' Love is like a child. That longs for ever>-thing that he can come by.'
S. Come in, 'enter upon,' 'begin,' Ro 11^ 'until the fulness of the GentUes be c. in' (da^pxofuu). Cf. Shaks. 2 Henry IV. v. iii. 52—
* Now comes in the sweet of the night.*
For the phrase ' He that should come ' (6 ipxi/J-eyoi, RV ' he that cometh ') see Jesus Christ, and Messiah. And for the Second Coming see Paeousia. J. Hastings.
COMELY, COMELINESS These words, wjyn
slightly archaic in any sense, are quite obscl. in the sense of moral fitness or beauty, a meanin" which they have a few times in EV, as Ps 33* 'praise is c. for the upright.' Dr. Murray (Oxf. Eng. Diet, s.v.) thinks the earliest meaning of 'comely' may have been 'delicately fashioned,' so that we may compare Jer 6- ' the c. and delicate one, the daughter of Zion.' But the usage of AV (foil, by RV) gives us: (1) Beftting, Ec 5" 'it is good and c. for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of all his labour' ; 1 Co 11" ' is it c. that a woman pray unto God uncovered?' (jrp^Tfi, RV 'is it seemly?'). (2) Pleasing to the eye, because befitting, Job 41'= 'his c. proportion' (Amer. RV 'goodly frame'); Ezk 27" 'they set forth thy comeliness' (Tin). Then (3) handsome, beautiful, majestic (the distinction 'might be rather caJled comely than beautiful ' being quite modern), Ca 6* 'Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, c. as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners' ; Is 53- ' he hath no form nor comeliness.'
J. Hastings. COMFORT (ninj, D-cns, iropd/tXTjo-is ').— The state of relief from trouble, or the means of solace. In OT the evils to which the consolations of God are most characteristically opposed are the calamities of the chosen people, while in NT the divine comfort ia mainly represented as enabling the individual Chris- tian to endure, and even to rejoice under, the natural ills of liuman life and the persecutions to which the faithful are subjected. As the sources of comfort
• In AV, ■ritfiKKnris is tr. ' consolation ' in Lk 2^ 6^, Ac 49« 1531 (,n. • exliorlation 0, Ro 165, 2 Co I'' 6- ' T-" 7', Ph 21, 2 Tb 216 I'hilem', He m ; 'comforf in Ac 931, Ko \b*, 2 Co Vi* V- " ; • exhortation ■ in Ac 13l\ Ro 12», 1 Co 14', 2 Co 8", 1 Th 23, 1 Ti 413, He 121 1322 ; and ' intreaty ' in 2 Co S<. RV changes 'consolation' into 'comfort,' except in Lk 2^5 6»*, Ac lj3l, He 618 (encouragement), Ac 43<> (' exhortation,' m. ' consolation '), and, except in 1 Co 148, keeps * exhortation ' where AV haa it (Ro 128 'exhorting'!.
(JOMFOKTEi:
COMMON
459
are mentioned the word of Go<l (Ps 1 19*"), the loving- kindness of God (Ps 119"), the Holy Ghost (Ac 9»'). the lellowship and synniathy of Christ (2 Co 1", Ph 2' ), God the Father (2 Co H). The OT comfort of the individual is, in the main, hope in tlie eventual manifestation of the retrihutive justice of God ; of the nation, the prophetic promise of the deliverance, purification, and exaltation of Israel. The NT doctrine specially emphasizes aa comfort {a) uiiuer sorrow for sin, that it works repentance (2 Co 7'"); (6) under alliiction, that it is a paternal discipline, a token of the divine love, designed to purity the character of the suli'erer (He 12), and to (qualify for ministration (2 Co 1*) ; while, generally, it con- trasts the present sufferings, as temporary and Kght, with the future joys of the redeemed, as eternal and weighty (2 Co 4"). The divine com- forts are strong (He 6"), all-embracing (2 Co P), and everlasting (2 Th 2"). See Paraclete.
W. P. Pateiison. COMFORTER.— See Paraclete.
COMING OF CHRIST.— See Pakousia.
COMMANDMENT.— The distinction bet. 'com- mand,' the order of a secular authority, and ' commandment,' a divine charge, is modern. In older Eng. we hnd, e.g., Rogers (1642) saying, 'As Papists have done with the second Command'; and in AV ' coiniiiandment' is freely used for the orders of a king or other secular power. Thus, Est 2" ' Esther did the commandment of Mordecai ' ; Mt 15' 'teaching for doctrines the commandments of men' (^cTdX/iara, liV 'precepts'); Ac 25^ 'at Festus' commandment Paul was brought forth ' (KV 'at the command of Festus'). 7'u give com- 'iianil/ncnt is an archaic phrase often used for the eimple vb. ' to command,' and even ' to give in commandment' Ex 34'- (n;>-). The vb. to command U itself used in many obsol. constructions. Besides the mod. use to command one to do a thing, or a thing to be done, we lind 'c. to do' without the person, Ac 5" ' Gamaliel ... c*^ to put the men tortli.' Sometimes the pers. only is mentioned, as Gn 18'" 'he will c. his children and liis household after him'; sometimes the thing only, as Ps 133' ' there the Lord c"' the blessing ' ; or the pers. and thing without the inlin. as 1 S 21- ' the king liath c"^ mo a business.' Tlie subst. 'command' occurs once in AV, .Job 39-'^ ' Doth the eagle mount up at thyc. ?' and only one earlier occurrence is found in Eng. literature, .Shaks. Two Gent. IV. iii. 5 —