"We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He
that loveth not abideth in death." --1 "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 torn 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.
So one morning he prepared to go to the village to buy the sheep- skins. He put on over
his shirt his wife's wadded nankeen jacket, and over that he put his own cloth coat. He
took the three-rouble note in his pocket, cut himself a stick to serve as a staff, and started
off after breakfast. "I'll collect the five roubles that are due to me," thought he, "add the
three I have got, and that will be enough to buy sheep-skins for the winter coat."
He came to the village and called at a peasant's hut, but the man was not at home. The
peasant's wife promised that the money should be paid next week, but she would not pay
it herself. Then Simon called on another peasant, but this one swore he had no money,
and would only pay twenty kopeks which he owed for a pair of boots Simon had mended.
Simon then tried to buy the sheep-skins on credit, but the dealer would not trust him.
"Bring your money," said he, "then you may have your pick of the skins. We know what
debt-collecting is like." So all the business the shoemaker did was to get the twenty
