Dangerous Dainties.

"When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you" (Proverbs 23:1). We suppose that this verse has little or no voice for many of our readers, inasmuch as there is scarcely any likelihood they will ever be invited to dine with the President of the United States or the King of Great Britain. Alas that such a thought should find place in any Christian's mind. Alas that the tendency to carnalize God's Word should now be so general. Alas that our spiritual interpreters of the Living Oracles have well-near vanished from the earth. Yet even though there be no anointed teacher available to open up the Scriptures, ought it not to be self-evident that the Holy Spirit would never have placed such a verse as this in the Word if it had no application unto the rank and file of God's people? And ought not that very consideration cause us to prayerfully seek for its hidden significance?

"When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you." There are other "rulers" mentioned in Scripture beside civil ones. Do we not read of "rulers of the congregation" (Exo. 16:22), the "ruler of the synagogue" (Luke 8:41), as well as the "rulers of the darkness of this world" (Eph. 6:12)? Now, not all of the religious "rulers" in Christendom today have been appointed by God. No indeed, far from it. Personally the writer very much doubts if two out of each thousand of the preachers, ministers, and missionaries, the world over, have been Divinely called! Many of them are self-appointed, some of them sent out by men, most of them raised up by Satan. The attentive reader of the Old and New Testaments will find that the false prophets have, in every age, greatly outnumbered the true. It is for this reason that God commands us to "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). Thus the admonition given in Proverbs 23:1 has always been a timely one for God's people to pay strict attention unto, and perhaps it was never more needful to give heed unto it than in the degenerate and apostate time in which our lot is cast.

The preaching we listen to, and in measure absorb, has precisely the same effect upon our souls, as does the food we eat have upon our bodies: if wholesome, it is nutritious; if injurious, it works harm. "When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you." The tragic thing is that many of God's own children today are so unspiritual, and therefore so spiritually ignorant, that they know not how TO "consider diligently" what is set "before them." They know not what tests to apply, nor how to examine what they hear. So long as the preacher is "orthodox" and approved by those whom they consider "sound in the Faith," they think his message is alright. So long as the preacher holds to the "fundamentals" of the Faith, they suppose that he is a true servant of God. So long as the preacher sticks close to the letter of Scripture, they imagine their souls are being fed with the sincere milk of the Word. Alas for the credulity of such unwary souls.

Is the reader ready to ask, "But what other tests are we to apply?" Let us help you to answer your own question by asking another. What criterion do you apply to the material food you eat? Are you satisfied if it has been prepared and cooked according to the best culinary books? Of course not. The chief thing is, what effect does your food produce? Does it agree with or upset your digestive system? Does it promote or injure your health? We are agreed, are we not? Very good, now apply the same rule or test unto the spiritual— or, we should say, more correctly, the "religious"—food of which you are partaking; what effect is it having upon your character and conduct, what is it producing in your heart and life? But we must not stop there with a mere generalization. If souls are to be helped today, the servant of God must be precise, and enter into details. Ponder carefully these questions, dear reader.

Does the preaching you listen to come home to your heart in the power of the Holy Spirit? If not, what is the use of hearing it? Does the preaching you hear pierce you, search your conscience, condemn you, and make you cry, "O wretched man that I am"? Or does it add to your store of intellectual knowledge, minister to your delight, and make you feel self-satisfied? Do not treat these questions lightly, we beg you, or you are very likely to prove your own worst enemy. Face them fairly and squarely, as in the presence of God. "Consider diligently" what is set before you from the pulpit, for it must do one of two things: help or harm you. It either promotes humility, or feeds pride. It either stimulates to work out your own salvation "with fear and trembling," or it fosters carnal security and self-confidence. It either drives you to your knees, or it more and more lulls your spiritual sensibilities. It either makes you more conscientious and careful about all the details of your daily life, or more careless and callous. It either causes you to cry unto God day and night for Him to work in your heart a deeper and more constant hatred of evil, or (probably unconsciously) leads you to think more lightly of sin—excusing "little" failures, and consoling yourself with the thought that none of us reach perfection in this life; whereas God says, "Be holy in all manner of behavior" (1 Peter 1:15).

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