The carpenter's trade has a peculiar interest because Jesus of Nazareth probably served as an apprentice to Joseph when he worked at his trade. "Is not this carpenter's son?" his fellow said with fine scorn, after to teaching in their synagogue. This teaching had at first astonished them, but when they thought of his home in their midst, and his relatives whom they knew, they questioned, "Whence then hath this man all these things?" But lessons for all mankind were to be drawn from these lowly conditions. Let the parables bear witness to this. Perhaps the thrift characteristic in his trade, in a land where wood was scarce, induced him to teach his disciples and the multitude the lesson of prudence and avoidance of waste when, after revealing the divine abundance by feeding the multitude, he said, "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." The carpenter, like many other workmen, depends upon good weather for a continuance of his work; hence his savings in pleasant weather must carry him over the days when no work means no earning; and money thus becomes to him a defence against want or embarrassment.
The Leader of the Christian Science movement was a wise instructor of her followers. In her Message for 1900 (p. 3) she says: "The right thinker and worker does his best, and does the thinking for the ages. No hand that feels not his help, no heart his comfort. He improves moments; to him time is money, and he hoards this capital to distribute gain."
When we think of the multifarious beneficial activities made possible under the provisions of the will of Mary Baker Eddy, whereby what she saved continues to bless mankind, we see the wisdom of her plans. Her life illustrated the conclusion of the preacher: "Wisdom is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it."
