"Two facts are of considerable interest, such as to class them as worthy
of recording as a permanent accomplishment. In the first place we have
had the cooperation in this undertaking of every Lutheran synod
represented in New York, and I believe we have succeeded in carrying
through the undertaking without violating the confidence placed in us by
any section of the Lutheran Church.

"In the second place, our Committee has injected into the general
Reformation influence the question of the wider influence of the
Reformation. Practically every section of the country has taken up the
discussion of the religious influence of the Reformation, also of the
influence of the Reformation on every side of life."

On the roll of Former Pastors, in the Appendix, are recorded the names
of men who laid the foundations of the present congregations. Their
labors and their sacrifices entitle them to a place in a book of
remembrance. Some names are missing. We tried hard to obtain them. For
these lacunae we offer our apologies to the historians of the next
centennial. In 1918 we were still struggling with the problem of
statistics.

Nowhere are ministers forgotten so soon as here in New York. The
congregations themselves are rapidly engulphed in the ceaseless tides
of humanity that sweep over the island. Now and then some beloved
pastor is remembered by some faithful friends, but in a few years the
very names of the men who built the churches are forgotten. Like the
knights of old:
"Their swords are rust,
Their steeds are dust.