CHARLES I AND II.
For their supposed connection with the origin of Freemasonry, see Stuart Freemasonry.
CHARLES XIII.
The Duke of Südermanland was distinguished for his attachment to Freemasonry.
In 1809 he ascended the throne of Sweden under the title of Charles XIII, Having established the Masonic Order of Knighthood of that name, he abdicated in favor of Charles John Bernadotte, but always remained an active and zealous member of the Order.
There is no king on record so distinguished for his attachment to Freemasonry as Charles XIII, of Sweden, and to him the Swedish Freemasons are in a great measure indebted for the high position that the Order has maintained in that country.
CHARLES XIII, ORDER OF.
An Order of knighthood instituted in 1811 by Charles XIII, King of Sweden, which was to be conferred only on the principal dignitaries of the Masonic Institution in his dominions. In the manifesto establishing the Order, the king says: "To give to this Society (the Masonic) a proof of our gracious sentiments towards it, we will and ordain that its first dignitaries to the number which we may determine, shall in future be decorated with the most intimate proof of our confidence, and which shall be for them a distinctive mark of the highest dignity." The number of Knights are twentyseven, all Freemasons, and the King of Sweden is the perpetual Grand Master. The ribbon is red, and the jewel a maltese cros pendant from an imperial crown.
CHARLESTON.
A city in the United States of America, and the metropolis of the State of South Carolina. It was there that the first Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was established in 1801, whence all other Supreme Councils have emanated, directly or indirectly. Hence, it has assumed the title of Mother Council of the World.
The headquarters of the Southem Supreme Council were removed in 1870 to the city of Washington (see Scottish Rite).
CHARMS, MAGICAL.
See Talisman.
CHART.
I. A map on which is delineated the emblems of a degree, to be used for the instruction of candidates, formerly called a carpet, which see.
2. The title given by Jeremy L. Cross to his Hieroglyphic Monitor, which acquired on its first appearance in the Lodges of America a popularity that it has not yet entirely lost. Hence the word chart is still sometimes used colloquially and improperly to designate any other Masonic manual of monitorial instruction.
CHARTER.
Often used for Warrant of Constitution, which see.
CHARTERED LODGE.
A Lodge working under the authority of a Charter or Warrant of Constitution issued by a Grand Lodge as distinguished from a Lodge working under a Dispensation issued by a Grand Master. Chartered Lodges only are entitled to representation in the Grand Lodge. They alone can make by-laws, elect members or have their officers installed- They are the constituent Bodies of a Jurisdiction, and by their representatives compose the Grand Lodge.
CHARTERIS, FRANCIS.
Sixth Earl of Wemyss Grand Master of Scotland, 1747. Another Francis Charteris, afterwards Lord Elcho, was Deputy Grand Master of Scotland 1786-7.
CHARTER MEMBER.
A Freemason whose name is attached to the petition upon which a Charter or Warrant of Constitution has been granted to a Lodge, Chapter, or other subordinate body.
CHARTER OF COLOGNE.
See Cologne, Charter of. "
CHARTER OF EDWIN.
See Edwin Charges and Edwin.
CHARTER OF TRANSMISSION.
See Transmission, Charter of.
CHARTRES, LOUIS PHILIPPE JOSEPH, DUKE OF.
Afterwards Duke of Orleans, known as Egalité orEquality. Succeeded Comte de Clermont as Grand Master of France in 1771. In 1793, January 5, a letter in the Journal de Paris, signed Egalité, repudiated the Grand Orient of France and Freemasonry, to which the Grand Orient replied by declaring the Grand Mastership vacant (see Histoire de la Franc-Maçonnerie, Albert Lantoine, 1925, Paris, page 74). Died by the guillotine November 6, 1793. Besuchet says that the Duke de Chartres was not the head of the entire Masonic Order as there was also in existence the Grand Lodge of France and the Grande Loge Nationale, or the Grand Orient de France.
CHASIDIM.
In Hebrew, pronounced Khaw-seed-eem, meaning saints. The name of a seet which existed in the time of the Maccabees, and which was organized for the purpose of opposing innovations upon the Jewish faith. Their essential principles were to observe all the ritual laws of purification, to meet frequently for devotion, to submit to acts of self-denial and mortification, to have all things in common, and sometimes to withdraw from society and to devote themselves to contemplation. Lawrie, History of Freemasonry (page 38), who seeks to connect them with the Masonic Institution as a continuation of the Freemasons of the Solomonic era, describes them under the name of Kasideans as "a religious Fraternity, or an Order of the Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem, who bound themselves to adorn the porches of that magnificent structure, and to preserve it from injury and decay. This association was composed of the greatest men of Israel, who were distinguished for their charitable and peaceful dispositions, and always signalized themselves by their ardent zeal for the purity and peservation of the Temple."
CHASTANIER, BENEDICT.
A French surgeon, who in the year 1767 introduced into England a modification of the Rite of Pernetty, in nine degrees, and established a Lodge in London under the name of the Illuminated Theosophists ; which, however, according to Lenning, soon abandoned the Masonic forms, and was converted into a mere theosophic sect, intended to propagate the religious system of Swedenborg.
White, in his Life of Emanuel Swedenborg, published at London in 1868 (page 683), gives an account of "The Theosophical Society', instituted for the purpose of promoting the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem by translating, printing, and publishing the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg."
This society was formed in 1784, and met on Sundays and Thursdays at Chambers in New Court, Middle Temple, for the discussion of Swedenborg's writings.
Among the twenty-five persons mentioned by White as having either joined the society or sympathized with its object, we find the name of "Benedict Chastanier, Freach Surgeon, 62 Tottenham Court." The nine degrees of Chastanier's Rite of Illuminated Theosophists are as follows: 1, 2, and 3, Symbolic degrees ; 4, 5, 6, Theosophic Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master; 7, Sublime Scottish Mason, or Celestial Jerusalem ; 8, Blue Brother ; and 9, Red Brother.
CHASTITY.
In the Regius or Halliwell Manuseript of the Constitutions of Freemasonry, written not later than the latter part of the fourteenth century, the seventh point is in these words:
Thou schal not by thy maystres Wyf ly,
Ny by thy felows yn no manner wyse,
Lest the Craft wolde the despyse ;
Ny by thy felows concubyne,
No more thou woldest he dede by thyne.
Again, in the Constitutions known as the Matthew Cooke Manuscript, the date of which is about the latter part of the fifteenth century, the same regulation is enforced in these words : ''The 7th Point. That he covet not the wyfe ne the daughter of his masters, nother of his fellows but if (unless) hit be in maryage.''
So all through the Old Constitutions and Charges we find this admonition to respect the chastity of our Brethren's wives and daughters ; an admonition which, it is scarcely necessary to say, is continued to this day.
CHASUBLE.
The outer dress which is worn by the priest at the altar service, and is an imitation of the old Roman toga. It is a circular cloth, which falls down over the body so as completely to cover it, with an aperture in the center for the head to pass through.
It is used in the ceremonies of the Rose Croix Degree.
CHECKERED FLOOR.
See Mosaic Pavement.
CHEF-D'OEUVRE.
French, meaning superior production. It was a custom among many of the gilds, and especially among the Compagnans du Devoir, who sprang up in the sixteenth century in France, on the decay of Freemasonry in that kingdom, and as one of its results, to require every Apprentice, before he could be admitted to the freedom of the gild, to present a piece of finished work as a proof of his skill in the art in which he had been instructed. The piece of work was called his chef-d'oeuvre, or masterpiece.
CHEQUERED FLOOR.
See Mosaic Pavement.
CHEREAU, ANTOINE GUILLAUME.
He was a painter in Paris, who published, in 1806, two hermetico-philosophical works entitled Explication de la Pierre Cubique, and Explication de la Croix Philosophique; or Explanations of the Cubical Stone and of the Philosophical Cross. These works are brief, but give much interesting information on the ritualism and symbolism of the advanced degrees. They have been republished by Tessier in his Manuel General, without, however, any acknowledgment to the original author.
CHERUBIM.
The second order of the angelic hierarchy, the first being the seraphim. The two cherubim that overtopped the merey-seat or covering of the ark, in the holy of holies, were placed there by Moses, in obedience to the orders of God : " And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercyseat. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; towards the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubims be" (see Exodus xxv, 18, 20). It was between these cherubim that the Shekinah or Divine Presence rested, and from which issued the Bathkol or Voice of God. Of the form of these cherubim we are ignorant. Josephus says that they resembled no known creature, but that Moses made them in the form in which he saw them about the throne of God; others, deriving their ideas from what is said of them by Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Saint John, describe them as having the face and breast of a man, the wings of an eagle, the belly of a lion, and the legs and feet of an ox, which three animals, with man, are the symbols of strength and wisdom. But all agree in this, that they had wings, and that these wings were extended. The cherubim were purely symbolic. But although there is great diversity of opinion as to their exact signification, yet there is a very general agreement that they allude to and symbolize the protecting and overshadowing power of the Deity. Reference is made to the extended wings of the cherubim in the Degree of Royal Master.
Much light has been thrown upon the plastic form of these symbols, says Brother C. T. MeClenachan, not only as to the Cherubim of the Ark of the Covenant spoken of in Exodus, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, but those of Chaldeo-Assyrian art which beautified the gates of the palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh, and other structures.
Brother McClenachan adds the following comments : The Kirubi of the Assyrian type, in the shape of bulls with extended wings, in nowise meet the description given above. The figures which can be found in various places upon Egyptian monuments, placed face to face on either side of the Naos of the gods, and stretching out their arms, furnished with great wings, as though to envelop them (see Wilkinson, Manners and Custosm of Ancient Egyptians, 1878, volume iii), more fully meet the idea-in fact, it is convincing, when we remember the period, and note that all else about the sacred furnishings of the Tabernacle, or Ohel-mo'ed, are exclusively Egyptian in form, as well as the sacerdotal costumes (see L'Egypte et Moïse, by Abbé Ancessi, Paris, 1875).
Furthermore, this was most natural, since the period was immediately after the exodus. The Cherubim of the Ark were remodeled by Solomon after designs by his father, David (First Chronicles xxviii, 18).
At this epoch, says François Lenormant, Professor of Archeology at the National Library of France, in his Beginnings of History, 1882, the Egyptian influence was no longer supreme in its sway over the Hebrews; that the Assyro-Babylonian influence balanced it; that the new Cherubim, then executed, may have been different from the ancient ones as described in Exodus; in fact, Kirubi after the Assyrian type, which formed a Merkabah, meaning a chariot (First Chronicles xxviii, 18), upon which Yahveh was seated.
In the Egyptian monuments the gods are often represented between the forward-stretching wings of sparrow-hawks or vultures. placed face to face, and birds of this kind often enfold with their wings the divine Naos.
The adornment of the Tabernacle, as mentioned in Exodus, excluded every figure susceptible of an idolatrous character, which is far from being the case in what we know of the Temple of Solomon. In the matter of plastic images, none was admitted save only the Cherubim, which were not only placed upon the Ark, but whose representations are woven into the hangings of the Mishkan and the veil which separates the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. It is therefore most probable that the Cherubim of Exodus were great eagles or birds-Kurubi-while under the remodeling by Solomon these were changed to Kirubi with human faces.
The prophet Ezekiel deseribes four hay-yoth or Cherubim, two and two, back to back, and going "each one straight forward'' toward the four quarters.
The Cherubim of the Merkabah of Ezekiel have four wings-two lifted up and two covering their backand four human faces set in pairs, to the right and to the left, one of a man, one of a bull, one of a lion, and one of an eagle-the faces of creatures which combine all the emblems of strength depicted by the Chaldeo-Assyrian bull. Ezekiel thus describes the Cherubim with several faces which, alternately with the palm-trees, decorated the frieze around the interior of the temple at Jerusalem: "Each Kerub had two faces, a man's face turned one way toward the palm-tree, and a lion's face turned the other way toward the other palm-tree; and it was in this wise all around the house."
The following information, furnished by Professor Lenormant, on the subject of Cherubim, is important:
"Deductions were formerly made from the Aryan theory to support primitive tradition as to origin and form, but these have been overthrown, and the Semitic interpretation made manifest through finding the name of the Cherubim in the cuneiform inscriptions; that in place of referring the Hebrew word kerub to the Aryan root grabh, meaning to seize, the word is more properly of Semitic origin, from the root karab, signifying bull, or a creature strong and powerful.
Referring to the prophet Ezekiel (i, 10, and x, 14), the two parallel passages use the word kerub interchangeably with shor, bull, the face of a bull and face of a cherub, which are synonymous expressions. Since we have come to know those colossal images of winged bulls with human faces, crowned with the lofty cidaris, decorated with several pairs of horns, which flanked the gateways of the Assyrian palaces, a number of scholars, intimately acquainted with antique sculpture, have been zealous in associating them with the Cherubim of the Bible. . . . The winged bull with a human head figures in a bas-relief in the palace of Khorsabad as a favoring and protecting genius, which watches over the safe navigation of the transports that carry the wood of Lebanon by sea. The bulls whose images are placed at the gateways of the palaces and temples, as described in the above ideographic group, are the guardian genii, who are looked upon as living beings. As the result of a veritable magical operation, the supernatural creature is supposed to reside within these bodies of stone."
In a bilingual document, Akkadian with an Assyrian version, we read invocations to the two bulls who flanked the gate of the infernal abode, which were no longer simulacra of stone, but living beings, like the bulls at the gates of the celestial palaces of the gods.
The following is one of the unique expressions made in the ear of the bull which stands to the right of the bronze enclosure:
"Great Bull, most great Bull, stamping before the holy gates, he opens the interior; director of Abundance, who supports the god Nirba, he who gives their glory to the cultivated fields, my pure hands sacrifice toward thee. "
Similar expressions were then made on the other side.
These genii, in the form of winged bulls with human countenances, were stationed as guardians at the portals of the edifices of Babylonia and Assyria, and were given the name of Kirubi ; thus, Kirubu damqu lippaqid, meaning May the propitious Kirub guard. Numerous authorities may be given to show that the Chaldeo-Assyrians' Kirub, from the tenth to the fifth century before our era, whose name is identical with the Hebrew Kerub, was the winged bull with a human head. The Israelites, during the times of the Kings and the Prophets, pictured to themselves the Cherubim under this form. The figures of the Cherubim are said to have defeated Dante's power of constructive imagination.
CHESED.
A word which is generally corrupted into Hesed. It is the Hebrew pronounced chesed, and signifies mercy. Hence it very appropriately refers to that act of kindness and compassion which is commemorated in the degree of Select Master of the American system. It is the fourth of the Cabalistic Sephiroth, and is combined in a triad with Beauty and Justice.
CHEVALIER.
Employed by the French Freemasons as the equivalent of Knight in the name of any degree in which the latter word is used by English Freemasons as Chevalier du Soleil for Knight of the Sun, or Chevalier de l'Orient for Knight of the East. The German word is Ritter.
CHIBBELUM.
A signifieant word used in the rituals of the eighteenth century, which define it to mean a worthy Freemason. It is a corruption of Giblim.
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