schaff, Creeds, i. 477-489.
HELVETIUS, el"ve"si"iis', CLAUDE ADRIEN: French philosopher; b. in Paris Jan., 1715; d. there Dec. 26, 1771. He studied at the College Louis-le- Grand, and in 1738 received the lucrative post of farmer-general, which, however, he soon exchanged for the position of chamberlain to the queen. Tiring of the idle and dissipated life of the court, he married in 1751, and retired to a small estate at Vore\ in Perche, where he devoted himself chiefly to philosophical studies. He visited England in 1764, and the following year he went to Germany, where he was received with distinction by Frederick II. He was one of the Encyclopedists (q.v.), and held the skeptical and materialistic views common to that school of philosophy. His principal works are: De I'esprit (Paris, 1758; Eng. transl., De VEsprit: or, Essays on the Mind, London, 1759), which, condemned by the Sorbonne and publicly burned at Paris, was translated into most European languages, and read more than any other book of the time; and the posthumous De I'homme, de ses facultes intellectuelles et de son education (2 vols., London, 1772; Eng. transl., A Treatise on Man; his Intellectual Faculties and his Education, 2 vols., 1777).
Bibliography: (F. J. de Chastellux), Eloge de M. Helvetia, Paris, 1774; Saint-Lambert, Essai sur la vie et les ouvrages de Helvetius, ib. 1792; J. P. Damiron, in vol. ix. of Compterendu de I'academie des sciences morales et politique); A. Keim, Helvetius, sa vie et son muvre, Paris, 1907.
HELVICUS, hel'vi-cus (HELWICH), CHRIS- TOPHORUS: German theologian and educator; b. at Spreudlingen (23 m. s.w. of Mainz), Hesse, Dec. 26, 1581; d. at Giessen Sept. 10, 1617. He was educated at the University of Marburg (M.A.. 1599), and was called to teach in the academic gymnasium at Giessen in 1605. In 1610, three years after the school had been reorganized as a university, he