_True and False Standards._--"A tree is known by its fruit." This proverb, accepted by the wise and just almost as a truism, seems to have no place in the philosophy of some people, especially when a servant of the Lord is the object of their critical contemplation. "What do men say of him?" is frequently the only criterion by which such a character is judged. And is it not manifestly unfair? When a prophet comes from God with a message for mankind, what matters the name given to that message, or to that messenger, by those unfriendly to the cause he represents? _"The Carpenter's Son."_--Those who rejected the Man of Nazareth when he proclaimed himself the Son of God, doubtless thought they had disposed of him effectually by referring to him sneeringly as "The carpenter's son;" this slight, with others put upon him by his neighbors, causing Jesus to remark: "A prophet is not without honor save in his own country and in his own house." [1] _Effect of Nearness._--His nearness was against him. There was no "distance" to "lend enchantment to the view." His name and humble vocation made his marvelous claims seem impossible. It could not be that God would make a prophet out of a carpenter's son--a prophet mightier than Moses or any of the ancient seers--and give to him such a common name as Jesus, another form of Joshua. [2] It was unbelievable, absurd, to most. Therefore were they justified, as they supposed, in withholding from him recognition and honor. "And He did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief." _History Repeats._--As with the carpenter's, so with the farmer's son--each was objected to upon similar grounds. Nor was it a new thing in human experience. That which called forth criticism had occurred many times in other ages when God had raised up prophets and seers. Probably most of them were selected from among the plain people, and were comparatively unknown to men when the Lord called them. _Moses an Exception._--Moses was a signal exception. He had been reared as a prince in the palace of the king of Egypt; but that was because Pharaoh's daughter, having found the homeless infant at the water's edge, thenceforth had charge of him and his education. Prince he was, regardless of that princely training; but he was not the only prince in Israel. They were "a nation of kings and priests," though most of them walked in ways that were lowly.