Page:A short account of the rise and progress of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in America.djvu/21

 regulations made and provided in the fourth article of this instrument.

It is declared, that the Trustees and members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, do acquiesce and accord with the rules of the Methodist Episcopal Church, for their church government and discipline, and with their creeds and articles of faith; and that they and their successors will continue for ever in union with the Methodist Episcopal Church in the city of New-York, subject to the government of the present Bishops and their successors, in all their ecclesiastical affairs and transactions, (except in the temporal right and property of the aforesaid Zion Church, which is to be governed as herein directed) as long as the said articles and creeds of the said chuch remain unchanged.

It is declared, that the Elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church, for the time being, in the City of New-York, appointed as aforementioned, shall have the direction and management of the spiritual concerns of the said Zion Church, or any other church or churches which may or shall be built hereafter by the Corporation aforesaid, or by any other means become their property, agreeably to the form of discipline of the said Methodist Episcopal Church. Provided always that the said Elder shall receive no person into the African Society, but such as are previously recommended by a Trustee or Trustees of the said African Zion Church. And upon complaint being made to the