THE SAINT AMONG SINNERS by Alexander McLaren, D. D.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 24, 1887

THE SAINT AMONG SINNERS.

By Alexander McLaren, D. D.

NOAH stands alone "in his generations" like some solitary tree green and erect in a forest of blasted and fallen pines. "Among the faithless, faithful only he." His character is described, so to speak, from the outside inwards. He is "righteous," or discharging all the obligations of law and of his various relationships. He is "perfect." His whole nature is developed, and all in due symmetry and proportion—no beauty wanting, no grace cultivated at the expense of others. He is a full man; not a one-sided and therefore a distorted one. We do not take these words to imply sinlessness, of course. They express a relative, not an absolute, completeness. Hence we may learn both a lesson of stimulus and of hope. We are not to rest satisfied with partial goodness, but to seek to attain an all-round perfectness, even in regard to the graces least like our dispositions. And we can rejoice to believe that God is generous in his acceptance and praise. He does not grudge commendation, but takes account of the deepest desires and main tendencies of a life, and sees the germ as a full-blown flower, and the bud as a fruit.

Learn, too, that solitary goodness is possible. Noah stood uninfected by the universal contagion; and, as is always the case, the evil around, which he did not share, drove him to a more rigid abstinence from it. A Christian who is alone "in his generations," like a lily among nettles, has to be, and usually is, a more earnest Christian than if he were among like-minded. The saints in "Cæsar's household" needed to be very unmistakable saints, if they were not to be swept away by the torrent of godlessness. It is hard, but it is possible, for a boy at school, or a young man in an office, or a soldier in a barrack, to stand alone, and be Christ-like; but only on condition that he yields to no temptation to drop his conduct to the level around him, and is never guilty of compromise. Once yield, and all is over. Flowers grow on a dunghill, and the very reeking rottenness may make the bloom finer.

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 all his loneliness, because "he walked with God!" The less he found congenial companionship on earth, the more he realized 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 also that communion with God is not possible unless we are fighting against our sin, and have some measure of holiness. We begin communion with him, indeed, not by holiness, but by faith. But it is not kept up without the cultivation of purity. Sin makes fellowship with God impossible. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" "What communion hath light with darkness?" The delicate bond which unites us in happy communion with God shrivels up, as if scorched, at the touch of sin. "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie."—Alexander McLaren, D. D.