Memoirs of the Lutheran Liturgical Association + Volumes 1-V11. PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION PITTSBURGH, PA., 1906 PREFACE. THE study of our historical antecedents and the attainments of doctrinal definiteness by our Church in this country have emphasized the great points which Lutherans of every land and language hold in common and which show us to be more truly united and to stand more firmly within the unbroken historical development of the Church Universal than any other Christian Communion. Our wide dispersion, the various national and linguistic factors and especially the un-Lutheran and sectarian influences to which various parts of the Church were subjected have naturally resulted in a very decided lack of uniformity in our external life. The recognition of our essential doctrinal unity, the growing appreciation of the meaning and value of the liturgical, musical and other art treasures of our fathers, the adoption of common liturgical forms upon the basis of a concensus of historic usage, the general advancement in intelligence and culture as well as the rapid Anglicization of our vast numbers in this country,-these are the potent factors in the present powerful movement that seeks to secure beauty, correctness and desirable uniformity in the department of Liturgiology and Ecclesiastical Art-our Public Worship, Church Architecture and Ornament, Church Music, Hymnology, Ministerial Acts and every other element of a churchly life. Such consistent, historical and distinctive practice with all its evident advantages can be established only upon a discriminating knowledge of liturgical |