Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

CHALDEANS
CHAPEAU 141
various things, that this sovereign, digging
under the foundations of the Temple of the
Sun-god at Sippara, forty-five years after the
death of King Nebuchadnezzar, came upon a
cylinder of Naramsin, the son of Nargon,
which no one had seen for "3200 years ." This
gives as the date of the ancient sovereign
named 3750 B.c . This, and the fact pointed
out by Prof . Oppert, that there was in those
early days already "lively intercourse between
Chaldea and Egypt," will have to be taken
into account by future Bible critics . This
destroys the conception of Abraham, the
founder of the Jews, as a wanderer or nomad,
and establishes the existence of two highly
civilized, as well as cultured, empires in Eg ypt
and Chaldea more than 5,500 years ago ; that
the highroad between them lay direct through
Southern Palestine, and that Abraham was a
native of the one great empire and an honored
visitor in the other. Thus has been opened up
a new field for investigation in the matter of
Akkad and Akkadian civilization .
Chaldeans or Chaldees . The ancient-
Diodorus Siculus says the "most ancient "-
inhabitants of Babylonia . There was among
them, as among the Egyptians, a true priestly
caste, which was both exclusive and hereditary ;
for although not every Chaldean was a priest,
yet no man could be a priest among them unless
he were a Chaldean. "At Babylon,"
says Dr . Smith (Anc . Hist . of the East, p .
398), "they were in all respects the ruling
order in the body politic, uniting in themselves
the characters of the English sacerdotal and
military classes . They filled all the highest
offices of state under the king, who himself
belonged to the order ." The Chaldean priests
were famous for their astronomical science, the
study of which was particularly favored by
the clear atmosphere and the cloudless skies
of their country, and to which they were probably
urged by their national worship of the
sun and the heavenly hosts. Diodorus Siculus
says that they passed their whole lives in meditating
questions of philosophy, and acquired
a great reputation for their astrology . They
were addicted especiall y to the art of divination,
and framed predictions of the future .
They sought to avert evil and to insure good
by purifications, sacrifices, and enchantments .
They were versed in the arts of prophesying
and explaining dreams and prodigies . All this
learning among the Chaldeans was a family
tradition ; the son inheriting the profession
and the knowledge of the priesthood from his
father and transmitting it to his descendants .
The dhaldeans were settled throughout the
whole country, but there were some special
cities, such as Borsippa, Ur, Sippera, and
Babylon, where they had regular colleges .
The reputation of the Chaldeans for prophetic
and magical knowledge was so great, that
astrologers, and conjurers in general, were
styled Babylonians and Chaldeans, just as the
wandering fortune-tellers of modern times are
called Egyptians or gipsies, and Ars Chald¢orum
was the name given to all occult sciences.
Chalice. A cup used in religious rites. It
forms a part of the furniture of a Commandery
of Knights Templar, and of some of the higher
degrees of the French and Scottish Rites. It
should be made either of silver or of gilt metal .
The stem of the chalice should be about four
inches high and the diameter from three to
six.
Chalk, Charcoal, and Clay . By these
three substances are beautifully symbolized
the three qualifications for the servitude of an
Entered Apprentice-freedom, fervency, and
zeal. Chalk is the freest of all substances, because
the slightest touch leaves a trace behind .
Charcoal, the most fervent, because to it,
when ignited, the most obdurate metals yield ;
and clay, the most zealous, because it is constantly
employed in man's service, and is as
constantly reminding us that from it we all
came, and to it we must all return . In the
earlier lectures of the last century, the symbols,
with the same interpretation, were given
as "Chalk, Charcoal, and Earthen Pan ."
Chamber, Middle . See Middle Chamber .
Chamber of Reflection . In the French
and Scottish Rites, a small room adjoining the
Lodge, in which, preparatory to initiation the
candiate is enclosed for the purpose o? indulging
in those serious meditations which its
somber appearance and the gloomy emblems
with which it is furnished are calculated to
produce . It is also used in some of the high
degrees for a similar purpose. Its employment
is very appropriate, for, as Gadicke well observes,
"It is only in solitude that we can
deeply reflect upon our present or future
undertakings, and blackness darkness, or
solitariness, is ever a symbol of death . A
man who has undertaken a thing after mature
reflection seldom turns back."
Chancellor . An officer in a Council of
Companions of the Red Cross, corresponding
in some respects to the Senior Warden of a
Symbolic Lodge .
Chancellor, Grand . An officer in the
Supreme Councils and Grand Consistories of
the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite,
whose duties are somewhat similar to those
of a Corresponding Secretary .
Chaos . A confused and shapeless mass,
such as is supposed to have existed before God
reduced creation into order . It is a Masonic
symbol of the ignorance and intellectual
darkness from which man is rescued by the
light and truth of Masonry . Hence, ordo ab
chao, or, "order out of chaos," is one of the
mottoes of the Institution .
Chaos Disentangled . One of the names
formerly given to the Twenty-eighth Degree
of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, or
Knight of the Sun . It is likewise found in the
collection of M . Pyron . Discreet and Wise
Chaos are the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth degrees
of the Rite of Mizraim .
Chapeau . The cocked hat worn in this
country by Knights Templar. The regulations
of the Grand Encampment of the United
States, in 1862, prescribe that it shall be "the
military chapeau, trimmed with black binding,