Acts 19:24-41 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain to the craftsmen;… Depend upon it, Paul was voted a good enough sort of Jew until he began to interfere with business. It is always so. You touch men's trade and you will soon find out how near their religious convictions lie to their pockets. Any one who proposes to interfere with profits will be set upon, right or wrong. It is no longer a question of principle, but of £. s. d. Suppose I am a High, or a Low, or a Broad Churchman — it matters little which — in the name of decency and common sense I declare that six public houses within thirty yards, as at Glasgow, are excessive; or 20,000 are too many for London — do you think I shall stop the renewal of one license next year? Not a bit of it! There's too much wealth and social influence enlisted against me — too many brewers in parliament — for my feeble might to have any weight. But what will happen? Why, if I am a High Churchman, the brewers will discover that I am a person of Romanizing tendencies, to be vigorously resisted in the name of our national protestantism; if I am a Low Churchman, they will call me a narrow, old-fashioned bigot; if I am a Broad Churchman, they will say that I am unorthodox, a most dishonest person, a wolf in sheep's clothing, and a very dangerous man. Yes, certainly; very dangerous — to beer. So the instant Paul's popularity touched the manufacture of silver shrines, Demetrius organised a Trades-Union mob, and nearly succeeded in wrecking Paul and his followers. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; |
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