A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL, ON THE TWENTY-FOURTH OF MARCH, A.D MDCXI. BEING EASTER-DAY, AND SERM. 1. PSALM CXviii. 22. The Stone Which the builders refused, the same Stone is become (or made) the Head of the corner. [Lapidem, Quem reprobaverunt ædificantes, Hic factus est in Caput anguli. Latin Vulg.] [The Stone Which the builders refused is become the Head-stone of the corner. Engl. Trans.] "THE Stone which the builders refused," saith the Prophet David. "This is the Stone which ye builders refused," saith Acts 4. 11. the Apostle Peter. And saith it of Christ our Saviour, Hic est Lapis, "He is the Stone." And saith it to Caiaphas and the rest that went for builders. We know then who this Stone is, and who these builders be, to begin with. And in the very same place, the same Apostle telleth us farther what is meant by "refused," and what by "made Acts 4. 10. head of the corner." Quem vos, "whom ye" denied and "crucified;"-that was His refusing. And then, Quem Deus, "whom God" hath raised again from the dead;—that was His making Caput anguli. "Refused" when? Three days "Made Head," when? This very day, for Hic est Ps. 118. 24. dies followeth straight within a verse, "This is the day." Which day? there is not one of the Fathers that I have read, but interpret it of Easter-day. ago. And so we have brought the text, and the time together. We know who is "the Stone;" Christ. Who "the builders;" Caiaphas and those with him. When "refused?" In His Passion. When "made head ?" at His Resurrection, that is this day, which day is therefore at the twenty-seventh verse said to be, constitutus dies solennis, "made a solemn feast-day," in condensis, on which the Church to stand "thick and full," usque ad cornua altaris, "even up to the very corners of the altar." This I take it is a good warrant for our Church, to make this Psalm a select choice Psalm for this day, as peculiar and pertinent to the feast itself. And a good warrant for us so to apply it. It is the Holy Ghost's own application by the mouth of St. Peter, we may boldly make it ours. But though this be the chief sense, yet it is not the only. 2. The chief it is, for "the spirit of prophecy" is in it, which Rev. 19. 10. "is the testimony of Jesus." Yet not the only, for according to the letter we cannot deny, but that originally it was meant of David. He was a stone too, and in his time refused, yet after raised by God to the highest place, even to be King over his people. The Chaldee Paraphrast, the oldest we have, is enough for this; thus he turneth the verse. &c. "The Child Whom the chiefest men oppugned, He of all the sons of Ishai, was made Ruler of Israel." A second sense then it hath, of David. סלא And by analogy it will bear a third, and it will sort with 3. ours, or with any Prince, in like manner banded against, and sought to be put by as he; and yet after brought by God to the same place that David was. To any such it will well agree, and be truly verified of him, and rightly applied to him. And I confess, I chose it the rather for this third. Because, as this year falleth out, upon one day, and Hic est dies, "this is the day," we have in one a memorial of two benefits; 1. of our Saviour's exalting by His resurrection, 2. and of our Sovereign's exalting, and making head of this kingdom. Both lighting together, we were, as we thought, so to remember the one, that we left not the other out. And this text will serve for both. Both may in one be set before us, and so we rejoice and render thanks to God for both; for the Lord Christ, and for the Lord's christ under one. SERM. Three senses then there are in the text, and to do it right, we to touch them all three. 1. Christ in prophecy; 2. David in history; 3. Our own in analogy. But we will give Christ the precedence. Both for His Person-He "is David's Lord," Col. 1. 18. and the Head of all Head-stones; it is meet He have primatum in omnibus, "He in all things have the pre-eminence❞— and, for that the truth of the text never was so verified in any as in Him. We may truly say, none ever so low cast down, none ever so high lift up again as He. Others refused, but none like Him; and their heads exalted, but nothing in comparison of His. 1. First then of Christ's; 2. after, of David's briefly; 3. and last, of our own. I. To apply it to Christ. "The stone" is the ground of all. Two things befal it, two things as contrary as may be. 1, "Refused," cast away; 2. then, called for again, and "made Head of the building." So two parts there are, to the eye. 1. The refusing, 2. and the raising, which are His two estates, His humiliation, and His exaltation. 1. In either of these ye may observe two degrees. A quibus, and quousque; by whom,' and 'how far.' By whom "refused?" We weigh the word ædificantes; not by men unskilful, but by workmen, "builders" professed; it is so much the more. 2. How far? We weigh the word reprobaverunt, usque ad reprobari, 'even to a reprobation.' It is not improbaverunt, 'disliked,' as not fit for some eminent place, but reprobaverunt, 'utterly reprobate' for any place at all. II. Again, exalted by whom? The next words are, a Domino, 1. "by God," as good a Builder, nay better than the best of them; which makes amends for the former. 2. And how far? Placed by Him, not in any part of the building, but in the part most in the eye, "the corner,” and in the highest place of it "the very Head." 3. So rejected, and that by the builders, and to the lowest estate; and from the lowest estate exalted in Caput anguli, to the chiefest place of all, and that by God Himself. This for Christ. And David is a stone, and so is ours, and so is every good Gen. 49.24. prince, lapis Israel, as Jacob in his testament calleth them. And builders there be, such as by office should, but many times do not their office, no more than Caiaphas here. Repro baverunt is, when "they devise to put Him by, Whom God Ps. 62. 4. would exalt ;" and factus Caput, when God for all that doth them right, and brings them to their place, the Throne Royal. And this was the day when God so brought David, as appeareth by the twenty-fourth verse. And hic est dies, "this is the day" when He brought His Majesty to be head of this kingdom. Of these in their order. 1. 77. 20. "The Stone which the builders refused, &c." The estate I. of mankind, as they are in society, either of Church or kingdom, is in divers terms set forth to us in Scripture; sometimes of a flock, sometimes of husbandry, otherwhile of a building. [See Ps. 74. Ye are "His flock"-divers times in the Psalms. "You are 78. 52. 79. God's husbandry, you are God's building”—both in one verse. 95. 7. 107. Now, the style of this text runs in terms of this last, of Build- 41.] ing or Architecture. For here are builders, and here is stone, 1 Cor. 3. 9. and a coin or corner, and a top or turret over it. 13. 80. 1. Of this spiritual building we all are stones, and which is strange, we all are builders too. To be built, and to build, both stones, in regard of them whom God hath set over us, who are to frame us, and we so to suffer them. Builders, in regard of ourselves first: then, such as are committed to us, by bond either of duty or charity, every one being, as St. Chrysostom saith well, de subditá sibi plebe quasi domum Deo struere, of those under his charge, to make God an house.' As "stones;" it is said to us by St. Peter, Superædificamini, "Be ye built up," or framed. As "builders;" it 1 Pet. 2. 5. is said to us first by St. Jude, "Build yourselves in your most Jude 20. holy faith." Then by St. Paul, "Edify ye," or build ye "one 1 Thes. 5. another." "Be built," by obedience and conformity; "Build yourselves" by increase in virtue and good works. "Build one another" by good example, and wholesome exhortation. The short is, this is to be our study, all: if we be but ourselves, every one in himself and of himself to build God an oratory. If we have an household, of them to build Him a chapel. If a larger circuit, then a Church. If a country or kingdom, then a Basilica, or Metropolitan Church, which is properly the prince's building. This in the text, the builders here were in hand with, as a Basilica; for it was the frame of the Jews' government, but is applied to all states in general. For Jewry was the scene or T 11. SERM. stage whereon the errors or virtues of all governments were represented to all posterity. VI. The first sense, Christ. Four words there be in the text: 1. Edificantes, "builders." 2. Lapis, "Stone." 3. Angulus, "a Corner," and 4. Caput, "the Head." From the first word, Ædificantes, this we have; that states would not be as tents, set up, and taken down, and removable. They would be buildings, to stand steady and fixed. Nothing so opposed unto a state, as not to stand. 2. From the second, Lapis; that this building would be, not of clay and wood, or, as we call them, paper walls; but stone-work, as strong, as defensible, as little subject to concussion, or combustion, as might be. 3. From the two parts specified, first, Anguli; this stonework is not a wall forthright, to part in sunder, or to keep out, but it consists of divers sides: those sides meet in one angle where, if they meet and knit well, all the better will the building be. 4. Caput. And they will knit the better, if they have a good "head." For where they meet, no place so much in danger of weather going in, and making the sides fly off, if it want a covering. A head it would have to cover it; it is a special defence, and besides, it is a sovereign beauty to the whole building. And that head would not be of plaister to crumble away, or of wood, to warp or rot with the weather; or of lead, to bow or bend, and to crack; but of stone, and the principalest stone that could be. The chief part it is, the head; the chief care and consultation would be, what stone meet for that place, for indeed it is all in all. That is the consultation here. Here is Christ, what say you to Him? He is "a Stone." 2. "A building Stone." 3. "A corner Stone." 4. "A head Stone." "A Stone:" Acts 4. 11. so the Prophets term Him. And so the Apostles, Peter [and] Paul. 1. In His Birth: Daniel's "Stone, cut forth Dan. 2. 34. without hands." 2. In His Passion: Zachary's Stone, graven Zech. 3. 9. and cut full of eyes, all over. 3. In His Resurrection: Esay's Isa. 28. 16. Stone, laid in Sion, Qui crediderit non confundetur, "he that believeth in Him then, shall not be confounded," saith St. He is the Stone of our faith, saith Christus. And Petra erat Christus, 1 Pet. 2.6. Peter, Hic est Lapis. 1 Cor. 10. 4. St. Peter, Lapis erat |