The tenth of November, 1883, was a red letter day in our calendar. It
was the quadricentennial of Luther's birthday. The preparations for the
celebration met with a hearty response in the city. The large dailies
gave much space to the occasion. Dr. Seiss delivered a memorable address
in Steinway Hall. Under the auspices of the Evangelical Alliance a
distinguished company gathered in the Academy of Music and heard William
Taylor and Phillips Brooks deliver orations of majestic eloquence.

The celebration gave a marked impulse to our church work. Our
congregations increased in numbers and in influence. Its chief value was
in its efeet [sic] upon the young people. Hitherto they hardly
comprehended the significance of their church. Its services were
conducted in a language which they understood with difficulty. As they
grew up and established new homes in the suburbs where there were few
churches of their faith, they easily drifted out of their communion. A
great change came over them at this time. They began to take an active
interest in church questions and in church extension. As they followed
the inevitable trend to the suburbs they connected themselves with
churches of their faith or organized new ones and became active workers
in them. The remarkable increase of congregations in the entire
Metropolitan District was to a large extent owing to the impulse derived
from the quadricentennial of 1883.

When Lutherans of various churches and synods were thus brought together
there was one thing that puzzled them. They could not understand why
there should be so many kinds of Lutherans and why they should have so
little to do with one another. This feeling soon found expression in the
organization of societies of men interested in the larger mission of the
Church.