COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY Stanbope Press F. H. GILSON COMPANY BOSTON, U. S. A. PREFACE. THE Gloria Patri has been a distinct aid in the devotions of a great number of congregations for more than a generation; and it still has features of great value in an orderly worship. The book was prepared mainly by the late L. J. Fletcher, D.D., assisted in a slight degree by the late Thomas B. Thayer, D.D., who, it is understood, arranged the first service. But notwithstanding the important place which the book has filled and the great esteem in which it has been held, there has been for some time a strong and growing feeling that there is need of something at once a little more modern and a little more in harmony with traditional forms of worship. The desire for a new manual for use in public devotions has manifested itself in various ways. Twice the General Convention has appointed a committee to consider the subject. The last committee chosen was appointed at the session held in Boston in 1899: the Rev. Charles R. Tenney, Henry I. Cushman, D.D., Andrew J. Canfield, D.D., Lewis B. Fisher, D.D., and the undersigned. This Committee reported, at the session in Buffalo, in favor of such revision of the Gloria Patri as would adapt it to present needs. In accordance with the suggestion of the Committee, arrangement was made by the Universalist Publishing House with the undersigned, in collaboration with Professor Leo R. Lewis, to undertake the work of revision. To Professor Lewis has been V |
