The Organization of the Congregation in the Early Lutheran Churches in America Part 2

8. If a pastor of our congregation, should give occasion for serious offense, scandal or injury to the congregation, either in doctrine, or in life and conversation, or by violation of this church const.i.tution; then the degrees of admonition shall be impartially followed, in the manner here described: (1.) The Elders, or two-thirds of them, shall lay before such Pastor, with gentleness, the offense in doctrine of life which have been evident, or which have been sustained by two or three indisputably credible witnesses, and if he prove to be guilty, admonish him to amendment. (2.) Should this avail nothing, the whole church council shall invite the nearest Pastors of the United Congregations to meet at a convenient place, and in their presence renew the admonition.

(3.) Should this also fail of the desired end, the matter shall be considered at a special meeting of the United Ministerium, or at the annual meeting, if it admits of such delay, and there be thoroughly examined, and the minister, if found to be guilty, and offending, shall be suspended from his office and benefices, and a full account thereof be published.

9. The election of a Pastor shall be held in the following manner: The whole Church Council shall consult with the older Pastors of the United Congregations, and carefully deliberate on this important matter and take note of the grace, gifts and experience of the several pastors, and at successive sessions impartially consider which one would best suit the vacant congregation, and at the same time would be willing to accept a call. When they agree upon some one as suitable for the congregation, they then invite him to preach a trial sermon, or as a visitor, and several Sundays or other days afterward, they shall ask the communicant members of the congregation for their opinion, or their vote may be sent in writing to the church council, whether they desire to receive and acknowledge him as their Pastor or not. Should two-thirds of the whole church council and two-thirds of the communicant members agree in approving the election, he shall be called. Should there be no one in the American Lutheran Ministerium who suits, and is willing to accept a call, the church council shall have full liberty, with the consent of the congregation, and of the United Ministerium, as they may deem best, to write to some G.o.dly Reverend Consistorium, or Ministerium, of the Ev.

Luth. Church in Europe, interested in the extension of the Kingdom of Christ, and call one or more Pastors, on condition that they be duly examined, rightfully ordained, pure in the Evangelical doctrine, and edifying in life and conversation, as becomes their doctrine.

10. As to salary of Pastors.

11. In the Public Wors.h.i.+p, the administration of the Holy Sacraments as well as all other ministerial acts and ministrations, the Pastors shall conform to the Agenda and usage, which have been introduced, until such time as the United Ministerium and the congregation shall deem it necessary and profitable to make a better.

CHAPTER II.

OF THE EXTERNAL GOVERNMENT OF THE CONGREGATION.

1. The congregation shall, by virtue of this new const.i.tution, have the perpetual right and liberty, to elect and confirm, in Christian order, by a majority of votes, the officers and ministrants necessary for the congregation.

2. The Church Council of the congregation shall hereafter consist of the Trustees, six Elders and six Vorsteher, regularly elected or confirmed by the congregation. (The Pastors were Trustees. In 1791 the Council was made to consist of the Pastors, Elders and Vorsteher, the Trustees being omitted.)

3. Temporary provision for the surviving Trustees.

4. The mode of election of Elders shall be as follows: 1.) The whole Church Council shall a.s.semble on the day before the election, shall select from the members who have subscribed this const.i.tution, according to their best judgment, impartially, without respect of persons, eighteen worthy Christian men of good repute, whose names shall be distinctly written down and be presented to the congregation at the election. 2.) At the election the congregation present shall have the right and liberty to elect, by a majority of votes, six Elders out of the eighteen persons presented. These six Elders shall be presented to the congregation by the Pastors at the next public service, be reminded of their duties, and their names be entered in the Church Record. 3.) The aforesaid six Elders continue in office for three years, G.o.d willing, if they demean themselves as becomes their office; but the congregation shall always have liberty to re-elect them, if they consent to allow it.

5. As regards the office of the Vorsteher, it shall be as heretofore, except that there shall be six, instead of four, of whom one-half go out of office after serving two years, and new ones are to be elected in their place, in the same manner as is prescribed in the 4. for the election of Elders. The Vorsteher also shall be presented publicly to the congregation by the Pastors, be reminded of their duties, and thanks be returned to those who go out of office. Should any person elected as Elder or Vorsteher, decline, without sufficient reason, to accept the weighty office, he shall not go free without paying a considerable donation into the treasury; and then the person who received the next highest number of votes shall be presented. If the vote for several persons be a tie, the Church Council shall decide the case.

6. In the above described manner the Church Council is const.i.tuted of Trustees, Elders and Vorsteher.

7. When any important and weighty matter arises in the congregation, of whatsoever kind, whether within or without the church, whether it concerns the parsonage or school-house, the church yard or the burial place, it shall not be decided by the Pastors alone, nor by the other Trustees alone, nor by the Elders alone, nor by the Vorsteher alone; but it must be carefully and well considered by the whole Church Council, and be approved by, at least, two-thirds of their whole number, and after that be laid before the whole congregation, and be approved by two-thirds of the communicant members of the congregation, especially when it demands contribution from the members. For these purposes, in such weighty matters, the whole Church Council shall be publicly invited to meet, and no member shall absent himself without sufficient cause, and no decision shall be valid or dare be executed, which has not been approved and taken by two-thirds of the members, entered in the Record and subscribed by their signatures, to the end that all occasion for strife may, so far as possible, be avoided.

8. The duties of the ruling Elders are, among others, these: 1.) They shall endeavor, by the grace of G.o.d, to set a good example, as well to their own households as to the congregations, by a Christian life and conversation. 2.) Take care, with the Pastors, that the Evangelical doctrine and Christian discipline be maintained and perpetuated in the congregation. 3.) That the debts of the congregation, both princ.i.p.al and interest, be decreased and removed, by payments from the treasury and by generous gifts, in the most advantageous manner. 4.) That the Ministers of the Word in the Congregation be supported. 5.) That the account of all receipts and expenditures be carefully kept, be submitted to the whole Church Council on the day before the annual congregational meeting, be examined, approved and subscribed by the Trustees, and there be publicly laid before the congregation at the meeting, and be entered in the Record. 6.) They shall attend the school examinations, and by several deputies, to be elected by the Church Council from their number, be present at the annual meeting of Synod, and in all other matters aid in promoting the welfare of the congregation.

9. The duties of the Vorsteher are, among others, these: 1.) They shall set an honorable Christian example to the congregation. 2.) They shall render all necessary aid at the public and special services of wors.h.i.+p and in the administration of the Lord's Supper, especially at the Kinderlehre and in the visitation of the sick. 3.) They shall gather the offerings, keep an account of the same, and pay them over to the Elders as often as they may deem necessary to the welfare of the congregation.

4.) They shall maintain good order at the services of public wors.h.i.+p.

5.) Should they find disorder, discord or occasions of offense in the congregation, they shall endeavor to remove them, or report them to the Church Council, that remedies may be applied in time. 6.) They shall collect the pew rents, and the charges for burial places. 7.) They shall give notice to the Elders of special meetings of the Church Council, attend all meetings of the Council and especially the annual meetings to prepare and present the financial accounts, give in beforehand their own accounts, and help to decide when any important matter is to be determined or adopted.

10. And inasmuch as church offices and ministrations in the country, although before G.o.d weighty and important, are yet considered contemptible by the ignorant and evil-minded, and are therefore exposed to many unfavorable criticisms and suspicions, when administered as G.o.d's Word directs; therefore, no complaint against Pastors, Trustees, Elders or Vorsteher shall be entertained, unless sustained by two or three credible witnesses, I Tim. 5:19. If, however, real offenses and transgressions, as Gal. 5:19-21; 6:1, become evident in the case of one or the other, which may G.o.d avert, the whole Church Council shall appoint an impartial committee, and through them examine the case, and pursue the grades of admonition, as Christ has commanded, without respect of persons.

CHAPTER III.

OF THE MEMBERS OF THE CONGREGATION.

1. Whoever would be a regular member of our Evangelical Lutheran congregation of St. Michael's Church, have a vote at elections, have part in the rights of members.h.i.+p and hold office therein; must, in accordance with Christ's command, so far as external evidence shows: 1.) Be baptized; 2.) Receive the Lord's Supper; 3.) Not live in open works of the flesh, Gal. 5:19; but, 4.) lead a Christian life, and not be engaged in any disreputable occupation; 5.) Contribute, according to ability, to the support of church and school and of the laborers in the same, so long as there is need, be it little or much, though it were only a cold water; 6.) Be subject to Christian order and discipline, and allow himself to be corrected in brotherly love, when he does wrong; 7.) and, next to G.o.d and the government, so conduct himself toward the faithful Pastors and elected officers of the congregation, that they may administer their office with joy and not with grief.

2. Whosoever fails in the aforementioned points, or in any of them, wilfully and of purpose, and will not by the grace and mercy of G.o.d correct his fault after the degrees of admonition have been observed, nor will be subject to Christian order, he cannot and shall not be a member of our Evangelical Lutheran congregation, and he shall have no right or share in its privileges, still less have right to vote or to hold office.

3. In case anyone of the communicant members of the congregation, should, through the deceitfulness of sin and of Satan, fall into gross sin, or open works of the flesh, which may G.o.d avert, and should such offense be established by credible and incontestible evidence, then shall he: 1.) Be privately admonished by the Pastor and be counselled to true repentance and reconciliation through faith. 2.) Should this not avail, he shall again be admonished by the Pastor, in the presence of the Elders and Vorsteher. 3.) Should this fail, he shall be excluded from the congregation, in the presence of the Church Council or by its action, and he shall have neither part nor will, until by the goodness or the severity of G.o.d, he has been led to repentance and ask forgiveness of the congregation for the offenses committed, which shall be done through the Pastor, without mention of the name. In such case he shall be received again and acknowledged as a member, if his life and conversation prove the repentance and amendment to be sincere.

This const.i.tution 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 const.i.tution 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 Const.i.tution 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 Const.i.tution.

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 const.i.tution 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 const.i.tution 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