11. “For he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not? And this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.”496    1 John iv. 20, 21. Marvellous fine talk it was, that thou didst say, “I love God,” and hatest thy brother! O murderer, how lovest thou God? Hast thou not heard above in this very epistle, “He that hateth his brother is a murderer”?497    1 John iii. 15. Yea, but I do verily love God, however I hate my brother. Thou dost verily not love God, if thou hate thy brother. And now I make it good by another proof. This same apostle hath said, “He gave us commandment that we should love one another.” How canst thou be said to love Him whose commandment thou hatest? Who shall say, I love the emperor, but I hate his laws? In this the emperor understands whether thou love him, that his laws be observed throughout the provinces. Our Emperor’s law, what is it? “A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another.”498    John xiii. 34. Thou sayest then, that thou lovest Christ: keep His commandment, and love thy brother. But if thou love not thy brother, how canst thou be said to love Him whose commandment thou despisest? Brethren, I am never satiated in speaking of charity in the name of the Lord. In what proportion ye have an insatiable desire of this thing, in that proportion we hope the thing itself is growing in you, and casting out fear, that so there may remain that chaste fear which is for ever permanent. Let us endure the world, endure tribulations, endure the stumbling-blocks of temptations. Let us not depart from the way; let us hold the unity of the Church, hold Christ, hold charity. Let us not be plucked away from the members of His Spouse, not be plucked away from faith, that we may glory in His coming: and we shall securely abide in Him, now by faith, then by sight, of whom we have so great earnest, even the gift of the Holy Spirit.

11. Qui enim non diligit fratrem suum quem videt, Deum quem non videt, quomodo potest diligere? Et hoc mandatum habemus ab ipso, ut qui diligit Deum, diligat et fratrem suum. Magnifice dicebas, Diligo Deum; et odis fratrem! O homicida, quomodo diligis Deum? Non audisti superius in ipsa Epistola, Qui odit fratrem suum, homicida est? Sed prorsus diligo Deum, quamvis oderim fratrem meum. Prorsus non diligis Deum, si odis fratrem. Et modo probo alio documento. Ipse dixit, Dedit nobis praeceptum, ut diligamus invicem (I Joan. III, 15, 23): quomodo diligis eum, cujus odisti praeceptum? Quis est qui dicat, Diligo imperatorem, sed odi leges ejus? In hoc intelligit imperator si diligis eum, si observentur leges ejus per provincias. Lex imperatoris quae est? Mandatum novum do vobis, ut vos invicem diligatis (Joan. XIII, 34). Dicis ergo te diligere Christum; serva mandatum ejus, et fratrem dilige. Si autem fratrem non diligis; quomodo eum diligis, cujus mandatum contemnis? Fratres, ego non satior loquendo de charitate in nomine Christi. Quantum et vos habetis hujus rei avaritiam, tantum speramus quia crescit in vobis ipsa, et foras mittit timorem, ut remaneat ille timor castus permanens in saeculum saeculi. Toleremus mundum, toleremus tribulationes, toleremus scandala tentationum. Non recedamus a via; teneamus unitatem Ecclesiae, teneamus Christum, teneamus charitatem. Non divellamur a membris sponsae ipsius, non divellamur a fide, ut gloriemur in praesentia ipsius: et securi manebimus in eo, modo per fidem, tunc per speciem, cujus tantas arrhas habemus donum Spiritus sancti.