Precious faith considered in its nature, working, and growth

Hence Moses at the light of the Calf forgets his Meekness, ⟨p. 309⟩and in a holy Passion brake the holy Tables. In the Constantinopolitan Council held about the year of our Lord 754, how hot were the Bishops against Images as a mere Pagan custom! and when they were cast down, how triumphant was the Peoples Zeal crying out, Hodiè salus mundo, now is salvation come to the world! In the fifth Council of Carthage they would have the very relics of Idolatry totally blotted out. Nay, Leo Bishop of Rome, when the Manichees Worshipped the Sun, forbade the Christians to worship towards the East, that they might have nothing common with them. Such a Zeal doth Faith stir up for the Worship of God, and no less for the Truth of God: this is a precious jewel, a secret out of the Fathers bosom, a beam come down from Heaven to light us thither; if this be subverted, Zeal will stand up and vindicate it. Secundus when he was commanded to deliver up his Bibles to be burnt, answered, Christianus sum & non traditor. In the first General Councils how earnest were the Fathers for the Faith? they would not exchange a letter or syllable of it: The Arian [Greek or Hebrew], will not pass instead of [Greek or Hebrew]; nor the Nestorian [Greek or Hebrew], applied to Christ as man, instead of [Greek or Hebrew], applied to the blessed Virgin. With what an heroical and gallant spirit did Luther cleave to the Evangelical Truth? Pia est & sancta hac in re nostra pertinacia; in this ours is a pious and holy obstinacy, saith he. Such a Zeal for truth doth Faith raise up. In sum Faith hath a single eye ⟨p. 310⟩at Gods Glory; and so endears all things tending thereunto, that upon the least violation thereof Zeal will be ready to break forth in that behalf. Moreover, Faith gives a further advance thereunto by looking on the unparalleled Love of God. O what a Zeal hath he for our Salvation! Hath he not writ our poor names in the book of Life, and shall we neglect his glorious one? Hath not he sent his own Son in the flesh to be the great Ordinance of our Salvation, and to fill all the under-Ordinances with his Spirit and Grace, and shall we not be zealous in and for his Worship? Are not his holy Truths the day-star in our bearts, seeds of the New Creature, and Cordials of rich Comfort, and shall we not earnestly contend for them?

Hence Moses at the light of the Calf forgets his Meekness, ⟨p. 309⟩