‘We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death.’ — I Epistle St. John iii. 14.
‘Whoso hath the world’s goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth.’ — iii. 17-18.
‘Love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.’ — iv. 7-8.
‘No man hath beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abideth in us.’ — iv. 12.
‘God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.’ — iv. 16.
‘If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?’ — iv. 20.
A SHOEMAKER named Simon, who had neither house nor land of his own, lived with his wife and children in a peasant’s hut, and earned his living by his work. Work was cheap but bread was dear, and what he earned he spent for food. The man and his wife had but one sheepskin coat between them for winter wear, and even that was worn to tatters, and this was the second year he had been wanting to buy sheep-skins for a new coat. Before winter Simon saved up a little money: a three-rouble note lay hidden in his wife’s box, and five roubles and twenty kopeks were owed him by customers in the village.
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