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foreign to the views and habits of the present day, and seems to us utterly inconsistent with domestic peace and high personal culture. Whence we may learn the impropriety of confounding the Old with the New Testament, by which, in truth, we reduce the latter to the level of the former. As the record of a revealed system of religious polity, the Old Testament is of undecaying value; but our morality must be learned from Jesus Christ exclusively.

CONCUPISCENCE (L. an earnest desire) is the representative of a Greek word which denotes a vehement emotion, by which we are borne on towards an object, and is hence equivalent to our long for,' or 'lust after.' The original is accordingly rendered, in our version, lusts' (Mark iv. 19), 'desire' (Luke xxii. 15), as well as 'concupiscence' (1 Thess. iv. 5. Col. iii. 5).

CONDUIT (L. compare conduct), a word which occurs in the English Bible, in 2 Kings xx. 20, &c.; and is explained by the rendering given in Job xxxviii. 25, namely, water

course.

CONEY, from the Latin cuniculus, a rabbit, stands for the Hebrew Shaphan, which, from a root signifying to leap, denotes the mus montanus, or Jerboa. Some, however, prefer understanding by Shaphan the Hyrax Syriacus, or Gnaman, from whose flesh the Mohammedans and Eastern Christians abstain: the Shaphan was classed among unclean animals (Levit. xi. 5). Its other characteristics, as far as they are made known in Scripture, may be found in the following passages, Deut. xiv. 7. Ps. civ. 18. Prov. xxx. 26; from which it appears that conies ruminated, frequented rocky places, which were their ordinary abode, and were a feeble folk.' The Syrian hyrax, however, is said to be neither rodent like rabbits, nor ruminant, but anomalous

rocks, and be of gentle and timid habits. The Jerboa, on the other hand, whose jumping mode of locomotion corresponds with the root-meaning of Shaphan, and who prefers high and rocky haunts, is reported to chew the cud.' It is also in favour of this view that Jerome explains the rendering of the Septuagint by a word which is found to signify the Jerboa. This is a small animal, of the size of a rat, but rather resembling a hare in shape, above seven inches long, with a broad flat head, short stumpy nose, and long bald ears. The fore feet, which are short, are placed near the neck. The binder feet are three times their length, and half as long as the whole body; so that the animal springs or leaps like grasshoppers, and with great swiftness. The colour of the head and back is a bright brown: that of the belly and sides is white. The tail, said to be three times the length of the whole animal, is furnished at the end with a tuft of hair, and serves its owner, in jumping, for a rudder.

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The failure of identity in this particular makes seriously against the hyrax Syriacus being the animal intended by Shaphan, though the hyrax may reside in clefts of

JERBOA.

CONFECTION is a word of Latin origin, equivalent to the Saxon term making, or something made. It represents a Hebrew word, which signifies to compound or put together aromatic or highly seasoned materials, 'such as fragrant herbs: hence come the several meanings ascribed to the word (Rahkagh) in the Bible, as to compound' (Exod. Xxx. 33); apothecary' (Exod. xxx. 25); 'spice' (Ezek. xxiv. 10); 'ointment' (Exod. Xxx. 25); 'confection' (Exod. xxx. 35); 'confectionaries' (1 Sam. viii. 13). The word confection' stands for the holy anointing oil, which was to be made of certain specified sweet spices, and appropriated exclusively to sacred purposes (Exod. xxx. 34, seq.). Confection,' in Sheridan's Dictionary, is said to mean a sweetmeat; hence our confectioner, and the corrupt word comfits.

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CONFEDERACY (L. cum, with, and fœdus, a treaty), an agreement generally for political purposes (Gen. xiv. 13. Obad. 7). The original word is for the most part rendered 'covenant' (see the article); also, 'league' (2 Sam. iii. 12; v. 3).

CONFIRMATION (L. cum, and firmus, firm, strong) is the rendering of a Greek word of similar import, which signifies strengthening, establishing, or ratifying (Phil. i. 7. Heb. vi. 16).

CONFISCATION, -a compound Latin word, which means the taking away of the property of a person, and putting it into the public treasury (cum and fiscus). It is the rendering, in Ezra vii. 26, of a Hebrew word, Ganash, which, in other passages, is translated by amerce' (Deut. xxii. 19); and 'punish' (Prov. xvii. 26).

CONFOUND (L. cum, with, and fundo, I pour) signifies to pour together, as metals under the influence of fire, and so, to mingle confusedly; hence, to disarrange, disappoint, put to shame. The tongues at Babel are said to have been confounded' (Gen. xi. 9; comp. mingled,' in Exod. xxix. 40). The enemies of the Psalmist are confounded,' which is immediately explained by the words, 'for they are brought unto shame' (Ps. lxxi. 24; comp. Jer. xiv. 3, 4).

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CONGEALED (L. cum, with, and gelu, frost), hardened as by the action of frost, frozen. The epithet is applied in Exod. xv. 8, to the waters of the Red Sea, made solid like a wall on either side of the Israelites, in their passage, when flying from Pharaoh. CONGREGATION (L. cum, with, and orex, a flock), a flocking together, a meeting, or assembly. It is used of the assembled Israelites, as church is the appropriate name for an assembly of Christians (Numb. x. 7. 1 Kings viii. 14). The original is sometimes rendered 'multitude' (Gen. xxviii. 3); assembly' (Deut. v. 22); and sometimes 'company' (Ezek. xxiii. 46).

CONSCIENCE (L. cum, with, and scio, I know), according to its etymology, denotes self-knowledge; and hence the feeling of our moral condition, which self-contemplation occasions. This feeling is accompanied by approbation or disapprobation. From these moral sentiments comes a sense of merit or demerit, or right and wrong, in relation to our feelings, motives, and conduct. Hence, 'conscience,' in its more general import, signifies the complex feeling we have of right and wrong, both in the abstract, or as measured by some ideal standard, and relatively to our own moral condition at any particular moment. 'Conscience' is the translation of a Greek word of a similar derivative signification in John viii. 9. Acts xxiii. 1; xxiv. 16, and other places.

CONSECRATE (cum, with, and sacer, sacred), to appropriate to sacred purposes. See ANATHEMA.

CONSORTED (L. cum, with, and sors, lot), is the representative of a Greek word of the same etymological formation, denoting to cast in one's lot with another, as the husband in wedlock takes his wife 'for better for worse, for richer for poorer.' In a similar manner, some believers at Thessalonica, consorted with Paul and Silas' (Acts xvii. 4).

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CONVERSATION (L.) signifies, at present, verbal communication between two or more persons; but, in the early periods of our language, its meaning, more in accordance with the derivation of the word (cum, and versor, to turn or have intercourse with), denoted the general bearing and conduct of a person with his fellow-men. Hence it came to signify manner of life.' It is used in this import by Chaucer, in these words: If so be that he falle into thy compaignie, enquire of his conversation and of his lif beforne.'

'Conversation' is once (Ps. xxxvii. 14 'such as be of upright conversation') the rendering of a Hebrew word, which signifies, and is generally translated, 'way' (Ps. i. 1; x. 5).

These remarks suffice to show the meaning to be attached to 'conversation,' in the New Testament (Gal. i. 13. Eph. iv. 22, &c.). But there is one passage which seems to need a few additional words. In Phil. iii. 20, the writer says 'Our (Christian's) conversation is in heaven.' The word here employed, politeuma (from polis, a city), might with more propriety be rendered citizenship,' or 'country,' agreeably to the words of the Saviour himself, who declared that in his Father's house or home were many mansions prepared for those who loved and served him (John xiv. 2, 3).

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CONVERSION (L. a turning) is found but once in the New Testament (Acts xv. 3), where its Greek equivalent is employed of the bringing of the Gentiles into the fold of Christ. Though the word occurs but once, the thing which it represents is the great instrumental aim of the gospel, whose purpose was and is to bring men into union with God by a change of heart and life, through faith in his dear Son.' This great and all-important change, without which there can be neither true religion nor durable peace, and without which man's highest good can by no means be wrought out, is frequently spoken of in Scripture by a word (metanoia) which literally signifies 'a change of mind,' but is invariably rendered in our version by repentance' (Matt. iii. 8, 11; ix. 13. Acts v. 31; xi. 18), though 'repentance' is only an early stage in such a 'change of mind' as the religion of Jesus requires. The prevalence of the word 'repentance' tends to obscure the meaning and impair the force of some passages. Thus John's mission would, from the use

of the word (Matt. iii. 11), appear to have contemplated nothing more than repentance or contrition, - an important feature, and often an essential condition, in a true and lasting conversion; but in truth he aimed at producing a change of mind' in his countrymen, in order that they might bring willing ears and docile affections to the great Teacher himself. Sometimes the

force of metanoia is made more distinct and emphatic by adjuncts, -as in Acts xx. 21, Testifying change of mind (conversion) towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ' (comp. 2 Tim. ii. 25). In Heb. xii. 17, the term appears to signify repentance properly so called; but this is only a derivative and secondary meaning of metanoia.

It is the doctrine of Scripture, that the mode of conversion, in individual cases, varies according to the good pleasure of its author, God, and the peculiar circumstances and condition of those who are its subjects (John iii. 8). The same authority places its necessity beyond a question (John iii. 3), and assigns as the test of its genuineness that faith which worketh by love' (John iii. 6; xiii. 35).

'To some bath God his word address'd
'Mid symbols of his ire,
And made his presence manifest

In whirlwind, storm, and fire;
Tracing, with burning lines of flame,
On trembling hearts his holy name.

To some the solemn voice has spoken
In life's serene retreat;

Where, on the still heart, sounds have broken
As from the mercy-seat,

Swelling in the soft harmonies

That float on Evening's tranquil breeze.'

CONVOCATION (L. cum and voco, I call), a calling together; an assembly called or convened by proper authority. Such is the import of the original Hebrew (Exod. xii. 16. Lev. xxiii. 2; comp. Isa. i. 13, and iv. 5).

COOS (or Cos), a small island in the Egean Sea, lying off the coast of Caria, to the north-west of the promontory of Cnidus. It was celebrated for its wine, its fine gauzelike vestments, and its costly ointment. Its chief city, of the same name, had a muchfrequented temple of Esculapius. Hippocrates was a native of the island. visited by Paul on his way to the imperial city (Acts xxi. 1; comp. 1 Macc. xv. 23). COPPER.See METALS.

It was

CORAL (C. rubrum) was known to the ancients, who classed it among precious stones. Being found in various parts of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, which is said to have taken its name from the hue derived from its corals, this product of nature could hardly fail to be known to the Israelites. Yet it is only twice that the word occurs in our Bible, as the rendering of the Hebrew Rahmoth (Job xxviii. 18. Ezek.

xxvii. 16). In the first passage, King James's translators appear to have been uncertain whether they had given a correct rendering; for they place the original word itself in the margin; nor is it ascertained what species of precious stone the word was intended to denote.

Coral is the product of the coral insect, which, either by a division of its own substance or by throwing out a bud, produces a small mass of gelatinous substance, studded with apertures, inhabited by polypes or worms. This substance speedily attaches itself to a portion of rock, on which it grows, and to which it becomes permanently affixed. The worms obtain their food by the action of their cilia, like vibrating hairs, with which they agitate the water, and cause fresh currents, charged with animalculæ, to flow towards themselves. The minute mass gradually secretes an internal nucleus or skeleton of calcareous matter; and having, during its existence, given birth to other and similar colonies of polypes, the animal portion dies, and the gelatinous matter, with its families of polypes or worms, perishes; but the stony skeleton is left to form, by continual accumulations of this nature, coral reefs and islands.

CORBAN, a Hebrew word, found in Mark vii. 11, denoting a gift, offering, or sacrifice, devoted to God (Lev. ii. 1; vii. 38). The word occurs in a passage which requires some explanation, and which may be thus freely rendered:-'But ye (Pharisees) say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, Corban, that is, a gift, which I desire to offer for your good, ye no longer require him to do any thing for his father or mother; that is, 'Ye teach that, if a son shall have once made an oblation for the welfare of his parents, he is acquitted of all obligation in regard to them.' In other words: 'Our religious offering for parents stands in place of a course of pious conduct towards them' (comp. Matt. xv. 5, 6; xxiii. 18).

There can be no doubt, that Matthew and Mark refer to the same event, and quote the same observation. They do so with a difference that merits some attention. Mark uses the Hebrew word Corban, and imme diately explains it by a corresponding Greek term. Josephus does the same in these words: 'Such also as dedicate themselves to God as a corban, which denotes what the Greeks call a gift' ('Antiq.' iv. 4. 4). The resemblance is striking. Why did Josephus explain the Hebrew term? Because he was writing chiefly for pagan Greek and Roman -readers. So far, then, as this one passage goes, Mark may be said to have had in view heathen readers; for writers of the Hebrew stock would no more require a translation of Corban, than Englishmen would need to have the term gift explained. But the term Corban would hardly have

occurred to a heathen writer. Whence arises an argument that Mark was a Jew.

Matthew, however, does not use the Hebrew word, but simply the Greek translation, doron, a gift, a fact which would agree with the supposition, that his Gospel, as we now have it, was translated or transferred directly from Hebrew into Greek, or that the writer of it had in his mind pagan, and not Hebrew readers.

CORIANDER, a genus of umbelliferous plants, the C. sativum of botanists, is, on some authority, believed to be the plant intended by the Hebrew Gad, used as a subject of comparison for manna, which is described as like coriander-seed, white' (Exod. xvi. 31. Numb. xi. 7). Some have thought the resemblance to lie not merely in the colour, but also in the indented or cut appearance, of the seed: the root of Gad signifies to cut or make an incision. The fruit (or seeds) is of the size of a pepper-corn, containing an oil which has an aromatic flavour, for which it is highly prized in the East, and used as an ingredient in currypowder. Coriander is common in Egypt and the south of Europe, as well as in our own country. In Essex it is grown for druggists and distillers. Its leaves are used as condiments in soups, &c.

CORINTH (G.), a celebrated city, which lay on the isthmus that joins the main land of Greece with the Morea; and, from its position between the Saronicus Sinus and Alcyonium Mare, was appropriately termed bimaris, or 'between the two seas.' Corinth was a city in the district Corinthia, which united Megaris with Argolis. The southern part of the district consists of a chain of hills with bare high tops, deep valleys, and narrow clefts; which sinks gradually down towards a plain, in which Corinth stands, throwing out a lofty insulated hill, that sustains the citadel or acropolis of the place. From the plain the land rises again northwards, joining a range of hills which run up into Megaris. The character of the district was therefore various. Equally did its parts differ in regard to fruitfulness. The eminences were barren; the vales, the lowlands, especially the seacoast, stretching from Corinth to Sicyon, along the Sinus Corinthiacus, were enriched and adorned with the most luxuriant vegetation, which called forth from the ancients expressions of wonder and delight. And still, according to travellers, these parts produce great abundance, without the bestowal of much human labour, so rich is the soil, so genial the climate.

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we know little: the new city is minutely described by ancient writers. Yet, of the worship, arts, commerce, character, and manners of the inhabitants of the old city, our information is perhaps more abundant than of any other Grecian city.

ANCIENT TEMPLE AT CORINTH.

Wordsworth's Greece.

Corinth, as a Dorian city, reckoned among its religious obligations the worship of Apollo and Diana. That of Minerva also was observed. But in an especial manner was the city addicted to the licentious rites of Venus. According to a local tradition, Helios (the Sun), to whom, in his contest with Neptune for the possession of the land, the heights of Acro-Corinthus (the citadel) had fallen, assigned these to Aphrodite (the Greek name for Venus), whose oldest and most sacred temple stood on this bill. In consequence of the connection of Corinth with trade by sea, the Phoenician idolatry exerted a baneful influence on the (in itself) bad and corrupting native worship of Aphrodite. The goddess had another temple at Craneum in Cenchreæ, lying at the northeast of Corinth. These temples were served by young females, whose lives were a scene of licentious degradation, disgraceful enough to themselves, but far more disgraceful to the priests and the system by which they were led to offer their bodies and their souls in temples of lust. These sacrifices, however, were regarded with a very different eye by the culture of classic times, as appears by a variety of facts, and by this, that an ancient writer (Suidas) has preserved the names of the most distinguished of these religious courtesans. The licentiousness of the place became proverbial, so that the very name Corinth was synonymous with the practice of harlotry.

The worship of many other heathen deities prevailed in the city, so as to make it one vast but decorated scene of idolatry. The temples of the several divinities, especially those which stood on the Acropolis, and were consecrated to the more ancient worships of the city, survived in part its

destruction by the Romans: many, however, belonged exclusively to the new city. In the service of these religious institutions, art employed all its resources; and the Corinthians had the envied praise of surpassing the rest of Greece, in the skill, taste, and sumptuousness, with which they decorated their city and their temples. To them is architecture indebted for its richest and most highly ornamental order. Equally renowned were they for superiority in the practical arts of life. In literature, however, they fell below the ordinary standard; not one eminent writer,- not one orator of renown. Yet in wise statesmen, Corinth was not wanting. Its energies were largely embarked in trade and commerce, which did more for its substance than its morals. Its position between two seas put it into immediate connection with the best marts of the East and West; while its trade was much augmented both by the difficulty then experienced of circumnavigating the Peloponnesus, and the ease with which goods could be transported across the narrow isthmus on which it lay. Accordingly, its trade dated back to the beginnings of its civilisation, and its oldest aristocracy owed their elevation to success in trade. It became a great entrepôt for very remote parts of the world. Here were brought the natural or artificial productions of all lands: - Egypt sent its papyrus; Libya, its ivory; Syria, frankincense; Phoenicia, dates; Carthage, carpets; Syracuse, corn; Euboea, fruit; Thessaly and Phrygia, slaves. There stood ships of all forms and from all nations: on its eastern side, in the harbour of Cenchrea; on its western side, in the harbour of Lechæum. Hence, even in early periods, revenues for the state, ample enough to supply the wants and satisfy the desires of its rulers. But commerce is fickle in the favours it bestows. Alexandria arose, and drew off much of the trade of Corinth, which suffered also by the rivalry of Rhodes. The opulence of its citizens corresponded with their enterprise, skill, and industry. The population was large; the number of slaves, almost incredibly great (460,000). Wealth brought refinement of mind and manners, which encouraged the virtues of hospitality and social order, but, degenerating into ease and self-indulgence, engendered moral corruption, in which the pleasures of the senses gained an almost exclusive sway. Corinth had, in a Lais and other females, attractions so powerful, that it was expressly visited for guilty indulgences; which, however, were ruinous to all but the very opulent. these enormous moral evils were, to the eyes of the Corinthians, not dark enough to throw a cloud over the name of a city of which they were proud, and whose fame was spread throughout the civilised world.

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But

Of the history of Corinth we can say no

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