The Confession of Faith[200] (_Confession de Foi faite d'un commun accord par les François, qui desirent vivre selon la pureté de l'évangile de notre Seigneur Jésus Christ_) consists of forty articles. It was revised more than once by subsequent Synods, but may still be called the Confession of the French Protestant Church. It was based on a short Confession drafted by Calvin in 1557, and embodied in a letter to the King on behalf of his persecuted subjects. "It seemed useful," one of the members of the Synod wrote to Calvin, "to add some articles to your Confession, and to modify it slightly on some points." Probably out of deference to Calvin's objection to a creed for the whole Church, it was resolved to keep it secret for some time. The resolution was in vain. The Confession was in print, and known before the end of 1559. The Book of Discipline (_Discipline ecclésiastique des églises réformées de France_) regulated the organisation and the discipline of the Churches. It was that kind of ecclesiastical polity which has become known as Presbyterian, but which might be better called Conciliar. A council called the _Consistory_, consisting of the minister or ministers, elders, and deacons, ruled the congregation. Congregations were formed into groups, over which was the _Colloquy_, composed of representatives from the Consistories; over the _Colloquies_ were the _Provincial Synods_; and over all the _General_ or _National Synod_. Rules were laid down about how discipline was to be exercised. It was stated clearly that no Church could claim a primacy over the others. All ministers were required to sign the Confession of Faith, and to acknowledge and submit to the ecclesiastical discipline.[201] It is interesting to see how in a country whose civil rule was becoming gradually more absolutist, this "Church under the Cross" framed for itself a government which reconciled, more thoroughly perhaps than has ever been done since, the two principles of popular rights and supreme central control. Its constitution has spread to Holland, Scotland, and to the great American Churches. Their ecclesiastical polity came much more from Paris than from Geneva. § 7. _Reaction against Persecution._ An attentive study of the sources of the history of the period shows that the excessive severity of King and Court towards Protestants had excited a fairly widespread reaction in favour of the persecuted, and had also impelled the King to action which was felt by many to be unconstitutional. This sympathy with the persecuted and repugnance to the arbitrary exercise of kingship did much to mould the Huguenot movement which lay in the immediate future.