Carpenter (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3). ... "Is not this the car- penter's son?"   In his record of the oc- casion when this question was asked, Mark is more personal, "Is not this the carpenter...?"   Well, Jesus was both the supposed son of Joseph, the carpenter at Nazareth, and also the carpenter, for according to Hebrew custom the first- born son followed the trade represented by the father of the household.    Christ followed the honourable trade of carpentry.   Like any Jewish lad, He would attend the synagogue school until He was about 15 years of age, and then leave to become an apprentice to His foster-father.   As He was 30 years old when He left the Nazareth home to en- ter upon His public ministry, that means that for about 15 years He laboured at the bench earning His own bread by His own skill and labour.   In that humble shop adjacent to the home we have the toil of divinity, revealing the di- vinity of toil.   Dea. Far. commenting on the question, "Is not this the carpen- ter...?" says that the designation "throws the only flash which falls on the con- tinuous tenor of the first 30 years, from infancy to manhood, of the life of Christ."    Of this, we are confident, that this il- lustrious Son, of a humble carpenter through His 15 years at the bench, never made anything shoddy, but put the very best into necessary making and mend- ing of tools and utensils.   The shop was renowned around the countryside for its good and honest work.   When, finally, Jesus left His profession to become a preacher, He returned to His old home to teach in the synagogue there, and the religious leaders were astonished and scornful.   Spitefully, they ask two ques- tions.   First, "Whence has this man these mighty works?"   Where were His aca-

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