The Second Helvetic Confession · 1 of 32

Preface

The Second Helvetic Confession was written by Heinrich Bullinger in 1562 and revised in 1564 as a private exercise. It came to the notice of Frederick III, Elector Palatine, who had it translated into German and published. In early 1566, nearly all the Reformed churches of Switzerland signed the Second Helvetic Confession as a common statement of faith. Frederick presented it to the Diet of Augsburg of 1566 as an authoritative document representing the international Reformed faith.

ENGLISH VERSION OF THE SECOND HELVETIC CONFESSION, A.D. 1566. (Comp. Vol. III. pp. 233-306.)

[In view of the full summary of this important Confession in Vol. I. 306-420, a translation was omitted in the previous editions of Vol. III. But as the volumes are now sold separately, it is herewith added in the third addition. Several chapters are taken, with slight changes, from the old English translation in The Harmony of Reformed Confession, Cambridge, 1586; 2d ed. London, 1643; and again, ibid. 1842. The division of chapters into sections is conformed to the Latin text, pp. 233-306.]