40 QUAKER ASPECTS OF TRUTH 



unconventional and disconcerting* It is apt to make 

 suggestions that are obviously ill-timed and prepos- 

 terous ♦ The love of enemies in war-time and the like I 

 So perhaps those of the Way may still find the most 

 suitable accommodation, not in the synagogue or the 

 Church or Chapel, but in the school of one Tyranus ! 



Then again, after two years in the school of one 

 Tyranus, the Apostle found himself up against another 

 vested interest — the interest of trade. Once again there 

 was ** no small stir concerning the Way/' Demetrius 

 and his fellow-craftsmen found that the Way of Love 

 was proving prejudicial to the sale of shrines for the 

 Goddess Diana, At first sight it does not seem quite 

 obvious why the way of the pious people in the Synagogue 

 should not have proved quite as prejudicial to the sale 

 of shrines as the Way of Love, But the Way of Love 

 meant business, and the business of the Way of Love 

 was not compatible with the business of Demetrius, 

 So Demetrius appealed to the trade and the trade appealed 

 to the mob, and the consequence was a great riot, so 

 that Paul had to leave Ephesus, 



Again we have heard echoes of those far-off times. 

 The Way of Love is still apt to run counter to the interests 

 of trade, especially such trades as armament firms and 

 the gutter-press, and the mob is at times appealed to. 

 Even our Meeting-house at Mount Street was attacked, 

 which makes me hope that our Quaker Meeting- 

 houses have some spiritual affinity with the school of 

 one Tyranus I 



Then, later still, the Way of Love found itself up 

 against another vested interest — the State. 



Just at first '' those of the Way '' looked to the State 

 for protection, and not altogether in vain. Thus, when 

 Paul was defending himself before Felix, he boldly 

 confessed that he served God, after '' the Way which 

 they call heresy,'' and Felix, not the best of Roman 



