The new constitution was prepared by Muehlenberg in consultation, of course, with Handschuh and the elders, and pre-eminently with the Swedish Provost Wrangel. Months were spent in its preparation. The local difficulties and wants received the most careful consideration and some few of its provisions were temporary, and made in view of the previous arrangements. Thus the old elders were retained for life as trustees, but after their death the elders who took their place were to be duly elected by the congregation, and in the revision after the incorporation the name of trustee was removed. But Muehlenberg rose above the present necessities and conditions of the local congregation, and designed this constitution to be, as it became, the one which should be the general constitution for all the united congregations of the Ministerium. He had a full apprehension of the importance of the work in which he was engaged, and devoted to it his wisest judgment, and the results of his own experience and varied observations in the working of congregational constitutions. He also recognized the character of the civil government of the land and strove to bring the congregational government into harmony with it. He succeeded in gradually allaying the diversities and animosities at Philadelphia, and after the completion of the constitution, it was accepted by the congregation and publicly subscribed, first by himself, then by Handschuh and the elders, then, within a short time, by five hundred heads of families. Thus the foundation was laid on which the permanent prosperity of St. Michael's congregation rested, and on which it still peacefully rests. This constitution, with the removal of the temporary provisions at Philadelphia, was at once accepted by the congregations at Providence and New Hanover; in Lancaster, during a visit of Muehlenberg, soon after Gerock left, in 1769, at York under Kurtz, in 1781, and earlier or later, by most of the prominent congregations connected with the Ministerium, at least in its chief provisions. _Constitution of St. Michael's Church, Philadelphia, 1762._ We, the subscribers, the lawfully called Pastors, Trustees, Elders, Vorsteher and communicant members of the Ger. Ev. Luth. Congregation of St. Michael's Church, acknowledge and bind ourselves to the following Church and School Constitution. CHAPTER I. OF THE PASTORS.