This constitution as a whole and in all its parts, shall be held inviolate in our Evangelical Lutheran congregation of St. Michael's Church and dependencies, and shall hold good and continue in force, until the whole Church Council and congregation, or at least two-thirds of both, to wit, of the Council and of the communing members, shall deem it necessary and useful to amend, or to add, or to exclude anything in the same; all of which is certified by our signatures; done at Philadelphia, Oct. 18, 1762.
This constitution was with few modifications accepted by the united congregations, one after another. It was the basis of the new congregations formed. It was carried by the minister's throughout the wide limits of Pennsylvania and adjacent States. It was inherited by new Synods formed out of the Penna. Ministerium. It was carefully studied and its main features adopted by the preparer of the Formula of Government and Discipline of the Synods of West Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, and then became that of the General Synod. The great body of the congregations in this country, outside the bounds of recent German Synods in the West, are organized on its plan.
As to its character, it bears marks on its surface of Reformed influence. It contains the Reformed provision of elders and even the characteristic Calvinistic designation, Ruling Elders. The determination of its character was undoubtedly influenced by Reformed forces. The Swedish Constitution in this country in Wrangel's time, and before, was probably brought from the Dutch Church at New York, and may even have already felt the power of the Reformed Church of England. The Church of Amsterdam undoubtedly was greatly influenced by the organization of the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands. The Lutheran Churches in New York and New Jersey were certainly moulded by that of Amsterdam and London, as well as by the surrounding Dutch Reformed Churches. And these all had some influence in shaping the form of the Philadelphia Constitution. And then, too, our Churches here were in close relation to the German Reformed Churches in the same section, and they greatly influenced, not so much the ministers as the people, to whose demands the constitution was in part a concession. But, nevertheless, the resemblance is more in outward form than inner spirit. There are elders, but the whole spirit which creates and pervades the office of Ruling Elder in the Ordonnances Ecclesiastiques de l'Eglise de Geneve, the KOO. of the Netherlands, even of the Lutheran Churches in Mark Brandenberg, is entirely wanting. The elders and Vorsteher are so much alike that the care of the purity of the church is attributed more to the one, and that of the poor more to the other, but it is a distinction with little difference. The trustees were required by the law of that time and are no integral part of the plan. The elders and deacons are the representatives and agents of the congregation and their office rests only on the right of the congregation to act, and its ability to deputize some to act for all. The needs of the church's affairs call for some such deputies and they are provided. The American representative and elective mode of government had perhaps as much influence as anything else in forming the views of the people; and the adaptation of this constitution to these sentiments and wants and modes of thought and action has been the chief reason for its general acceptance and permanent endurance.
Beale M. Schmucker