among various races and languages as well as conflicting schools of
theological definition, make our tasks heavy and confront us with
problems of grave difficulty.

On the background of a historical sketch a study of some of these
problems is attempted by the author. After spending what seemed but a
span of years in the pastorate on the East Side, he awoke one day to
find that half a century had been charged to his account. While it is a
distinction, there is no special merit in being the senior pastor of New
York. As Edward Judson once said to him: "All that you have had to do
was to outlive your contemporaries."

These fifty years have been eventful ones in the history of our church
in New York. All of this period the author "has seen and part of it he
was." But having also known, with four exceptions all the Lutheran
pastors of the preceding fifty years, he has come into an almost
personal touch with the events of a century of Lutheran history on this
island. He has breathed its spirit and sympathized with its aspirations.

This unique experience served as a pretext for putting into print some
reflections that seemed fitting at a time when our churches were
celebrating the quadricentennial of the Reformation and were inquiring
as to the place which they might take in the new century upon which they
were entering. The manuscript was begun during the celebration, but
parochial duties intervened and frequent interruptions delayed the
completion of the book.

Lutherans have their place in Church History. Our doctrinal principles
differ in certain respects from those of other churches. We believe that
these principles are an expression of historical, evangelical