RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Evagrius Evangelical Alliance
under the name euangelion dates back to the earliest age of the Church (cf. Zahn, Kanon, i. 161 sqq.). At first separate rolls (volumina) were united; then codices (manuscripts in which the leaves lay consecutively like a modern book) were made. This form coincides with the traditional history of the New Testament and sacred Scriptures generally, during the first centuries (cf. Victor Schultze, Rolle und Codex, in Greifswalder Studien, Giitersloh, 1895, pp. 149 sqq.). The subsequent rise of the Pericopes (q.v.) from the fourth century on led either to the attachment of an appendix to the Gospel book, in which the canonical lections were tabulated (lectionarium, euangelistarion, in the narrower sense), or to the formation of a new book, whose contents were exclusively the prescribed Gospel lections. The usual designation for such a book in the West came to be evangeliarium, in the East, euangelistarion (in the wider sense). Combined with the epistolare (i.e., epistolare volumen, " the Epistle [book]," Gk. apostolos, praxapostolos, " the Apostle "), which grew out of a similar process, and contained the remaining portion of the New Testament, the evangeliarium constituted the lectionarium or lectionarius (in the wider sense; Gk. anagnostikon [biblion], biblion apostolikon).
Even as early as in the fourth century, the religious and ecclesiastical appreciation of the evangeliarium rose to such a degree that people regarded the same as typifying Scripture generally. Thus it was used in the administration of oaths, and it gained an established place in the ceremony of ordination, being either solemnly delivered to the candidate for orders, or held over his head during the act of blessing. Copies written in small script were worn by women and boys as a charm about the neck. It was applied to the relief of the sick, and ecclesiastical ordinances insured for it the same veneration as was accorded to sacred images. In public worship, in processions and other ecclesiastical observances, reverence was shown toward it in various ways.
This being the popular state of mind, the zealous cooperation of art is a matter of course. Beginning even in the fourth century, covers ornamented with costly stones and ivory carvings (cf . Victor Schultze, Archdologie der altchristlichen Kunst, Munich, 1895, pp._ 258 sqq.), purple parchment, gilt and silver script, and miniature painting, come into vogue on a scale of lavish luxury. The Carolingian era continued the practise, and it was tenaciously conserved by the medieval era proper. Ivory carving, enameling, and other fine arts were more and more extensively brought into requisition; and along with descriptive illustration, there is developed the art of initial painting, while marginal decoration reaches its highest perfection during the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance (cf. H. Otte, Kunstarchaologie des deutschen Mittelalters, i., Leipsic, 1S83, pp. 171 sqq.; F. X. Kraus, Geschichte der christlichen Kunst, 2 vols., Freiburg, 1896-1900). Embroidered cloths (camisios evangeliorum), or artistic cases (capsce), served as protection against wear. Thus the history of the Gospel text is closely connected with religious and ecclesiastical customs and with the history of art. Victor Schultze.
Bibliography: Consult, besides the literature mentioned in the text: C. R. Gregory, Prolegomena, ii. 687-777, Leipsic, 1890; DCA, i. 740-745, ii. 953-967, 1006-15, and the literature under Bible Text, II.
EVANGELICAL ADVENTISTS. See Advbnt-
ISTS, 1.
EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.
Foundation and Constitution (§ 1). Branch Alliances (§ 2). The Week of Prayer (§3). Conferences, National and General (§ 4). Appeals for Religious Liberty (§ 5).
The Evangelical Alliance is a voluntary association of Evangelical Christians of different churches and countries to manifest and promote the union of Christian believers and advance the cause of religious liberty. It was founded, after several preparatory meetings and conferences, especially one at Liverpool in 1845, in an enthusiastic gathering held in Freemason's Hall i. Founda- in London, Aug. 19-23, 1846. Eight tion and hundred Christians were present — Constitu- Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Indetion. pendents, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Reformed, Moravians, and others, — including, from Great Britain, Edward Bickersteth and Lord Wriothesley Russell (Anglican), Jabez Bunting and William Arthur (Wesleyan), Drs. Chalmers, Candlish, Norman McLeod, and Thomas Guthrie (Presbyterian), Drs. Steane, and Baptist W Noel (Baptist), Thomas Binney, John Angell James, and Dr. Leifchild (Independent); from France, Adolphe Monod and G. Fisch; from Germany F. W Krummacher and Prof. Tholuck; from Switzerland, Prof. La Harpe; and from the United States, Samuel H. Cox and William Patton. Sir Culling E. Eardly presided, and became the first president of the British branch. Nine doctrinal articles were adopted, as follows:
1. The divine inspiration, authority, and sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures.
2. The right and duty of private judgment in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.
3. The Unity of the Godhead, and the Trinity of the Persons therein.
4. The utter depravity of human nature in consequence of the Fall.
5. The incarnation of the Son of God, his work of atonement for the sins of mankind, and his mediatorial intercession and reign.
6. The justification of the sinner by faith alone.
7. The work of the Holy Spirit in the conversion and sanctification of the sinner.
8. The immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, the judgment of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, with the eternal blessedness of the righteous and the eternal punishment of the wicked.
9. The divine institution of the Christian ministry, and the obligation and perpetuity of the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
These articles were not intended to be a binding creed or confession, but simply as expression of the essential agreement of Evangelical Christians whom it seemed desirable to embrace in the Alliance. Some have regarded the statement as too liberal, others as too narrow (art. 9 excluding the Quakers), while still others would have preferred no doctrinal statement, or at best only the Apostles' Creed. The American branch, at its organization (1867; see below, § 2), adopted the nine London
Evangelical Alliance Evangelical Association