Chapter-hoose (see Chapteb), an apaxtmeat or hall in which the monks and canons of a monastic es- tablishment, or the deans and prebendary of cathe- drals and collegiate churches, meet for transacting tht business of the body of the socie^. Chapter-houses were often built in the most magnificent and coetly style of architecture. They are of various forms, more usually located contiguous to a church, and often mere places of burial, having occasionally crj^pts under then.
In medisval Latin the chapter-house is denominated eapitulum, and also Dommt Capttnlaris. The fenner term was also applied to the east end of the church (caput eedetia), and hence there have been errois of translation.
Charaath'alar (Xapaa^aXap v. r. Xapaa^akdv, Yulg. Ccarmella et Ccreth) is given among the peendo- priests in 1 Esdr. v, 86, where " Charaathalar, lead- ing them and Aalar," is the confused translation for " Chbritb (q. v.), Addan (or Addon), and Immer,'' of the Heb. texts {Esta ii, 57 ; Keh. vii, 61).
Char'aca (Xapa^, Yulg. Charaea), a place obscure- ly mentioned only in 2 Mace, xii, 17 (li^ rdv XapaKo), as that to which Judas Maccabaeus retired after his at- tack of the Nabathflsans. It was on the east of Jordan, bein^ inhabited by the Jews called " Tubieni,*' or of " Tobie*' (see Ton), who were in GUead (comp. 1 Mace. V, 9, 13) ; and it was 750 stadia fh>m the city Caspin ; but where the latter place was situated, or in whidi direction Charax was with regard to it, there is no clew. Ewald (/<r. Gesck, iv, 859, note) places it to the extreme east, and identifies it with Raphon. The only name now known on the east of Jordan which recalls Charax is Kerak, the ancient KiR-Moab, on the S.E. of the Dead Sea, which in post-biblical times was call- ed XapaKfuafiay and Mw/3ovx<Tpa^ (see Reland, PaUaL p. 705). The Syriac has Karkoj which suggests Ear- kor (Judg. viii, 10). — Smith, s. v.
Character (x^paicr^p, impress, intake), Chris- tian, is the force of a man*s moral personality, as mod- ified and developed by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Christianity does not seek to destroy the natural and moral qualities of man, but to elevate, strengtbeUt and sanctiiy them. But the individual man, under the Christian system, is taught "of the Holy Spirit" the way of life ; and, under his own responsibility, the influence of the Holy Spirit must be voluntarily ao cepted aa the inspiring and controlling principle of the qualities which belong to him by nature. If thb be not the case, the man remains a '^ natural man," and his character is his natural character. But the begin- ning of a new moral course of life, through the woric of the Holy Spirit, is rtgeneraHom, and in regeneratioD the true foundation of the Christian charactw is laid. But this regeneration, though it requires active £uth on the part of man, is, nevertheless, the work of God, and therefore character is necessarily a divine work, " lest any man should boast" (Eph. ii, 9). Of course, all the practical forms of goodness, the cardinal vir- tues, so called (2 Pet. i, 5-7), and the special Christian virtue of charity^, are elements of this Christian char- acter. It manifests itself in the ** fruits of the Sphit," which always, in turn, react upon the character, bring- ing it constantly faito nearer identity with the " inner*' or ''spiritual" man (Eph. iii, 16; iv, 28). It fixes tlie moral worth of the individual, as well as his fitness for the kingdom of God, in which the entire character, the whole man, is peremptorily required (Matt, vi, 24 ; xii, 23). Christianity demands the whole heart; for '* out of the heart are the issues of life," and the ruling disposition of a man^s heart forms the essence of hJs character. With Paul, character is the man : the holy
CHARACTER DOMINICUS 213
CHARIOT
cbtnetar b the ** new man ;" the corrnpt chanotor the uoldman."
Bntythooi^ the Spirit works this Christian cfiancter in man, it leaves free play for the special gifts and en- dowments of the indiyidoal. Although ** in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek,*' there is room in Christ's kingdom for diversities springing from tern- perament, race, or nationality. The apMtles Peter, Fan], John, and Jndi have been taken, by some writ- en, as ^rpes of the fbnr temperaments, sanguine, nerv- ous, lymphatic, and bilious. The Word of God is re- garded, in the Christian system, as the rule of lifo aod standard of appeal for the Christian character. On perfeetum of character, see Holiness ; Sakctipi- CATiov; PBRPBcnoir. — Henog, BMiUEi^klop, vii, 876; BtbHoOeca Sacra, ill, 22.
Character DominXotui (the mark o/Ab Lord), a name by which, as welhas ekaraeter rtgiut (rcyo/ mark), Augustine designates the sacrament of baptism ; " by whidh he does not mean any internal quality or spiritual power distinct from baptism imprinted on the eoul, but only the external form common to all receiv- ers, both good and bad, who are duly baptized in the name of the Holy Trini^ ; that they are so far signed by the mark or character of the Lord as thereby to be distinguished from unbaptised Jews and. Gentiles, who never made any formal profossion of Christianity, nor ever received so much as the external indication of it He albwed this character to be so fiur indelible that a Christian, though he turn Jew or pagan, can never need a second baptism, but only repentance and abso- lution to reinstate Um in the Church. " It is clear that Augustine did not dream of the later Romanist theory of sacramental ** character." — Bingham, Oriff. Ecdet, bk. xi, cfa. i, § 7. See Character Imdblbbilis.