The Second Helvetic Confession

The Second Helvetic Confession (1562) was second because its author, Heinrich Bullinger, leading Swiss reformer after Ulrich Zwingli died, had written another one 25 years earlier. It is Helvetic because that is the Latin word for "Swiss." And it was written at the request of Elector Frederick in Germany, who was in hot water once the Heidelberg Catechism, which he had commissioned, was published there. Lutherans thought it too Reformed, not Lutheran enough, and a heresy trial of Frederick was set. Frederick enlisted Bullinger to write a confession in his defense, and the Second Helvetic resulted. Frederick was exonerated, so it must have succeeded in bridging some Lutheran and Reformed divisions.