Evangelistarium (Book of the Gospels), the name given in tlie earlier ages to a volume containing the portions appointed to be read from the Gospels. If the four Gospels complete were contained in the book, it was called Evangelistarium Plcnanum. — Proc- ter, Common Prayer, p. 9 ; Siegel, Alterthiimer, iii, 249. See Manuscripts of the Bidle.
Evangelium .Sternum (Everlasting Gospel),the name given to a book published in the 13th century (A.D. l'2ol), which was properly entitled Introducto- rins in Ei'angelium a;ternum, probably written by the Franciscan Gerhardus. The idea of a new " everlast- ing Gospel" was one of the peculiar notions of Joa- chim of Floris (f 1202), who attacked the corruptions of the Church, and predicted an approaching renovation. See Joachim of Floris. These predictions were ap- propriated liy the Franciscans as really referring to the rise and character of their order, which was found- ed I)y Francis of Assisi six years after Joacliim's death. An apocalyptic party arose among the Franciscans, whicli seems to have been led by Gerhardus, and by Johannes of Parma (q. v.). The Introductorius in Ecavgelinm nternum seems to have been chiefly made np from three of the writings of Joachim, viz. Concor- dia Veter, et Nov. Test. ; Psalt. decem Chordarum ; and Afocalypsis nora. It set forth Joachim's doctrine of the '■ dispensations" (status) of the Church, the last of which, the dispensation of the Spirit, was to be opened about A.I). 1200. The movement was a new form of Montanism. " ^lany vague notions were entertained about the Eternal Gospel of tlie Franciscans, arising from sui>erficial views, or a superficial understanding
of Joachim's writings, and the offspring of mere rumol of the heresy-hunting spirit. Men spoke of the Eter- nal Gospel as of a book composed under this title, and circulated among the Franciscans. Occasionally, also, this Eternal Gospel was confounded perhaps with the above-mentioned IntrodiictcrMs. In reality, there was no book existing under this title of the Eternal Gos- pel, but all that is said about it relates simply to the writings of Joacliim. The opponents of the Francis- can order objected to the preachers of the Eternal Gos- pel, that, according to their teaching, Christianity was but a transient thing, and a new, more perfect relig- ion, the absolute form, destined to endure forever, was to succeed it. AVilliam of St. Amour (De pericuUs no- vissimoru77i iemporum, p. 38) saj'S : ' For the past fifty- five j^ears some have been striving to substitute in place of the Gospel of Christ another gospel, which is said to be a more perfect one, which thej' call the Gospel of the Holy Spirit, or the Everlasting Gospel;' whence it is manifest that the anti-Christian doctrine would even now be preached from the pulpits if there were not still something that withholdeth (2 Thess. ii, G), namely, the power of the pope and the bishops. It is said in that accursed book, which thej' called the Ever- lasting Gospel, which had already been made known in the Church, that the Everlasting Gospel is as much su- perior to the Gospel of Christ as the sun is to the moon in brightness, the kernel to the shell in value. The kingdom of the Church, or the Gospel of Christ, was to last onlj- till the year ' 12C0.' In a sermon, St. Amour points out the following as doctrines of the Everlasting Gospel: that the sacrament of the Church is nothing; that a new law of life was to be given, and a new consti- tution of the Church introduced ; and he labors to show that, on the contrary, the form of the hierarchy under which the Church then subsisted was one resting on the divine order, and altogether necessary and immu- table" (Neander, Church Hist, iv, 619). The Introduc- torius has not come down to us, but its contents are partly known from a writing of Hugo of Caro, pre- served in Quetif and Echard, Script. Ord. Pradic. i, 202 sq., and partly from extracts given Yiy the inquisitor Nicolas Eymeric, in his Directorium Inquisitorium, pt. ii, qu. ix, Ko. 4. The theologians of Paris attacked the book upon its first appearance, and it was formally condemned In' Alexander lY, A.D. 1255. — Neander, Church History (Torrey's transl.), iv, 618 ; Engclhardt Kircheng. A hhandhmgm. (Erlangen, 1832) ; Engelhardt in Herzog, Real-Encyklop. iv, 275 ; Gieseler, Ch. Hist. per. iii, § 70.
Evans, Caleb, D.D., son of the Eev. Hugh Evans, was born at Bristol about the year 1737, and was edu- cated at the Homerton Academj'. In 1767 he became colleague to his father as pastor of the church, and tutor in the academy at Broadmead. In 1770 he orig- inated " The Bristol Education Society," to supply the dissenting congregations, and especiallj' the Baptist, with able and evangelical ministers, as well as mis- sionaries for propagating the Gospel in the world. From this time to the period of his death, August 9, 1791, Dr. Evans continued to discharge the duties of president of the society. He puldished an Ansver to Dr. Priestley's Appeal, and a small volume entitled Christ Crucifed, or the Scripture Doctrine of the Atone- ment TBiistol, 1789, siji. 8vo), besides occasional ser- mons. On the breaking out of the American War he advocated the freedom of the colonies, and wrote A Letter to .John Wesley, in reply to his Calm Address to the American Colonies (London, 1775, 12mo) ; also a Re- ply to Fletcher's Vindication of Wesley's Address (Bris^ tol, 1776, 12ino). — Jones, Christian Biography, p. 144 ; Allibone, Diet, of A uthors, s. v.