The worship of saints was condemned and the necessity of a church defined.

For this church an organization and discipline modelled on that of Geneva was provided.

The country was divided into districts, the churches within which were to send to a central consistory representatives both clerical and lay, the latter to be at least equal in number to the former.

Over the church of the whole nation there was to be a national synod or "Colloque" to which each consistory was to send one clergyman and one or two lay elders.
Alarmed by the growth of the Protestants, Henry II was just preparing, after the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, to grapple with them more earnestly than ever, when he died of a wound accidentally received in a tournament.

[Sidenote: July 10, 1559] His death, hailed by Calvin as a merciful dispensation of Providence, conveniently marks the ending of one epoch and the beginning of another.