Beloved reader, nothing can make up for the loss of communion, bear in mind; it can only be had when we are in the path of obedience, of separation from the world. If we are walking carelessly, gratifying the desires of the flesh instead of mortifying them—if we are mingled up with the world, not taking our place "outside the camp"—we may gain exemption from opposition and scorn in our various circles, but we will lose communion. How bitter an exchange!
In our folly we may think that by compromising a little, by accommodating ourselves to the ways of the unconverted around us, by being a little more like 'other people (as the expression is), we will secure for ourselves a smoother path; but ah, we do not so in reality.
No, rougher far is the unrough path "toward Sodom," without conscious companionship with Christ, without the sweetness of His smile of approval. Smoother far the unsmooth path of faithfulness to an absent Lord, of testimony against the world which has rejected and crucified Him, and which "lieth in wickedness," with the capacity to enter, in the power of an ungrieved Spirit, into His thoughts.
Oh the unutterable joy of this fellowship! May we know it all along our dreary desert journey, and then, when finished, we will go where there will be no possibility of aught ever marring it. What communion, what fellowship, will then be ours in unhindered fullness!