The epigrammatic value of the saying is en- hanced by the fact that in the East the master- knowledge of the ditierent trades has always been carefully guarded, and a sharp distinction is drawn between the man who thinks and plans and the man who by his elementary manual labour merely carries out the orders of another. In the art of building, a familiar proverb says, ' One stroke from the master, even though it be behind his back, is better than the hammering of a thousand others.' In explanation of this the story is told of a Lebanon prince who engaged a master-mason to Iniild a large bridge of one arch over the river Adonis, and agreed to defray all costs and give the master a certain sum when the work was done. When the bridge was constructed, and nothing remained but to rtmove the scaffolding, the master chvimed his remuneration ; and as the prince argued for a re- duction of the sum, the master declined to remove the scaffolding. Other men were engaged to do this, but they found it to be such a complicated and dangerous task that they abandoned it, and the original builder had to be called in on liis own terms. He stepped forward, and. standing witli his back to the network of supportinj.' lio.ams, gave a single ta.p with his ImmnuT to ,i [iii tii ular wedge. Its removal liberatfil tin- Mi]'|i'iii~. :iiiil as he hurriedly sprang bail;, tliu .-(.alinl.liiiu .ulUipsed, and left the empty arcli vi Ihu Lumiiloled bridge. He alone knew how to do it. Similar proverbs are current with regard to the baker, tailor, carpenter, blacksmith, teacher, doctor, and almost every form of technical industry and specialized profession. The master in his trade oc('upies a position of respect similar to that of the father in the family and the slieikli in tlie tribe. In no department is thi- Mil,iiu~-i..ii mi. IV tlionni-IiL'f.ing than in the dcfri-M.-. -lH,.,Mi In il)i. ll.il.lii- ;ni,l prlests as the trai I lu.i-iii- ni irli-ii.u^ 1.1,,. I \ance and ecclesi- astical .luiy. Ill r,>ns,.,ni.jnr.:. ,,f this the people of the country find a keen tliough guarded enjoy- ment in any situation that seems to discredit the W'isdom of the wise.
i. Figurative applications of the corner-stone. — In Jg 20= and 1 S 14^ the word pinnMh ('corner- stones') is translated 'the chiefs' of the people, as being those whose opinions and actions gave stability and direction to others. In Is 19'^ it is stated that the error of Egj'pt was through her trust in the princes of Zoan' and Noph, who were the corner-stones of her tribes. In the East, the jiiason in laying a row of stones begins with the
corner-stone, and some twelve feet fartlier down, or at tlie other terminus of the wall, if it be short, another stone of the same height is laid with liiue, and then the mason's measuring-line is stretched tiglitly over the outer top-corner of each. This gives the line of frontage and elevation to all the stones that till in the space between them. Zoan and Noph, the comer-stones, being themselves in a false position, ati'ected all between that took measure from them. In Zeph 1'^ 3" tlie same word is translated ' towers,' as the corners of the wall were especially fortified ; and in 2 Cli 26'^ 'bulwarks' (KV in all three passages 'battle- ments'). In Job 38'' the act of laj'ing the founda- tion corner-stone of a house is made to describe that of the creation of the world. In Jer 51-^ the inability of Babylon to furnish any more a corner- stone is made to figure its perpetual desolation. In Zee lO'', in the prophecy of the pre-eminence of Judah, the corner-stone is a conspicuous emblem, along with the tent-peg and tlie bow, as signifying that that tribe was to excel in the peaceful in- dustries of the city and the field, and in the art of war.
Such were the meanings of the rejected corner- stone that in their Messianic application were hidden from tliose wlio crucified the Lord of glory (1 Co 2*), but were revealed to the Gentiles, the 'other husbandmen,' when tlie word of acceptance and service came to them (Eph 2"''-^).
It is a tragical error to suppose that the message of the rejected cornerstone was exhausted in the forfeiture and fate of Israel. The city of God i.s still being built, and blindness with regard to the comer-stone, the mystical presence and the mis- sionary command of Christ, may again expose the builders to scorn, and necessitate another trans- ference of the service.
LiTERAn-RE.— IlastiDgs' DB, art. ' Comer-stone ' ; Expositor, 5th ser. ix. [1899J p. 35ff. ; Expos. Timfs, vii. 372, xiv. 384; Jonathan Edwards, )rort5[tS40J, ii. p. 61 ff. ; Maclaren, Sarmoiu Preached in Manchester, 1st ser. p. 1 fl.
G. M. Mackie. COSAM. — A name occurring in the Lukan gene- alogy of our Lord (Lk 3-^).
COSMOPOLITANISM.— That the Jews were of all nations the most exclusive, was familiar to classic writers (cf. Juv. Sat. xiv. 103 ' non monstrare vias eadem nisi sacra colenti,' and Mayor's references adloc.) ; though both political and social conditions in the 1st cent, had made cosmopolitanism more possible tlian it had ever been before (cf. Juv. ib. iii. 62 'inTiberimSyriusdefiuxitOrontes'). Under the Roman emperors the world was becoming more and more one great State ; St. Paul's Roman citizen- ship stood him in good stead in Philippi as in Jeru- salem (Ac 16-' 22'^). Even in Palestine there were distinctly cosmopolitan elements, as was inevitable in the case of a country lying across the great trade routes of the world. Decapolis was almost entirely Greek ; in Galilee there had for long been a large Gentile population ; and foreigners as well as proselytes from all parts of the empire found tlieir way to Jerusalem (Ac 2' ; see Schiirer, II JP. Index, s. ' Hellenism ' ; and Merrill, Galilee in the Time of Christ). The presence of foreigners, how- ever, is seldom mentioned in the Gosjiels, save for a few references to centurions (Mt8', Lk 7= 23"), strangers from Tyre and Sidon (Mk 3'), a short jour- ney to Decapolis (Mk 7", where, strangely enough, tlie Aramaic word ' Ephphatha ' finds special place in the text), and the notice of the Greeks who sought for Jesus at the feast — though no account of His inter«ew with them is given (Jn 12™). Traces of a cosmopolitan atmosphere may be detected in Mk 15=' (' Simon, father of Alexander and Rufus '), in the Greek names of two of the disciples (Andrew