The Confession of the Synod of Cassel or more appropriately, The Hessian Confession, was adopted by a General Synod at Cassel, A.D.1607, and published 1608. It treats only of five articles: the Ten Commandments, the abolition of popish picture idolatry, the Person of Christ (against ubiquity), the eternal election, and the Lord’s Supper (against the manducatio indignorum). The Heidelberg Catechism and a modification of Luther’s Small Catechism were both used in Electoral Hesse.
Some scholars and published content such as in the Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries, refer to it as the Confession of the Synod of Cassel. While this isn’t incorrect as this confession was indeed adopted by the General Synod at Cassel, it has historically carried the title as Das Heſſiſche Bekenntnis or The Hessian Confession. This is further conveyed in the book Die Bekenntnisschriften der reformirten Kirchen Deutschlands (The Confessional Writings of the Reformed Churches of Germany) by Heinrich Heppe and R.L. Friderichs, 1860.
Furthermore we believe that The Hessian Confession to be the more appropriate title as the Hessian Catechism was revised during that same Synod and authorized for use in schools and churches. We believe the catechism to be an extension of the confession.
As such we have published this confession under the title, The Hessian Confession.
