Bishop Handley Moule (1841-1920) comments on the closeness
of relationships we were looking at in Philippians 1:
“If I mistake not, there is far too little of this at
present, even in true Christian circles. A certain dread … of what is foolishly
called ‘goody-goody,’ has long been abroad; a grievously exaggerated dread; a
mere parody of rightful jealousy for sincerity in religion. Under the baneful
spell of this dread it is only too common for really earnest Christians to keep
each other’s company, and even to take part in united religious work, and to be
constantly together as worshippers, aye, perhaps as ministers of the Word and
Ordinances of Christ, and yet never, or hardly ever, to exchange a word about
Him, heart to heart; still less to ‘speak often one to another,’ and share
fully together their treasures of experience of what He is and what He has done
for them. The very dialect of the Christians life has greatly lost in holy
depth and tenderness, so it seems to me … It ought not so to be.”
Still the case?
