Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

184
Gall, and Mühlhausen expressed their agreement. Basel alone, which had
its own confession, declined for a long time, but ultimately acceded.
The new Confession was published at Zürich, March 12, 1566, in both
languages, at public expense, and was forwarded to the Elector of the
Palatinate and to Philip of Hesse. A French translation appeared soon
afterwards in Geneva under the care of Beza.
In the same year the Elector Frederick made such a manly and noble
defence of his faith before the Diet at Augsburg, that even his Lutheran
opponents were filled with admiration for his piety, and thought no longer
of impeaching him for heresy.
The Helvetic Confession is the most widely adopted, and hence the most
authoritative of all the Continental Reformed symbols, with the exception
of the Heidelberg Catechism. It was sanctioned in Zürich and the Palatinate
(1566), Neuchâtel (1568), by the Reformed Churches of France (at the
Synod of La Rochelle, 1571), Hungary (at the Synod of Debreczin, 1567),
and Poland (1571 and 1578). It was well received also in Holland,
England, and Scotland as a sound statement of the Reformed faith. It was
translated not only into German, French, and English, but also into Dutch,
Magyar, Polish, Italian, Arabic, and Turkish. In Austria and Bohemia the
Reformed or Calvinists are officially called “the Church of the Helvetic
Confession,” “the Lutherans, the Church of the Augsburg Confession.”