CONTRARY.— 1, In the sense of 'antagonistic,' c. is now obsol. or dialectic, except in ref. to wind or weather, where the phrase in NT, ' the wind waac.,' has kei)t the meaning alive. This is tlie meaning of c. in Lv 26, where it is used as tr. of "ip IclTi in all its occurrences (20-'- ^- "■ "• =»• «• *»), ' if ye walk c. unto me,' lit. ' in an encounter,' in hostile meeting and revolt, inimically, as Kalisch explains. In XT this is the only meaning, whether the Gr. be iyai/rio^, ' c.' of wind (Mt 14-\ Mk 6^, Ac 27') ; of Saul's opposition, Ac 26" ' I verily thought with my.self that I ought to do many things c. to the name of Jesus of Nazareth ' ; of the opponents of Christianity, 1 Th 2" (the Jews), Tit 2' ' he that is of the c. part' ; or uirej-oi-Wos, Col 2'* ' the handwriting . . . which was c. to us (3 fiv vTO'cwTiov i]fiiv describes its active hostility — Light- foot) ; or aTrivavTi, Ac 17' ' these all do c. to the decrees of Cicsar,' a charge of treason ; or dvrf- Ktifiai, Gal 5" ' the Spirit and the flesh . . . are c. the one to the other ; 1 Ti 1"* ; or even iropd, Ac 18", Ko 11^ 16". 2. In 2 Es 11»- " c. is used in the sense of opposite in position or direction, ' out of her feathers there grew other c. feathers.' Con- trariwise (a liybrid, fr. Lat. contraritis and Eng. wise, way) = ' on thee.,' occurs 2 Co 2', (lal 2', 1 I' 3".
J. Hastings.
CONTRIBUTION.— See COMMtTNION.
CONTRITE (Lat. contritus, bruised, crushed) appears early in Eng. in a (ig.* sense, ' bruised in heart,' jirob. through the inlliience of the Vulg. and tlie Eng. versions, and nearly always with the meaning of penitent. Thus Wyclif (1380), Select Works, ii. 400, ' To assoile men that ben contrite' ; Milton, Par. Lost, x. lO'JI —
• Pardon beg, with tean Watorin^ the ground, and with otir si;.'hs the air Freciuenlinjj, Bent from heart* contrilc'
This is the meaning of c. in AV and RV. But popular as the tr. has been, it is inaccurate, for the Heb. (xr: Ps 34'" 51 ", Is 57" "", nji Is 66-) so tr^ never describes penitence, but always humility, abase-
• CfmtritMX \M never fl(f. until under the Influence of the Vultf., while the Heb. word tr* * contrite ' four times out of five in A V is never literal.
ment. Certainly, God will ' not despise a broken and a penitent heart ' ; but more than that, He will not despise a broken and a crushed heart: ' Blessed are the poor in spirit.' J. HASTINGS.
CONVENIENT, now ^eatly restricted in mean- ing, is freely used in A\ in the sense of befitting, becoming, seemly, as Eph 5* ' Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not c' (RV ' befitting ') : so Pr 30* (RV ' that is needful '), Jei 40*-', Wis 13" 'a c. room,' not 'commodious,' but 'befitting' {diios, RV 'worthy'), Sir lO^* (RV 'right'), 2 Mac 4'" (RV 'fit'), Ro 1=* (RV 'be- fitting'), Philem « (RV ' befitting'). In Merchant of Venice, III. iv. 52, Portia says, 'Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed,' i.e. quick as thouglit ; to which Balthasar replies, ' Madam, I go with all convenient speed,' i.e. speed befitting the urgency. In the sense of ' morally becoming ' (as Ro 1^, Eph 5*, Philem*) the word was once quite common, as 'Trans, of Agrippa's Van Artcs (1684), ' She sang and danc'd more exquisitely than was convenient for an honest woman.
J. Hastings.
CONVENT Jer 49" AVm, ' who wiU c. me in
judgment?' and 50" AVm, 'who will c. me to plead?' — an obsolete vb. =summon (convenire). Cf. Elsing, Debates House of Lords (1621), ' The Com- mons have convented Flood, examyned him, and sentenced him.' J. Hastings.
CONVERSATION. — The word never occurs in .A.V in its modem sense of colloquy, but always in its earlier sense of conduct, beh.aviour. But as intercourse by speech is a large jiart of conduct, the word was specialized to its present limited sense at an early date (not much later than the date of AV). See Oxf. Eng, Diet. * ' Conversation ' in A V is prob- ably due to Vulg. conversatio, conversor. 'These usually stand in Vulg. for N'T avairTpotj>-fi, ivaarpi- (peaBai, though in two cases, Ph 1" and 3*', they represent ttoXit^vo^i and TroXfrci-^. On these latter passages see CITIZENSHIP. In one instance where Vulg. renders TroXireia bycon!'<!r«(<io(Eph2'°), A V departs from the guidance of Vulg. and correctly renders 'commonwealth.' In a few other places AV does not render by 'have our c.' but by ' behave,' ' live,' ' pa-ss the time of.'
The true equivalent of am<rrpo(fi-^ in mod. Eng. is ' conduct ' ; and it is an unfortunate result of the AV archaism 'conversation' that the real pro- minence of conduct in NT teaching isob.'scured (see Ethics). Indeed, the substantive 'conduct' no- where occurs in AV, though RV wisely introduces it in 2 Ti 3'" to represent dyuy^.
There are but two passages in OT where c. occurs (I's 37" and 50'-^). In both it represents i]-i^ ' way.' Conduct in OT is thought of under the metaphor of walking, and the words describing it are literally tr^, hence abstract nouns to express moral conduct do not occur. Hatch (Essai/s m liibl. Gr. p. 9) sees the conditions of Syr. and dr. life respect- ively mirrored in the metaphors wliich the two nations severally emploj-cd for conduct, viz. irepi- waTfTv and dvacrrp^tparffai. ' Whereas in Athens and Rome the bustling activity of the streets gave rise to the conception of life as a quick movement to and fro ; the constant intercourse on foot between village and village in Syria, and the difficulties of travel on the stony tracks over the hills, gave rise to the metaphors which regard life as a jouniev' But the OT metaphor naturally runs on into t1i<' NT, and in Epp. of St. Paul TtpiTarttp is far more frequent than dta<rrpi(pea$ai. Christianity is 'the Way.' Cf. Hort, * IVai/, Truth, and Life,' Lect. I.