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HARVARD
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT, 1888,

By the Joint Committee, in trust, for the General Bodies.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

MUSIC COPYRIGHT, 1888,

by the Hymn-Book Publishing Committec

of the

General Synod

of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States.

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THE Order of Public Worship, which is here offered for the use of Evangelical Lutheran congregations, was compiled by a joint committee appointed by the General Synod, the General Council, and the United Synod in the South. It is the answer to a long-felt desire on the part of the people for a more general agreement in forms of worship among those who adhere to the Augsburg Confession. To many it seemed strange that a historical Church should be without a historical Liturgy. For, although the Confession teaches that "unto the true unity of the Church, it is sufficient to agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments," and that it is not "necessary that human traditions, rites or ceremonies instituted by men, should be alike everywhere," the Lutheran Reformers nevertheless ordered the forms of worship as far as was expedient and possible in harmony with the usages of the ancient Church.

But, in the exercise of their Christian liberty, they made such changes and adaptations as circumstances required. Thus it came to pass that even in the Sixteenth Century a great number of Orders of Worship appeared, alike, it is true, in their principal features, yet varying from each other in minor particulars. In the course of succeeding centuries other changes and omissions occurred, until at last in many places but few traces of the Ancient Service remained.

The revival of our Church life which has distinguished the Nineteenth Century brought with it in many minds the desire for a restoration of the Services belonging to the youth and formative period of our Evangelical Church. Those Services, it was hoped, would prove to be not only a fitting mode of worship, but also a valuable bond of union among the separate branches of our Church. Hence it was agreed by the General

Bodies concerned in this work of securing a Common Service that the basis should be the "common consent of the pure Lutheran liturgies of the Sixteenth Century." On such a basis individual views and preferences must yield to the demands of historical facts and of general usage.

But, while it has been desirable to return to the forms of worship used by our fathers, it is not thereby implied that the Church had its real beginning and its full completion in the Sixteenth Century. The spirit of true worship is older than the Reformation, and has found expression in many other forms than those which we have inherited in the Western Church and through the medium of the German Reformation. Nor is it meant by this Order to restrain or to limit the development of Christian worship in any forms that are consistent with the teachings of God's word.

This Service accordingly is not presented as obligatory upon the congregations. It is commended to them so long as its use serves to edification. Or, if the full Service is not desired, it is in conformity with Lutheran usage to follow a simpler form in which only the principal parts in their order are used. But for those who desire the complete Service, ample provision has here been made.

Whitsuntide, 1888.

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