maxims, and tampering with its pleasures. We cannot mix too much
with it if we take our Christianity with us, and remember our
vocation to be its light.

Notice, again, the companion of the solitary saint. What beauty
there is in that description of the isolated man, passing lonely
amid his contemporaries, like a stream of pure water flowing through
some foul liquid, and untouched by it, and yet not alone in his
loneliness, because 'he walked with God!' The less he found
congenial companionship on earth, the more he realised God as by his
side. The remarkable phrase, used only of Enoch and of Noah, implies
a closer relation than the other expression, 'To walk before God.'
Communion, the habitual occupation of mind and heart with God, the
happy sense of His presence making every wilderness and solitary
place glad because of Him. the child's clasping the father's hand
with his tiny fingers, and so being held up and lifted over many a
rough place, are all implied. Are we lonely in outward reality? Here
is our unfailing companion. Have we to stand single among
companions, who laugh at us and our religion? One man, with God to
back him, is always in the majority. Though surrounded by friends,
have we found that, after all, we live and suffer, and must die
alone? Here is the all-sufficient Friend, if we have fellowship with
whom our hearts will be lonely no more.

Observe that this communion is the foundation of all righteousness
in conduct. Because Noah walked with God, he was 'just' and
'perfect.' If we live habitually in the holy of holies, our faces
will shine when we come forth. If we desire to be good and pure, we
must dwell with God, and His Spirit will pass into our hearts, and
we shall bear the fragrance of his presence wherever we go. Learn,