It was a Lutheran demand in the sixteenth century to preach the Gospel
in the vernacular. It would be un-Lutheran in the twentieth century to
conduct public worship in a language which the people do not understand.

This lesson is written so plainly in the history of our churches in
America that "he may run that readeth." The Swedish churches on the
Delaware, planted by Gustavus Adolphus for the very purpose of
propagating the faith in America, were all of them lost to the Lutheran
church because the persistent use of the Swedish language, and the
inability of the pastors to preach in English, proved an insuperable
obstacle to the bringing up of the children in the Lutheran communion.
When the New York Ministerium at its meeting in Rhinebeck, September
1st, 1797, resolved that it would "never acknowledge a newly-erected
Lutheran Church merely English in places where the members may partake
of the services of the Episcopal Church, it halted for a century the
growth of the Lutheran Church in New York. [Tr. note: no close quotation
marks in original.]

The same experience greets us in London. There the Lutheran Church was
established in 1669, only five years later than in New York. For more
than two centuries it had the recognition of royalty. As late as the
Victorian era Prince Albert, the Queen and the royal family, in their
personal relations, were connected with the Lutheran Church. To this day
Queen Alexandra is a communicant in the Lutheran church. There exist
therefore no social barriers to its growth. Yet not a single English
Lutheran church is to be found in London.

With one exception the dozen Lutheran churches of other tongues
recognize no responsibility to propagate the faith of the Augsburg
Confession in the language of the city in which they live. The exception