PATRIARCHS OF , AMERICAN LUTHERANISM, BEING A DISCOURSE, DELIVERED BEFORE THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES, At its first meeting, held during the Session of the Gen- BY S. S. SCHMUCKER, D. D. Wisconsin Historical BALTIMORE: PRINTED AT THE PUBLICATION ROOMS, WE congratulate you on the formation of the Historical Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in our country, as an event of no small significance in itself, and destined by Providence to exert a salutary and enduring influence on our portion of the Redeemer's kingdom. History is the great store-house of human experience. Without it each individual can profit only by the observations of his own three score years and ten; but with it he can lift the veil of past generations and draw wisdom from the incidents of thousands of years. All that is valuable in physics, in philosophy, and in religion, is thus made tributary to our improvement. It is therefore not without ground that Dionysius, of Halicarnassus, even as early as the age of Augustus, describes history as philosophy teaching by examples. But when applied to the church of God, and viewed in connexion with the inspired oracles, history assumes a new aspect, and may be styled "religion, teaching by examples." And has Christ as per |
