BX 8067 .L9 1906 Lutheran Liturgical Association. Memoirs of the Lutheran r. T +• 11 -r rr n Acci^r"! a-f- i niin of % ICtturgtral AaHoriatton t Bnlum^a 1«V1I. ^ ^ jf PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION PITTSBURGH. PA., t906 Copyright, 1906, by The IvUtlieran Liturgical Association. PREFACE. ThK study of our historical antecedents and the attainments of doctrinal definiteness by our Church in this country have empha- sized the great points which Lutherans of every land and lan- guage 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 lin- guistic factors and especially the un-Lutheran and sectarian in- fluences 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 con- census of historic usage, the general advancement in intelligence and culture as well as the rapid Anglicization of our vast num- bers 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 Ec- clesiastical Art — our Public Worship, Church Architecture and Ornament, Church Music, Hymnology, Ministerial Acts and every other element of a churchly life. Such consistent, histor- ical and distinctive practice with all its evident advantages can be established only upon a discriminating knowledge of liturgical 11 MEMOIRS. history in general and of the historical development of Church Art, as well as upon a thorough understanding of the particular liturgical and artistic principles, usages and traditions of our own distinctive Church-life- To encourage and promote such study the Lutheran Liturgical Association was organized. Its con- sistent purpose and effort have been to assist clergymen and lay- men in developing an intelligent and deeply spiritual devotional life, and in rightly interpreting our beautiful Services, to guard against the hasty adoption of innovations and practices foreign to Lutheran principles or usages, and to meet and solve the many important and practical questions constantly arising in the indi- vidual parish. The organization of the Association was suggested by the President in a conversation with the future Vice President and Secretary during the annual meeting of the Pittsburgh Synod of the General Council at East Liverpool, Ohio. A preliminary meeting was held during this session of the Synod, September 3rd, 1898, which was attended by twenty or more clergymen. A permanent organization was effected at a meeting held in the First English Lutheran Church, Pittsburgh, Pa., the Rev. Dr. D. H. Geissinger, Pastor, October 3rd, 1898, by the adoption of a constitution and the election of the following officers : President, The Rev. Luther D. Reed. Vice President, The Rev. Prof. Elmer F- Krauss, D. D. Secretary and Treasurer, The Rev. R. Morris Smith. Archivariiis, The Rev. George J. Gongaware. These officers have been re-elected every succeeding year. Together they constitute the Executive Committee. The prac- tical direction of the interests of the Association has thus been uninterruptedly in the hands of those most active in its organi- zation seven years ago. The regular monthly meetings have, without exception, been licld in the First Church, Pittsburgh, Pa., the Revs. D- H. Geis- PREFACE. Ill Singer, D. D., and George J. Gongaware, Pastors. Fifty-one such regular Conventions have been held, at which many valuable papers, prepared by many of the best-informed men in all parts of the Church, have been presented. During the first few years of the Association's history, in addition to the afternoon sessions in the First Church, an evening session was held each month in one of the various churches of Pittsburgh or vicinity, to which the congregations of the city were especially invited. At these sessions Vespers were read and various liturgical subjects of a more generally popular nature were discussed. From the very beginning the Association endeavored to give the results of its studies permanent form and thus to make them useful to a far larger number than could possibly attend the meet- ings. The income received from subscriptions permitted the pub- lication of the most valuable papers in the Memoirs. Sub- scribers receive every single publication as it is issued, as well as copies of all programs, etc., and are also entitled to club reduc- tion upon publications controlled by American publishers and importers. The work and membership of the Association soon expanded beyond all anticipation and demonstrated that the Association had found a sphere of real usefulness in almost every portion of the English-speaking Lutheran Church in America. Synodical boundaries and distinctions have never limited its work. The first year the membership comprised seventy-five sub- scribers in seven different States. Last year (1905) there were enrolled nearly four hundred members, most widely distributed throughout twenty-two States of the LTnion, four Provinces of Canada, the District of Columbia, and India, and representing five General Bodies of the Church. Members of nearly all the Synods of the General Council, the General Synod, the United Synod of the South, the Joint Synod of Ohio, the Icelandic Synod and the United Norwegian Synod have prepared papers IV MEMOIRS. for the Memoirs and the surprisingly extensive correspondence which from the beginning has devolved ujion the President and the Secretary of the Association, is unmistakable evidence of a widespread and genuine interest in all parts of the Church and in all parts of the country on subjects within the liturgical field. In the publication and dissemination of its printed literature the Association finds its most important work — the work that is of permanent value to the Church. The first publication issued was a sixteen page "Bibliography and Outline of Study" which soon was out of print. Four papers were also published the first year and comprised Volume 1 of the Memoirs, issued at a cost of $64.75. 1*^ic growth of the work is indicated by the fact that the mere printing of last year's Memoirs (Volume \ II, 187 pages) cost the Association $319.25. The total receipts from membership dues, sale of publications and other sources since the organization has been $2,249.60; total expenditures $2,243.28. The papers collected and issued in the various volumes of the Memoirs are undoubtedly of very unequal merit. Some are quite brief; otliers are exhaustive treatises which cmbo