39 against 19 votes. It was decided [1]"That this Synod having appointed Committees of the Upper and Lower House to examine and report upon the volume entitled Essays and Reviews, and the said Committees having severally reported thereon, doth hereby synodically condemn the said volume, as containing teaching contrary to the doctrine received by the United Church of England and Ireland, in common with the whole Catholic Church of Christ." It was acknowledged, we should remark, that all parts of this book did not merit censure.
As a result of the revival of Convocation there was also a revival of Conferences and Diocesan Synods, to which the clergy, and in the first case the laity as well, are invited to discuss questions of importance to the Church. The value of these meetings cannot be too highly spoken of, both as aids to settling difficult problems referring to the Church and as means of intercourse among the clergy. They enabled Churchmen to feel more than they ever felt before, that they belonged to a great organization, and the clergy were by these means acquainted with what went on in other parishes than their own. The first Church Congress was held at Cambridge in 1861, and the second one at Oxford.
Another order of clerical meeting was held in 1867, for Bishops only. The first Pan-Anglican Council was held at Lambeth. These meetings had the same objects in view, the efficiency of the Church. Archbishop Longley started them. At the first Council which he called together there were 76 Bishops present, and they discussed an important
- ↑ Hore, p.382.
