EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE, an association of different Christian denominations formed in London in August 1846, at a conference of more than 800 clergymen and laymen from all parts of the world, and embracing upwards of fifty sections of the Protestant church. Though the proposal for an alliance was first mooted in England, it ultimately obtained wide support in other countries, more especially in America, and organizations in connexion with it now exist in the different capitals throughout the world. The object of the Alliance, according to a resolution of the first conference, is " to enable Christians to realize in themselves and to exhibit to others that a living and everlasting union binds all true believers together in the fellowship of the church." At the seine conference the following was adopted as the basis of the Alliance : - " Evangelical views in regard to the divine inspiration, authority, and sufficiency of the Holy Scrip tures ; the right and duty of private judgment in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures ; the unity of the Godhead and the Trinity of persons therein ; the utter depravity of human nature in consequence of the fall; the incarnation of the Son of God, His work of atonement for sinners of mankind, and His mediatorial intercession and reign ; the justification of the sinner by faith alone ; the work of the Holy Spirit in the conversion and sanctification of the sinner ; 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 ; the divine institution of the Christian ministry, and the obligation and perpetuity of the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper;" - it being understood, however, 1st, that such a summary "is not to be regarded in any formal or ecclesiastical sense as a creed or confession ;" and 2d, that " the selection of certain tenets, with the omission of others, is not to be held as implying that the former constitute the whole body of important truth, or that the latter are unimportant." Annual conferences of branches of the Alliance are held in England, America, and several Continental countries; and it is isrovided that a general conference, including representatives of the whole Alliance, be held every seventh year, or oftener if it be deemed necessary. Such conferences have been held in London in 1851 ; Paris, 1855 ; See Reports of the Proceedings of She different general conferences, which have been published under the following titles : - The Evangelical Alliance, London, 1847; The Religious Condition of Christendom, London, 1852 ; The Religious Condition of Christendom, London, 1859 ; The Geneva Conference of the Evangelical Alliance, London, 1862 ; Evangelische Alliantze, Rotterdam, 1867, and Proceedings of the Amsterdam Conference, London, 1868 ; and Evangelical Alliance Conference 1873, New York, 1874.

EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION, an American religious denomination originated about the beginning of the present century by Jacob Albrecht, a German Lutheran of Pennsylvania. About 1790 he began an itinerant mission among his fellow-countrymen, chiefly in Pennsylvania; and his labours meeting with considerable success, he was, at an assembly composed of representatives of the different stations, elected in 1800 presiding elder or chief pastor, and shortly afterwards rules of government were adopted somewhat similar to those of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1816 the first annual conference was held, and in 1843 there was instituted a general conference, composed of delegates chosen by the annual conferences and constituting the highest legislative and judicial authority in the church. The members of the general conference bold office for four years. In 1873 the association comprised 15, animal conferences, consisting of over 600 itinerant and 400 local preachers, possessed 4 training colleges, and numbered 83,195 members.