Chase, Squire, a Methodist Episcopal minister and missionary. He was bom in Scipio, Cayuga Co., New York, February 15, 1802 ; was converted at about fourteen ; entered the travelling ministry in the Gen- esee Conference in 1822 ; was set off with the Black Biver Conference at its organization in 1886 ; sailed as missionary to Liberia, Oct 15, 1886 ; returned to Amer- ica in August, 1887 ; was delegate to General Confei^ ence in 1840 ; sailed again to Africa in January, 1842; returned to America in May, 1848; and died at Syra- cuse, N. T., July 26, 1848. Mr. Chase was of pre- possessing appearance, natural amiability, and nnal^ fected piety. In the pulpit his " commanding figure and earnest manner gave him great advantage over his audience, and his sermons bespoke a cultivated mind and diligent preparation." He was a good sci- entific and classical scholar, and a vigorous writer. As presiding elder he was eminently efilcient In 1840 he published An Examination of the Doctrine, Bis- torg, and Moral Tendency of Roman CathoHc Jndid- gences, — Black Biver Conference Memorial, p. 50; Sprague, AwumIs, vii, 664.
Chas'eba (Xa<rtPa,Ynlg. Cos^kC), a name among the list of the " servants of the Temple" (1 Eedr. v, 81), which has nothing corresponding to it in Ezra ^ii 48) or Nehemiah (vii, 60), and is probably a mere cor- ruption of that sncceeding it — Gazera (q. v.).
Chaahmal. See Amber.
Chasible. See Crasitblb.
ChaBJdah. See Stoek.
Chaaidim (b'^'l'^pn, i. e. sakU$; comp. 'Ainniatoi, 1 Mace, vii, 13), a name which among the ancient Jenv was given to all who manifested their attachment to tiie Jewish creed in some extraordinary manner. Is
CHASroiM
225
CHASKUNI
ft more spedal scom it was giveii to a sect which was organised Ibr the purpose of opposing Hellenistic in- novations, and uniting the true believers by voluntary imposition of wo^s of supererogation. In the time of Jodas Ifaccabeus the sect readily Joined the great leader of tlie true Jewish &ith. The essential princi- ples of the Chasidim were as follows: roost rigklly to observe all the ritual laws of purification ; to meet to- gether frequently for devotion, carefully preparing themselves for it by ablutions, and wearing their phy- lacteries longer than odiers ; to seek diligently for op- portunities of offering sacrifices {Nedarim, 10, a) ; to impose upon themselves voluntarily great acts of self- denial and mcnrtification ; to abstain from wine and all intoxicating liquors sometimee for several weeks, and sometimes tor their whole lives ; and to observe, like the priests, the Levitical purifications during the time of their being Nazarites, and sometimes longer. It also appears from the Mishna that they frequently had all thhigs in common (Abolhj v, 10) ; that they sometimes withdrew altogether frx>m general society, and devoted themselves entirely to contemplation, and to the study of the written and oral law, while others of the sect, by pursuing secular avocations, procured the common means of support ; that they would not talk much to their own wivee, and would not at all look at strange women. The Mishna states (Soto, iii, 7) that these principles were carried by some to extravagant ex- cesses. In the course of time the association was split up into parties, those insisting upon the rigid observ- ances forming themselves into separate denominations, SQch as the Essenes, etc., while the moderate party re- tained tlie name Chasidim. In the Talmudic period (A.D. 200-500) the meaning of Ofaasidim was on the whole again that of the word in the Old Testament, denoting those wha are pious, temperate, mild, forbear- mg, benevolent, etc There were, however, occasion- ally zealots among them wha would not, for instance, extinguish a fire which broke out on the Sabbath ; but they were an exception. In the post-Talmndic peri- od, and in the Middle Ages, the philosophical school appears to have understood by the term those who possessed simple piety in contradistinction to scientific knowledge. The Kuaites claimed the name for those who earnestly strove to know God as he is, and only gave it to their spiritual heads. The German and French schools also fixed so high a standard for the qualifica- tions of a Chasid that few except the Babbins could attam it. In these schools it somewhat approaches the asceticism of the old sect, and still more was this the case in the Cabalistic school representing the So- har, in which a rigorous observance of externals and mortifications is insisted upon.
The Chasidim were reorganized as a special sect in the eighteenth century by Rabbi Israel ben-Eliezer Baal-Sbem (DTb b^a, "lord of the name^^^covpyoc, a man who by words of conjuration and other formulas knows how to exercise a power over the visible and mvisible world), also called Beskt^ XiW^, from the in- itials of nild DO ^^a. Baal-Shetn made his public appearance about 1740 in Tlusd, in the district of Czartkow, flrom whence he subs^uently removed to Medziboze, in Podolia. His miraculous cures and prophecies attracted attention in large circles; his nx)de of life, consisting of contemplation, study of the book Sohar, giving advice to all applying for it, and frequent washings in rivers, soon spread a halo round him, while his liberal views on the gratification of sensual wants, which he declared to be more conducive than prejudicial to true godliness, disposed a large num- ber to become his disciples. To promote the separate organisation of a sect, his disciples circulated many nuraculous reports; for instance, that his fether had been visited by the prophet Elijah, to predict his birth, tnd that his nusther was a hundred yean old when she WIS delivered of hhn; that, when a youth, he had vio- II.-P