Any 9 or more persons, residents of this state, being members of any subordinate lodge, having been duly chartered by the grand lodge of this state, desirous to become incorporated, may make and execute articles of association under their hands and seals, specifying as provided in article 2 of this act, and file a copy of such articles with the corporation and securities bureau of the department of commerce, and thereupon the persons who shall have signed said articles of association, their associates and successors, shall be a body politic and corporate by the name expressed in such articles of association; and by that name they and their successors shall have succession, and shall be persons in the law capable to purchase, hold, enjoy, grant, sell, give, lease, and demise real and personal estate, of suing and being sued, and may have a common seal, and change and alter the same at pleasure; and a certified copy of the record of such articles of association, under the seal of the corporation and securities bureau of the department of commerce, shall be received as prima facie evidence in all courts in this state of the existence and due incorporation of such corporation. They and their successors shall have authority and power to give, grant, sell, lease, demise, and dispose of said real and personal estate, or part thereof, at their will and pleasure, and the proceeds, rents, and income shall be devoted exclusively to the charitable and benevolent purposes of the order of Knights of Pythias.