THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
reasons it must always be acknowledged that finite events are produced by the will of a, }iersonal God, already above nature and the world, and working in such a way as to preserve the world and lead it to his purposes. The term concursus is awkward, as suggesting that one activity runs parallel with another. (J. KosTLiNf.)
CONDER, CLAUDE REIGNIER: English soldier and archeologist; b. at Cheltenham (90 m. w.n.w. of London), Gloucestershire, Dec. 29, 1842. He studied at University College, London, but did not graduate, and was in command of the survey of Western Palestine in 1872-78 and 1881-82. He was in the army till 1905. He has written Tent Work in Palestine (2 vols., London, 1878); Judas Maccabaus (1879); Handbook to the Bible (in collaboration with F. R. Conder, 1879); Memoirs of the Survey of Western Palestine (4 vols., in collaboration with H. H. Kitchener, 1881-83); Heth and M oab (1883) ; Primer of Bible Geography (1884) ; Altaic Hieroglyphs and Hittite Inscriptions (1887); The Survey of Eastern Palestine (1889); Palestine (1889); Tell Amarna Tablets (1893); The Bible and the East (1896); The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1897); T/ie Hittites and their Language (1898); The Hebrew Tragedy (1900); The First Bible (1903); and The Rise of Man (1908).
CONDIGNITY AND CONGRUITY, or meritum de condigno and meritum de congruo : Terms used by the schoolmen after Thomas Aquinas in their attempts to reduce the doctrines of grace to one harmonious system. In a general way, meritum in the concrete signifies a supernatural work worthy of a recompense. If the work be such that the reward is due ex jvstitia, or rather in virtue of the divine promise, it is called de condigno, and chief among the conditions required for its existence is that the agent be in the state of grace. If, however, he be not yet justified, and perform under the influence of actual graces certain good works conducive to justification, such are reckoned as merit only in an imperfect sense, meritum de congruo. The Catholic doctrine of merit is based on those New Testament texts (e.g., II Tim. iv. 7; I Cor. ix. 24-25; Matt. v. 12, etc.) which represent eternal life as a reward, for though it is a gift of divine grace, God has willed to give it the character of a recompense. Protestants generally deny the existence of merit, but the controversy is not so much one of principle as of definition of terms.
CONDITIONALISM, CONDITIONAL IMMOR- TALITY. See Annihilationism; and Immortality.
CONE, ORELLO: Universalist ; b. at Lincklaen, N. Y., Nov. 16, 1835; d. at Canton, N. Y., June 23, 1905. He was educated at Cazenovia Seminary, Cazenovia, N. Y., and after teaching in the public schools for several years was an instructor in St. Paul's College, Palmyra, Mo. (1858-61). He was pastor of the Universalist Church at Little Falls, N. Y., 1863-65; professor of Biblical language and literature in St. Lawrence University, Canton, N. Y., 1865-80; president of Buchtel College, Akron, O., 1880-96; resided in Boston and Berlin 189&-98; professor in St. Lawrence Uni-
versity, 1899 till his death. He wrote Gospel Criticism and Historical Christianity (New York, 1891); The Gospel and Its Earliest Interpretations (1893); Paul, the Man, the Missionary, and the Teacher (1898); and Rich and Poor in the New Testament (1902). He also edited the International Handbooks to the New Testament to which he himself contributed Epistles to the Hebrews, Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon, the Pastoral Epistles, Jam,es, Peter, and Jude (1901).
CONFERENCE : A word of various meanings in religious usage. In the Roman Catholic Church it signifies (1) a homiletic address, aiming at instruction, in conversational manner. The socalled " higher conferences " are defined as " instructive addresses for educated hearers on religious or religio-social truths in freer form than a sermon," and less frequently given in a church. They were employed, especially by the clergy of Paris in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, to refute the alleged attacks of science on religion, and have been given elsewhere to meet local or passing conditions. (2) Conferences of the clergy appear in the ninth century because of the great size of the diocesan synods, which made it impossible for all the clergy to meet together. Accordingly district meetings were summoned by the archpriest, archdeacon, or dean, on the first of each month (hence called Calendce, also Collationes, Consistoria, Synodi, etc.). The aim was general consultation and mutual edification. They considered cases of conscience and the like, and sometimes investigated crimes and announced the penalties. The last of such conferences recorded is said to have been held in London in 1237. In 1565 Cardinal Carlo Borromeo instituted clerical conferences and issued directions for their organization and guidance with a view to the better instruction of the clergy. The example was followed widely, but toward the end of the eighteenth century such conferences fell into disuse. Since then they have been revived in many places.
In the Lutheran Churches of Germany there are diocesan clerical conferences, at which the superintendents preside. See also Conference, Free Ecclesiastical-Social; and Eisenach Conference. For the Lutheran Synodical Conference in the United States see Lutherans. For the Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church see Methodists. The Wesleyans of England and Ireland have annual conferences attended by all the ministers. The Free-will Baptists and other minor bodies call their annual meeting by this term.
CONFERENCE, FREE ECCLESIASTICAL- SOCIAL: An organization in Germany wliich aims to popularize Christianity by bringing it to bear upon social problems. It was organized at Cassel Apr. 27-28, 1897, as an offshoot of the Evangelical-Social Congress (q.v.). A second general conference was held at Barmen the followina; November; and since then conferences have been convened annually, usually in April or May. The membersliip has grown from 100 in 1897 to 3/251 in 1906. There are seven standing committees for various phases of