“A literal translation of the language of worship is impossible, because it is the language of the heart. The idioms of common worship must have been fused and moulded and wrought and worn in the life of the people. This translation, therefore, does not assume to put on a service into the hands of a worshipping congregation, but simply to make known Loehe’s recovery and restoration of the worship of our fathers. Loehe does not confine himself to what he found in the Lutheran Service Books. He was admirably fitted to revive Lutheran worship, not only by his faithful study and delicate taste, and by his mastery of a German style which is clear as crystal and quick as fire, but also by his familiarity with the traditions of the Churches of Nuremberg.”—from the Introduction by Edward T. Horn