duce. It is also used in the degree of Knight Templar for a

similar purpose.

CHANCELLOR.

An officer in a Council of Knights of the Red Cross, corresponding in some respects to the Senior Warden of a symbolic lodge.

CHAPITER.

CHAPLAIN.

An ornamental finish to the top of a pillar.

The office of chaplain of a lodge is one which is not recognized in the ritual of this country, although often conferred by courtesy.

CHAPTER. A convocation of Royal Arch Masons is called a Chapter. In Britain, Royal Arch Masonry is connected with and under the government of the Grand Lodge; but in America, the jurisdictions are separate.* Here, a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons is empowered to give the preparatory degrees of Mark, Past, and Most Excellent Master; although, of course, the Chapter, when meeting in either of these degrees, is called a lodge. In some Chapters, the degrees of Royal and Select Master are also given as preparatory degrees; but in most of the States, the control of these is conferred upon separate bodies, called "Councils of Royal and Select Masters." The presiding officers of a Chapter are the High Priest, King, and Scribe, who are, respectively, representatives of Joshua, Zerubbabel, and Haggai. In the English Chapters, these officers are generally styled either by the founders' names as above, or as 1st, 2d, and 3d Principals. Chapters of Royal Arch Masons in this country, are primarily under the jurisdiction of State Grand Chapters as lodges are under Grand Lodges; and secondly, under the General Grand Chapter of the United States, whose meetings are held triennially,

Formerly in this country, Chapters were chartered by and under the control of Grand Lodges.

and which exercises a general supervision over this branch of the the order, throughout the Union. The convocations of several of the ineffable degrees are also called Chapters. See Royal Arch.

CHAPTER, GRAND. A Grand Chapter consists of the High Priests, Kings, and Scribes, for the time being, of the several Chapters under its jurisdiction, and of the Past Grand and Deputy Grand High Priests, Kings, and Scribes of the said Grand Chapter. Its organization differs from that of a Grand Lodge Past High Priests not being eligible to a seat, after the expiration of their time of service, as Past Masters are in the Grand Lodge; unless they shall have served as Grand and Deputy Grand High Priests, Kings or Scribes. Grand Chapters have the sole government and superintendence, (under the General Grand Chapter,) of the several Royal Arch Chapters, and Lodges of Most Excellent, Past and Mark Masters, within their several jurisdictions.

Until the year 1797, there was no organization of Grand Chapters in the United States. Chapters were held under the authority of a Master's warrent, although the consent of a neighbouring Chapter was generally deemed expedient. But in 1797, delegates from several of the Chapters in the Northern States. assembled at Boston, for the purpose of deliberating on the expediency of organizing a Grand Chapter, for the government and regulation of the several Chapters within the said States. This Convention prepared an address to the Chapters in New York and New England, disclaiming the power of any Grand Lodge to exercise authority over Royal Arch Masons, and declaring it expedient to establish a Grand Chapter. In consequence of this address, delegates from most of the States above mentioned, met at Hartford, in January, 1798, and organized a Grand Chapter, formed and adopted a constitution, and elected and installed their officers. This example was quickly followed by other parts of the Union; and Grand Chapters now exist in nearly all the States.

CHAPTER, GENERAL GRAND. The General Grand Chapter of the United States was organized in 1806, and meets triennially; it consists of the Grand and Deputy Grand High Priests, Kings, and Scribes, for the time being, of the several State Grand Chapters, and of the Past General Grand High Priests, Deputy General Grand High Priests, Kings, and Scribes of the said General Grand Chapter.* It exercises a general supervisory authority over the State Grand Chapters, and immediate jurisdiction in all States or Territories where a State Grand Chapter has not been established.

CHARGES. The fraternity had long been in possession of many records, containing the ancient regulations of the order; when, in 1722, the Duke of Montague being Grand Master of England, the Grand Lodge finding fault with their antiquated arrangement, it was directed that they should be collected, and after being properly digested, be annexed to the Book of Constitutions, then in course of publication under the superintendence of Brother James Anderson. This was accordingly done, and the document now to be found in all the Ahiman Rezons, under the title of "The old Charges of the Free and Accepted Masons," constitutes, by universal consent, a part of the fundamental law of our order. The charges are divided into six general heads of duty, as follows: 1. Concerning God and religion. 2. Of the civil magistrate, supreme and subordinate. 3. Of lodges. 4. Of Masters, Wardens, Fellows, and Apprentices. 5. Of the management of the Craft in working. 6. Of behaviour under different circumstances, and in various conditions. These charges contain succinct directions for the proper discharge of a Mason's duties, in whatever position he may be placed; and from them have been abridged, or by them suggested, all those well known directions found in our Monitors, which Masters are accustomed

By an amendment to the Constitution adopted in 1853, Past General Grand Officers are no longer ex officio members.

to read to candidates, on their reception into the different degrees, and which have, therefore, also been denominated charges. The word, however, in strictness and to avoid confusion, ought to have been confined to the Old Charges above alluded to.*

CHARITY. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and knowledge, and have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." (1 Corinth. xiii. 1, 2.) Such was the language of an eminent apostle of the Christian church, and such is the sentiment that constitutes the cementing bond of Freemasonry. Charity is the chief corner-stone of our temple, and upon it is to be erected a superstructure of all the other virtues, which make the good man and the good Mason. The charity, however, of which our order boasts, is not alone that sentiment of commiseration, which leads us to assist the poor with pecuniary donations. Like the virtue described by the apostle, already quoted, its application is more noble and more extensive. "It suffereth long and is kind." The true Mason will be slow to anger and easy to forgive. He will stay his falling brother by gentle admonition, and warn him with kindness, of approaching danger. He will not open his ear to his slanderers, and will close his lips against all reproach. His faults and his follies will be locked in his breast, and the prayer for mercy will ascend to Jehovah for his brother's sins. Nor will these sentiments of benevolence be confined to those who are bound to him, by ties of kindred or worldly friendship alone; but extending them throughout the globe, he will love and cherish all who sit beneath the broad canopy of our universal lodge. For it is the boast of our institution, that a

* I have omitted the republication of these charges in the present edition, since they have now become accessible to every Mason, by their insertion in several modern works on Freemasonry.

Mason, destitute and worthy, may find in every clime a brother, and in every land a home.

CHARLES XII., ORDER OF. An order of knighthood instituted in 1811 by Charles XII., King of Sweden, and 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 toward 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 27, all masons, and the King of Sweden is the perpetual Grand Master.

CHERUBIM. The second order of the angelic hierarchy, the first being the seraphim. The two cherubim that overtopped the mercy-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 cherubim of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat. And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercyseat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be." (Exod. xxv., 17, 19.) 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 St. 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.