'These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man
and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with
God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was
filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth,
and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted
His way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end
of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled
with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy
them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood;
rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it
within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion
which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall
be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits,
and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou
make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it
above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the
side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt
thou make it. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of
waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is
the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing
that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I
establish My covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark,
thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives
with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two
of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them
alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls
after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of
every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of
every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and
thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food
for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all
that God commanded him, so did he.'--GENESIS vi. 9-22.

1. Notice here, first, the solitary saint. Noah stands alone 'in his generations' like some single 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. Of course we do not take these words to imply sinlessness. 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 natural to 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.