COPY OF ACT OF INCORPORATION.

An Act to Incorporate the General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States of America:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Rev. Thomas Worcester, D. D., of Boston, Mass., Rev. J. R. Hibbard, of Chicago, Ill., Rev. T. B. Hayward, of Brookline, Mass., Robert L. Smith, Esq., of Jamaica, L. I., N. Y., J. Young Scammon, Esq., of Chicago, and I. S. Britton, Esq., of Springfield, Ill., Hon. Jno. B. Niles, of La Porte, Ind., Dr. Charles Shepherd, of Grand Rapids, Mich., Rev. Chauncey Giles, of Cincinnati, O., David Snyder, Esq,, of Philadelphia, Penn., N. F. Cabell, Esq., of Warminster, Va., Hon. John H. Wilkins, and Sampson Reed, of Boston, Mass., Oliver Gerrish, of Portland, and Henry B. Hoskins, of Gardiner, Me., their associates and successors, be, and they are hereby constituted a body corporate, under the name of "The General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States of America "; under which name they shall have perpetual succession, with power to receive, take by gift, purchase, devise or otherwise, property and estate, real, personal or mixed, for educational or religious purposes, and to hold, lease and sell or convey the same at pleasure.

SECT. 2. The business affairs of said Convention shall be managed and controlled by its Executive Committee (or General Council), subject to the direction of the Convention, when in session. Said Committee (or Council) shall be chosen or appointed, from time to time, in such manner as the Constitution of such Convention may direct, and shall be governed by the Constitution of said Convention, and act in conformity to its votes. Said Committee (or Council) may create such offices, and appoint such officers, as they may see fit, and remove the same at pleasure; and may manage its business affairs in such manner as a majority of said Committee (or Council) may determine, subject to the control of the Convention.

SECT. 3. Said Convention may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, prosecute and defend in all courts and places, in its corporate name, by attorney or otherwise. All deeds, conveyances, or leases of the property held by said Convention, for the purpose of leasing or conveying such property, shall be made under the hands of the President and Recording Secretary, and under such seal as said Executive Committee (or General Council) may adopt; but all such deeds must be approved by a majority of said Committee (or Council).

SECT. 4. All gifts, devises or bequests made to said Convention shall be used for educational or religious purposes; or the proceeds thereof, if sold or disposed of, shall be so applied.

SECT. 5. Nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to interfere with the right of said Convention to alter, amend, or abolish its Constitution,. or to form a new one, whenever it shall see fit so to do.

APPROVED, January 29, 1861.

CONSTITUTION

OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION OF THE NEW JERUSALEM IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

PREAMBLE.

THE members of the General Convention of the New Church in America receive and acknowledge the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, as revealed in the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg; the three essentials of which are laid down in the work on the "Divine Providence,” No. 259, and are as follows:

"There are three essentials of the Church, —

"1. The acknowledgment of the Lord's Divinity.

"2. The acknowledgment of the holiness of the Word.

"3. The life which is called charity."

And they unite together for the purpose of promoting the establishment and extension of the Lord's kingdom on the earth, by learning and performing those uses which appropriately belong to a general body of the Church; and, for their organization and guidance, they adopt the following

CONSTITUTION.

Of the Name, and Meetings.

SECTION 1. This body shall be called the General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States of America, and it shall meet annually or otherwise at such times and places as may be determined by the Convention itself, or by its Executive Committee.

Of Membership.

SECT. 2. The General Convention shall be composed of Associations, and other collective bodies of the Church, and isolated receivers. All associated bodies of the Church, which are not now connected with this Convention, or authorized to be represented therein, may be admitted members thereof, upon application, by vote of the Convention.

SECT. 3. - All ministers belonging to the Associations and other collective bodies of the Church in connection with this body shall be members of the General Convention.

SECT. 4. Every Association or other collective body of the Church belonging to this Convention shall be entitled to two delegates, and an additional delegate for every twenty-five members, or fraction of fifteen members. SECT. 5. When a Society is represented in an Association or other collective body of the Church which sends delegates to this Convention, such Society shall not be entitled to any other representatives in the Convention; but every Association or other collective body of the Church shall be entitled to as many delegates as the Societies composing it are entitled to, and to such representation for its isolated members as it would be entitled to if no Societies belonged thereto.

SECT. 6. At all meetings of the Convention, the representative or representatives of any Association, Society, or other collective body of the Church, shall be entitled to cast the whole vote to which its ministers and delegates might be entitled if it were fully represented in the Convention.

SECT. 7. Ministers and isolated receivers, who are so situated that they cannot be members of, or conveniently act with, a Society, Association, or other collective body, are invited to attend the Convention, and may be admitted members thereof by vote of the Convention; but no such minister or isolated receiver shall be a member of the Convention, unless he acknowledge the three essentials of the Church as laid down in 259 of Emanuel Swedenborg's "Treatise on the Divine Providence," and assent to the Constitution of the Convention.

SECT. 8. Applications for the membership of isolated receivers may be made to the Committee on Credentials, who shall refer all such applications to the Executive Committee, or such applications may be made directly to the Executive Committee.

Of the Organization.

SECT. 9. — The officers of this Convention shall be a President, a VicePresident, two Secretaries, and a Treasurer; together with a Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs; and an Executive Committee, to consist of twenty-four persons, of which the President, Vice-President, Secretaries, and Treasurer of the Convention shall be ex officio members; who shall hold their offices until the next regular meeting of the Convention subsequent to their election, and until others shall be chosen in their places. Whenever an additional Association shall be admitted, an additional member of the Executive Committee shall be elected.

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SECT. 10. The President shall preside at the meetings of the Convention, and perform such other duties as are implied by the name of his office, or may be required of him by the Constitution or Convention. The Vice-President shall preside in the absence of the President, or when requested by him.

SECT. 11. — The Secretaries shall keep and preserve a record of the doings of the Convention in a book suitable for that purpose, in which they shall record the entire proceedings of the Convention, including all motions, whether decided in the affirmative or negative; and this record shall be signed by the President and themselves at the end of every session. They shall preserve all important documents coming before the Convention, and all other documents, at least until the next regular meeting of the Convention, together with one hundred complete sets of the printed Journals for the use of the Convention.

SECT. 12. The Treasurer shall receive all contributions and donations to the funds of the Convention; and hold the same, subject to the control of the Convention or its Executive Committee.

SECT. 13. The President, Vice-President, Secretaries, Treasurer, and other members of the Executive Committeee, shall be elected by ballot at a regular meeting of the Convention; but vacancies may be filled by the Execu tive Committee.

SECT. 14. The Executive Committee shall have a general superintendence

of the affairs of the Convention in the interim of its meetings; and it shall be their duty to take all such measures as they may deem orderly and necessary, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, to dissemminate the doctrines of the New Church, and promote its general good. They may appoint messengers from the Convention to any other associated body of the Church; may authorize the payment of money from the treasury, upon the order of the President, countersigned by the Secretaries; or of the President or Secretaries, countersigned by any other member of the Executive Committee; and said Committee shall be the Finance Committee of the Convention.

SECT. 15. Meetings of the Executive Committee may be called by the President, Secretaries, or any three members thereof, upon giving thirty days' notice by letter, the time to be computed from the mailing of the letter; and, at all meetings of said Committee, five shall constitute a quorum. No appropriation of a larger sum of money than two hundred dollars shall be made by said Committee, unless a majority of the members thereof assent thereto; and no portion of the principal of the Rice Fund shall be appropriated by the Committee; nor shall any appropriation be made by said Committee at any time, beyond the amount in the treasury available for the purposes of the appropriation; but the Committee or Treasurer may accept loans of money, on the condition that it may be hereafter refunded from the assets of the Convention; for the repayment of which, neither the members of the Convention nor the Rice fund shall be held responsible.

SECT. 16. The Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs shall be charged with all matters pertaining to the office and duty of ministers, except so far as the samne is otherwise provided for in this Constitution, or shall be ordered by the Convention; they shall have power to act in all such matters, with the concurrence of the Convention or the Executive Committee; and they shall annually revise the List of Ministers, and report to the Convention what changes or additions ought to be made therein.

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SECT. 17. All officers and Standing Committees shall report in writing to the Convention at each session; and the Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs and the Executive Committee shall report all their doings to the Convention.

Of the Ministry.

SECT. 18. Receivers of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem who have been baptized by a minister of the New Jerusalem, and are preparing for the ministry, may be licensed by an Ordaining Minister, for a term not exceeding one year at a time, to lead in public worship, to read the Word, to say the prayers, to preach the doctrines of the Church, and to officiate at funerals. And at the discretion of an Association or the Convention, may be ordained.

SECT. 19. Pastors or Missionaries may be ordained by an Ordaining Minister. Their office and duty, in addition to those of a Licentiate, shall be to administer the ordinance of Baptism, to officiate at weddings, to administer the Holy Supper, to watch over the members, instruct and lead them in the way of life, and to perform such other duties pertaining to their office as may be required of them.

SECT. 20. —'Ordaining Ministers shall possess, in addition to the powers of Pastors or Missionaries, the authority to grant licenses and ordain ministers.

SECT. 21. A candidate for the office of Pastor or Missionary must be a good and orderly member of some Association or Society of the New Church, and shall bring a certificate of this fact from the body to which he belongs. He must desire and intend to devote himself to the duties of the ministry, and shall present a written declaration of that desire and intention to the Ordaining Minister; and he must be invited by some regularly instituted Society of the New Chureh to become its Pastor, or be recommended by the authority of some Association or other general body of the Church, or by the Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs and Executive Committee of the Convention.

SECT. 22. — A candidate for the office of Ordaining Minister must be a Pastor of some regularly instituted Society of the New Church, and must be willing to perform the duties of an Ordaining Minister.

SECT. 23. Persons without the bounds of an Association, or other general body of the Church in connection with this Convention, may be licensed by any Ordaining Minister, with the concurrence of the authority of the Association of which said Ordaining Minister is a member; or may be ordained upon the recommendation of the Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs and the concurrence of the Executive Committee.

SECT. 24. The authority of all Ministers and Licentiates, under this Constitution, is conferred upon them as officers of the Convention; and no person shall be licensed, ordained, or consecrated, within the bounds of any Association or other general body of the Church in connection with this Convention, without the approbation of the authority of such Association or general body; and all applications for constituting an Ordaining Minister shall be referred to the Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs; nor shall any person be constituted an Ordaining Minister without the approbation of the Convention, or the concurrence of the Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs and the Executive Committee, if the Convention be not in session; provided, that no persou shall be constituted an Ordaining Minister, whose ordination is not concurred in by the Ecclesiastical Committee, unless so ordered by a two-thirds vote of the members of the Convention present at any of its meetings. Sect. 25. - Whenever any licensed or ordained person shall call in question any of the doctrines of the New Church contained in the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, or when his conduct or practices shall be such as are manifestly injurious to the Church, or when his life shall evidently be not conformable to the Divine Commandments, he may be suspended from the exercise of his functions as such Licentiate or Minister, by the authority of the Association, or other general body of the Church, within whose bounds he may be laboring or residing, until the next meeting of the Convention: but he shall have the right of appeal to the next General Convention; and the Executive Committee of the Convention, with the concurrence of the Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs, may remove such suspension, until his case shall be acted upon by the General Convention. The Executive Committee of the Convention may, for like cause, suspend any Licentiate or Minister not