church, congregation or society, must publicly notify the congregation of the time when, and the place where the election shall be held, at least fifteen days before the day of the election; and such notification must be given for two successive Sabbaths, on which the church, congregation or society statedly meet for public worship, preceding the election. (Ib., Sec. 17.)

§ 653. Any two of the elders, deacons, church wardens or vestrymen of such church, congregation or society, or, if such officers be not present, then any two voters present, to be nominated by a majority of the voters, must preside at the election, receive the votes and determine the qualifi cation of voters. Immediately after the election the presiding officers, who are the inspectors of election, must certify, under their hands and seals, the names of the persons elected to serve as trustees, and in such certificate the names by which such trustees, and their successors in office, shall forever thereafter be called and known, must also be particularly mentioned and specified. (Ib., Sec. 18.)

§ 654. The certificate aforesaid, being signed and sealed by the presiding officers of the election, must be acknow ledged by the persons making the same, or proved by a subscribing witness thereto, before some officer authorized to take the acknowledgment of deeds, and then recorded, together with the certificate of such acknowledgment or proof, by the register of deeds of the county within which the church or place of worship of such congregation may be situated, in a book provided by him for that purpose; and thereupon such trustees, and their successors, will become a body corporate, by the name expressed in such certificate. The register will be entitled to receive seventy-five cents for recording the certificate. (Ib., Sec. 19.)

655. The certificate aforesaid may be substantially in the form prescribed for certain religious societies in the State of New York, as given in section one hundred and eighty-two of this work, and reference is made to that form as a model for those who may desire one. The certificate of proof or acknowledgment must be in the precise form as of deeds of real estate; and the proper officer who takes the same will have no difficulty in framing one which will answer the purpose.

§ 656. The trustees, upon being incorporated as aforesaid, may have a common seal, and may alter the same at pleasure; and they may take into their possession and custody all the temporalities of such church, congregation or society, whether the same may consist of real or personal estate, and whether the same may have been given, granted or devised directly or indirectly to such church, congregation or society, or to any other person or persons for their use. (Comp. Stat., Ch. 17, Sec. 20.)

§ 657. Such trustees may also, in their corporate name, sue and be sued in all courts and places, and they may recover and hold all the debts, demands, rights and privileges, all churches, buildings, burying places, and all the estate and appurtenances belonging to such church, congregation or society, in whatever manner the same may have been acquired, or in whose hands soever the same may be held, as fully and amply as if the right and title thereto had been originally vested in the said trustees; and they may also hold other real or personal estate, and demise, lease and improve the same; but the whole of such estate, real and personal, must not exceed the yearly value or income of three thousand dollars. (Ib. 21.)

§ 658. The trustees will also have authority to repair and

alter their churches and meeting-houses, and, under the direction of the society or congregation, to erect churches and meeting-houses, and dwelling houses for their ministers, and other buildings for the use of their church, congregation or society. They also have authority to make rules and orders for managing the temporal affairs of such church, congregation or society, and to dispose of all moneys belonging thereto; and to order and regulate the renting of pews or slips in their churches and meeting-houses, and the perquisites for the breaking of the ground in the cemetery or church-yard, and in the said churches or meeting-houses for burying the dead. (Ib., Secs, 22 and 23.)

§ 659. The trustees may appoint a clerk and treasurer of their board, and a collector to collect and receive their rents and revenues, and may regulate the fees to be allowed to such clerk, treasurer and collector, and may remove them and appoint others in their stead at pleasure. The clerk must enter all rules and orders made by the trustees, and payments ordered by them, in a book to be procured by them for that purpose. (Ib., Sec. 24.)

§ 660. Any two of the trustees may at any time call a meeting of the trustees, and a majority of them being lawfully convened, will be competent to do and perform all matters and things which such trustees are authorized to do and perform. (Ib,, Sec. 25.)

§ 661. The trustees will hold their offices for three years; and immediately after their first election, they must be divided by lot into three classes, numbered one, two and three; and the seats of the first class will be vacated at the end of the first year, of the second class at the end of the second year, and of the third class at the end of the third year, to the end, so that as near as may be, one-third part of

the whole number of trustees may be annually chosen. (Ib., Sec. 26.)

662. The clerk of the board of trustees, at least one month before the expiration of the office of any of the trustees, must notify the same, in writing, to the minister, or, in case of his death or absence, to the elders or church wardens, and, if there be no elders or church wardens, then to the deacons or vestrymen of any such church, congregation or society, specifying in such notice the names of the trustees whose office will expire; and the minister, or other offi cers receiving such notice, must notify the members of such church, congregation or society of such vacancies, and appoint the time and place for the election to supply the same. This notice must be given in the same manner as of the first election. (Ib., Sec. 27.)

§ 663. Every person, of full age, who statedly worshiped with the church, congregation or society, and has been formerly considered as belonging thereto, may vote at the first election; but no such person will be entitled to vote at any election after the first, until he shall have been an attendant on public worship in such church, congregation or society at least six months before such election, and shall have contributed to the support of such church, congregation or society, according to the usages and customs thereof. (Ib., Secs. 16 and 29.)

§ 664. The clerk of the trustees is required to keep a register of the names of all such persons as shall desire to become stated hearers in the said church, congregation or society, and must therein note the time when such request was made, and the clerk must attend all subsequent elections, in order to test the qualifications of such voters in case they shall be questioned. (Ib., Sec. 30.)

CHAPTER XLV.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES IN MINNESOTA-INCORPORATION OF PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL, AND OF CERTAIN OTHER CHURCHES-CERTAIN RELIGIOUS CORPORATIONS CONFIRMED-POWERS OF RELIGIOUS CORPORATIONS.

§ 665. The male persons, of full age, of any church or congregation in communion with the Protestant Episcopal church in the state of Minnesota, who shall have belonged to such church or congregation for the last three months preceding such election, and who shall have been baptized in the Episcopal church, or shall have been received therein, either by rite of confirmation or by receiving the holy communion, or by purchasing or hiring a pew in said church, or by some joint act of the parties and of the rector, whereby they shall have attached themselves to the Protestant Episcopal church, may also meet and elect two church wardens, and not less than four nor more than eight vestrymen, and incorporate themselves in precisely the same manner as a Protestant Episcopal church may become incorporated in the State of New York, and similar proceedings are to be had as in that State, which are given in full in chapter nine of this work, to which reference is made for specific directions. The provisions of the Minnesota statute are in substantially the same terms of the statute of New York, with, perhaps, the exceptions specified in the next section. (Compiled Stat. Ch. 17, Sec. 38.)

666. By the Minnesota statute, if the rector be not present at the first election, or there be no rector of the church or congregation, then one of the church wardens or vestrymen, or any other person, may be called to the chair