Liturgy

“The purpose of this little book is to present to its readers some brief account of the origin and authorship of some of our more familiar hymns… to select from a very large amount of material which the author has for years past been gathering, a few of the more striking and interesting incidents connected with the composition of some of our best known Songs of Zion.

“The Lutheran Church may justly claim that, in the Common Service, she possesses and uses “the completest embodiment of the Common Service of the Christian Church of all ages”; a Service “which may he tendered to all Christians who use a fixed Order, the Service of the future as it has been of the past” (Preface to the Common Service).

“Add… the rejection of the sacramental element in the Reformed churches, and their bald worship will be sufficiently accounted for. They do not believe in the real, active presence of the Savior in His Church.

“The Fourth of July! Independence Day! One hundred and fifty-two years ago today there took place in history one of those events the like of which takes place only once in five hundred or a thousand years; the promulgation of that immortal Declaration of Independence.

“A truly magnificent conception is presented to us in the so-called Christian Church Year. Adopted in the earliest centuries, the Church Year comes to us as a most valuable inheritance.

“Hymns are a most important part of our worship. They mold character and often shape the lives of those who sing them.” “The writing of these pages was an accident and a pleasure.

“If we can add to our mind treasury the twenty-four leading hymns of the Christian church, what a splendid employment it will be! — Rev. Amos Wells Why These 24 Hymns To Memorize?

“When the minister comes from the altar, he must not forget that he now bears a message from the Lord to the waiting congregation. It is not a prayer; it is not man’s word; it is in no sense a subordinate act.