S. AURELII AUGUSTINI HIPPONENSIS EPISCOPI IN EPISTOLAM JOANNIS AD PARTHOS TRACTATUS DECEM .
TRACTATUS III. De eo quod sequitur, Pueri, novissima hora est usque ad id, Cap.
TRACTATUS IV. De eo quod sequitur, Et verax est, et non est mendax usque ad id, Cap. et cap.
TRACTATUS V. In id quod sequitur, Omnis qui natus est ex Deo, non facit peccatum usque ad id, Cap.
TRACTATUS VI. In illud, Et in hoc cognoscimus quia ex veritate sumus usque ad id, etc. Cap. et cap.
TRACTATUS VII. Ab eo quod sequitur, Jam vos ex Deo estis filioli usque ad id, Cap.
TRACTATUS VIII. De eo quod sequitur, Si diligamus invicem, Deus in nobis manebit usque ad id, Cap.
TRACTATUS IX. De eo quod sequitur, In hoc perfecta est dilectio in nobis usque ad id, Cap.
10. “If the world hate us: we know”—What do we know?—“that we have passed from death unto life”—How do we know? “Because we love the brethren.”286 1 John iii. 14. Let none ask man: let each return to his own heart: if he find there brotherly love, let him set his mind at rest, because he is “passed from death unto life.” Already he is on the right hand: let him not regard that at present his glory is hidden: when the Lord shall come, then shall he appear in glory. For he has life in him, but as yet in winter; the root is alive, but the branches, so to say, are dry: within is the substance that has the life in it, within are the leaves of trees, within are the fruits: but they wait for the summer. Well then, “we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not, abideth in death.” Lest ye should think it a light matter, brethren, to hate, or, not to love, hear what follows: “Every one that hateth his brother, is a murderer.”287 1 John iii. 15. How now, if any made light of hating his brother, will he also in his heart make light of murder? He does not stir his hands to kill a man; yet he is already held by God a murderer; the other lives, and yet this man is already judged as his slayer! “Every one that hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”
10. Si odit nos mundus: nos scimus. Quid nos scimus? Quia transivimus de morte ad vitam. Unde scimus? Quia diligimus fratres. Nemo interroget hominem; redeat unusquisque ad cor suum: si ibi invenerit charitatem fraternam, securus sit, quia transiit a morte ad vitam. Jam in dextera est: non attendat quia modo gloria ejus occulta est: cum venerit Dominus, tunc apparebit in gloria. Viget enim, sed adhuc in hieme; viget radix, sed quasi aridi sunt rami: intus est medulla quae viget, intus sunt folia arborum, intus fructus; sed aestatem exspectant. Ergo nos scimus quia transivimus de morte ad vitam, quia diligimus fratres. Qui non diligit, manet in morte. Ne putetis, fratres, leve esse, odisse aut non diligere, audite quod sequitur: Omnis qui odit fratrem suum, homicida 2018 est. Jam ergo si contemnebat quisquam odium fraternum, numquid et homicidium in corde suo contempturus est? Non movet manus ad occidendum hominem, homicida jam tenetur a Domino; vivit ille, et iste jam interfector judicatur. Omnis qui odit fratrem suum, homicida est. Et scitis quia omnis homicida non habet vitam aeternam in se manentem.