Parliament met in 1560, and abolished the Roman Catholic faith within the realm. But, as we know from Knox's _History_, Parliament merely ratified what was otherwise settled. Behind it were the nobles and the Protestant clergy. The ministers petitioned the Estates to establish the Protestant faith. They were told[110] "to draw in playne and severall heidis, the summe of that Doctrine, quhilk they wald menteyne, and wald desyre that present Parliament to establische, as hailsome, trew, and onlie necessarie to be beleivit and resaivit." Within four days Knox and his colleagues presented the very comprehensive Confession of Faith which continued for nearly a century to be one of the Standards of the Church. It was redd, everie article by itself ... and the vottis of everie man war requyred accordinglie. Of the Temporall Estate onlie voted in the contrair, the Earl of Atholl, the Lordis Somervaill and Borthwik; and yit for thair disassenting thei produced ne better reassone, but "We will beleve as oure fatheris beleved." Acts were passed against the mass, and against papal supremacy.[111] But the whole of the desire of the ministers was not accorded. The First Book of Discipline did not receive parliamentary sanction, because it contradicted the views of the nobles as to the disposal of Church property. While, then, the Parliament of 1560 was in some sense the creature of the Assembly, and though its resolutions were conditioned by the wishes of the nobility, it occupies a very important position in Scottish constitutional history. We do not lay much stress on its opposition to the sovereigns. That, in itself, was neither novel nor remarkable in any way. It was obedient to the powers of the day. But it is the first Parliament where the burgesses and the smaller barons attended and voted in accordance with their own feeling. They were Protestants and they were in complete agreement with those who were guiding the meeting of Estates. It is also the first Parliament which had the consciousness of power. They and their leaders were making a great national change. The people were beginning to learn what possibilities they possessed. The Parliament of 1560 was the first step towards a constitutional theory for Scotland.