CONSIST.— Col 1" ' by him all things c' [<Tvi>{<r- TrjKi, RVni 'hold together ') = mod. 'subsist.' This is the oldest meaning of thf word and the tr. of the Rhemish NT ; Tindale gives ' have their being,' and is followed by Cranmer and the Geneva ; Wyclif simply ' ben '=are. J. Hastings.
CONSOLATION.— See Comfort.
CONSORT.— To c. with is to associato with, cast in ones lot with {ritn together, sors, .^or/tm lot); Ac H'' 'Some of them believed, and c"' with Paul and Silas' (a good idiomatic tr. of the Gr. TrpoutXn- puu, fr. Trpis to, nXijpoi lot, though the form is pa.ss., lit. ' were allotted to'). Up to the end of the 18th cent, a concert of music was, by a mistaken associa-
• It is used of the consecration of the priftt only (except Exk 432fl the altar), and the most probable explanation is that the things to 1)0 offered were pttC into the priest's ha?id«. a synibolio act bv which he was installed or consecrated. 8oine(esp. Vatke, Allli-'xt. Throt. i>. 273 f., and Wellhausen, ProL* p. 130) think that the priest's hand was filled with money as * earnest ' (Bcotcb arlU). &ee I'aiisn and Livitis.
476
CONSTANT
CONTENTMENT
tion with this word, spelt ' consort,' though it comes through Fr. concert, It. concerto from Lat. concertare to contend (or, as Skeat decidedly prefers, conserere to unite). Cf. Mom. and Jul. III. L 48 — • Tybalt, — Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo, — Mer. — Consort I what 1 doat thou make us minstrelflT'
In Sir 32° AV 1611 we have ' A consort of musick in a banquet of wine * {<rvyKpifia /xovaiKii-v), but mod. edd. spell ' concert.' See Music. J. Hastings.
CONSTANT 1 Ch 28' ' if he be c. to do my com- mandments' (p!r;-DK=if he he Jirm). Cf. Shaks. Jul. Cces. III. i. 72—
* For I was constant Cimber should be banish'd, Antl constant do remain to keep him so.'
Constantly : Pr 21^ ' the man that heareth speak- eth c, i.e. 'confidently,' not 'frequently' (nsj, KV ' unch.illenged,' RVra ' so as to endiue ) ; Ac 12" ' she c. attirmed that it was even so ' {5it<rxvpltrro, RV ' contidently affirmed ') ; Tit 3* ' these things I will that thou affirm c' (Jia^t/SaioDcrfloi, RV ' affirm confidently'). Cf. the Collect for St. John Baptist's Day, ' Aft«r his example c. speak the truth,' i.e. firmly, consistently. J. Hastings.
CONSULT. — 1. To take counsel, deliberate, used of a single person, as Neh 5' ' Then I C^ with my- self; Lk 14" 'Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and c'"" whether he be able' (RV 'will not . . . take counsel '). 2. To devise, contrive, with a simple object, as Mic 6° ' remember now what Balak king of Moab c"* ' ; Hab 2'" ' Thou hast c"" shame to thy house ' ; or with an infin., as Ps 62'' ' They only c. to cast him down from his excellency.'
J. Hastings.
CONSUMPTION.— In Lv 26", Dt 28-'--' the ref. is to the disease (see MEDICINE). But in Is 10- (p''':) and 10^ 28^ (n^j, RV ' consummation,' as Dn 9-'' A V) the meaning is ' thorough ending.' So Foxe {Act. and Mon. iii. 56) says, ' Christ shall sit . . . at the ri<'ht hand of God, tUl the consumption of the world.' J.HASTINGS.
CONTAIN.— 1 Co 7" if they cannot c, let them marry ' (KV ' if they have not continency,' ijKpa- Tei'oiMii, fr. iv, Kpdros powers' have self-control'; it is tr^ ' be temperate ' 9^). Cf. Young, Paraphr. Job (1719), 'Then Job contained no more; but curs'd his fate ' ; and for the meaning here. Swift, Letters (1710), 'No wonder she married when she was so ill at containing.' Wyclif's tr. (after the Vulg. si nnn se continent) is, ' For if thei con- teynen not hem silf, or ben not chast, weddid be thei.'
J. Hastings.
CONTEND.— Generally 'c. with' in the mod. sense of ' fight with,' as Is 49^ ' I will c. with him that c""" with thee'; or 'argue with,' as Ac 11^ ' they that were of the circumcision c'^ with him, sajang.' But in the latter sense c. is also found witliout ' with,' as Is 57" ' I will not c. for ever ' (prob. = argue with, accuse, condemn); Job 13* ' will ye c. for God 'I ' ( = argue with others for God, be an advocate for God), Am 7* ' the Lord God called to c. by fire' (=argue, and so Mic 6' 'c. thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice'). In all these passages the Heb. is Dn ribh. In Jude * ' ye should earnestly c. for the faith ' {iirayuA(oiui.i), the meaning passes out of strife or argument into the wider sphere of earnest endeav- our ; as with the simple d7ui'(fo^i in Lk 13^ ' Strive to enter in at the strait gate,' and Col 4'^ ' labour- ing fervently for you in prayers' (RV 'always striving for yon '), and as Bacon, Essays, ' Let a man contend, to excell any Competitors of his in Honour.'