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EVANGELIST thy. At a meeting called for the purpose of consulting upon the best measures to be adopt- ed, the assembly unanimously elected Mr. Al- bright as their pastor, authorizing him to exer- cise all the functions of the ministerial office over them, and declared the Bible to be their rule of faith and practice. This organization was soon after considerably improved by the adoption of a creed and rules for church gov- ernment. In the course of time annual confer- ences were held ; and in 1816 a general confer- ence met for the first time in Union co., Pa., which consisted of all the elders in the minis- try. Since 1 843 a general conference, composed of delegates elected by the annual conference from among their elders, has held quadrennial sessions. This body constitutes at once the highest legislative and judicial authority recog- nized in the church. The ministry is divi- ded into two orders, deacons and elders ; and, faithful to the principles and example of their founder, they practise itinerancy. Its highest permanent order is the eldership ; for, although the society has its bishops and presiding elders, yet these, to be continued, must be reflected every four years ; and if not reflected, they hold no higher rank or privilege than that of an elder. For the first 25 years of its exist- ence the society struggled against violent oppo- sition, but since then it has made rapid prog- ress, so that in 1873 it comprised 15 annual conferences, consisting of over 600 itinerant and 400 local preachers. The church has hardly any congregations in the New England and the southern states, and is most numerous in Pennsylvania and the northwestern states. It has two conferences outside of the United States, Canada and Germany, both established in 1863. The aggregate membership in 1873 was 83,195, an increase over the preceding year of 2,505. The membership of the Cana- da and Germany conferences was about 8,500. The institutions of learning sustained by the church in 1872 were, the Northwestern col- lege in Naperville, 111. ; the Union seminary in New Berlin, Pa. ; the Blairstown seminary in Blairstown, Md. ; and the Ebenezer orphan institution at Flatrock, Ohio. Its publishing house at Cleveland, Ohio, issues six periodicals, three in German and three in English, besides which two periodicals are published in Ger- many. The society forbids its ministers and members the use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, and refuses church fellowship to manufacturers and vendors of them. In the- ology it is Arminian, but holds the essential doctrines of the gospel as they are held in common by the various evangelical churches, with all of whom it aims to cultivate a frater- nal spirit. The first volume of a " History of the Evangelical Association " has been pub- lished by the Rev. W. W. Orwig. EVANGELIST (Gr. et>, well, and ay-yeMeiv, to announce), one who brings good tidings. Hence the writers of the four Gospels are called the e-vangelists, because they in a preeminent sense EVANS 793 declare the glad tidings of salvation by Christ Evangelists were early designated as a partic- ular class of religious teachers in the Christian church, next in order to the apostles, and under their direction ; not attached to any particular church or place, but going forth to preach the gospel wherever they were called or sent, and to travel among the infant churches, ordain their ordinary officers, and finish the work the apostles had begun. The primitive order of evangelists, distinct from other public religious teachers, is supposed to have been merely temporary, like that of apostles and prophets ; but the class of duties and services which they performed seems to have fallen more especially on the missionaries of modern days. EVANS, Sir De Lacy, a British general, born at Moig, Ireland, in 1787, died in London, Jan. 9, 1870. Entering the army as an ensign, he served three years in India, and subsequently distinguished himself in Portugal and Spain in the campaigns of 1812-'14. He served in America as a brevet lieutenant colonel, was at the battle of Bladensburg, Aug. 24, 1814, and at the head of 100 men, acting under orders from Gen. Ross, forced the capitol at Washing- ton. Of this expedition he wrote an account, "Facts relating to the Capture of Washing- ton," &c. (8vo, London, 1829). He also took part in the attack on Baltimore. In Decem- ber, 1814, and again in January, 1815, he was wounded before New Orleans, and was sent home. He recovered in time to join Welling- ton at Quatre Bras and Waterloo, and was at the subsequent investment and capitulation of Paris. In 1828 he published a pamphlet " On the Designs of Russia " in the East, which ex- cited much attention, and was translated and published in Paris. In 1830 he was for a few months a member of parliament for Rye, and was reflected in 1831. From 1833 to 1841 he represented Westminster. In 1835 he 'com- manded the British auxiliary legion of 10,000 men in aid of the queen of Spain against Don Carlos. He was in Spain till the spring of 1837, and for his exploits at Bilbao, San Se- bastian, and Irun he was made a knight com- mander of the bath, and received the cross of San Fernando and San Carlos. In 1846 he was reelected to parliament for Westminster, and retained this seat till 1865. In the Crimean war, as lieutenant general, he commanded the second division of the British army, and for his services at the Alma and at Inkerman he re- ceived the thanks of parliament, and the grand cross of the bath, and was made a grand officer of the legion of honor. EVANS, Edward P., an American scholar and author, born at Remsen, N. Y., Dec. 8, 1833. His father was a Welsh Presbyterian clergy- man, who emigrated to the west in 1842. Edward graduated at the university of Michi- gan in 1854, taught an academy in Hernandp, Miss., one year, and then became professor in Carroll college, Waukesha, Wis. From 1858 to 1862 he travelled in Europe, and studied