RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Chasidim Chastity
where the hold of Chasidism was so slight, the hostility was extreme, and the sectarians were denounced to the government, although without success. The result was the existence of the two schools side by side, but in the south rabbinical Judaism was completely routed, and the doddilcim took the place of the rabbis. The Chasidim, however, met with their most formidable opponents when the maskilim (" enlightened ") arose in the nineteenth century. This movement, inspired by Moses Mendelssohn and his followers, was fatal, in its importation of Occidental Christian learning and criticism, to the ignorant mysticism of Chasidism. Its power is now confined to the uneducated Jews of southern Russia, where the maskilim meet
the stubborn resistance of stagnation Opposition and a reactionary tendency which is to the more intense, because less enlight- System. ened, than that of rabbinical Judaism.
This trend is not improbably increased by the attitude of the Russian government toward the Jews, but elsewhere the despair which evoked it no longer exists, and with the absence of the cause the effect has vanished. Yet in passing judgment on Chasidism, it should not be forgotten that, with all its faults, it possessed one important element which was the secret of its power, the insistence on personal piety and faith as the means of salvation, rather than on the intellectualism of rabbinical legalism, a teaching by no means new in Judaism, but revived ^and fostered by this sect in a time of need.
Bibliography: H. Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, vol. xi., chap. 3, Leipsic, 1891 (the fullest account); J. M. Jest, Geschichte des Jvdenthums und seiner Sekten, iii. 184, 3 parts, ib. 1857-59; L. Low, Vergangenheit und Gegenwart der Chasidaer, Budapest, 1859; J. R. Ehrlich, Der Weg meines Lebens, Vienna, 1874; S. Schechter, Studies in Judaism, Philadelphia, 1896; KL, iii. 102-103; JE, vi. 251-256.
CHASTEL, sha3"tel', ETIENNE LOUIS: Swiss church historian; b. at Geneva July 11, 1801; d. there Feb. 24, 1886. He was educated at Geneva, and subsequently studied in France, Italy, and England. In 1832 he became a pastor in his native city, where, seven years later, he was appointed professor of church history in the theological faculty of the university. He was a prolific author, his chief works being as follows: Conferences sur I'histoire du Christianisme (2 vols., Geneva, 1839-47); Histoire de la destruction du paganisme dans V empire d'Orient (1850); Etudes historiques sur I'influence de la charite durant les premiers sihcles Chretiens (Paris, 1853; Eng. transl. by G. A. Matile, Philadelphia, 1857); Le Christianisme au dix-neuvihme siecle (Geneva, 1874; Eng. transl. by J. R. Beard, London, 1875), this forming, in a new edition, part of his Histoire du Christianisme depuis son origine jusqu'h nos jours (5 vols., Paris, 1881-84); and Lettres inedites de Madame de Maintenon au lieutenant de Baville (1875). His Melanges historiques et religieux appeared posthumously, together with a biographical sketch by A. Bouvier (Paris, 1888).
CHASTITY: Chastity in the modern acceptation of the word is a condition and a virtue — the state of physical and moral purity in sexual rela-
tions, and self-preservation from unallowed sexual desires. As a virtue it was highly esteemed early in heathen antiquity, by the Romans, and among the Germanic tribes — all the more as it was uncommon. Even to the present day it has been required more strictly from women than from men, and there are traces of this inequality in the Mosaic law. Indeed it can not be said that as concerns chastity Israel rose much above the general level of the pre-Christian period; the nation's moral consciousness of sexual purity was not acute. Christianity first gave to chastity its full value. The New Testament writers use the word hagnos in this connection, which originally meant " dedicated," "holy," then "pure," "chaste." The New Testament idea is based upon the entirely new. Christian, conception of the value and significance of the human body and of its life. Included in the plan of salvation, destined to eternal communion with God, called to future transfiguration in celestial existence, the body to the Christian is an object of solicitude and conscientious care (I Cor. vi. 19).
In the performance of this duty the Christian must fight all carnal desires (I Pet. ii. 11), especially the sexual instinct, which in all times and places has been recognized and felt by men as one of the fiercest and most invincible. That the instinct in itself is not sinful may be inferred from God's institution of wedlock. But any transgression of this limit is imchastity, whether in thought (Matt, v. 28), in word (Eph. v. 3, 12), or in deed (I Cor. vi. 15). The destructive effect of incontinence extends not only to the body, but to the soul as well, which is thereby polluted, made unfit for all good, and irretrievably estranged from spiritual intercourse with God, hence these sins exclude from the future communion of heaven (I Cor. vi. 9, 10; Eph. V. 5; Rev. xxi. 8, 27).
For the attainment of chastity training is necessary. For the Christian this training has its root in the grace of regeneration. The guidance and support of the Holy Spirit is indispensable and assured (Rom. viii. 13; Gal. v. 22-23), but is ineffectual without personal exertion and self-discipline on the part of the individual (I Cor. ix. 27; Eph. iv. 29, V. 4; Phil. iv. 8; I Tim.~ v. 22). The duty of prayer, watchfulness, and the other means of self-training is incumbent on all without respect to sex or age, and rests in an especial degree upon those whose calling is to educate others. While wedlock is a holy defense of chastity (I Cor. vii. 2), it is no guaranty of purity (I Cor. vii. 3-5; I Pet. iii. 1-7). Celibacy, too, has its dangers; it is imposed upon many by circumstances in modern times, but incontinence is not excused thereby. Finally the successful result of Christian training and discipline, made possible by the Christian's inward relation to Jesus Christ, is something different from the natural sense of shame and outward decorum, also from the particular gifts of chastity referred to in Matt. xix. 12, which Paul attributes to himself (I Cor. vii. 7), for which the tradition of the Church praises the Apostle John, and which is mentioned in the Apocalypse (xiv. 4).
i Karl BuKGERf-
Chasuble Cheetham