40.  For having undertaken to contend on behalf of God, the Supreme Being, and of salvation, and of the primary hope89    The primary hope.  This term is used of the full knowledge and confession of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, Orat. xxxii. 23; where its necessary connection with Christianity and the life of the soul is insisted on.  For its vital importance cf. Liddon, Bamp. Lect. pp. 435, 6, and its bearing on the Mediatorial Work of Christ, and so on our salvation.  Ibid. Lect. VIII. esp. pp. 472–9 (5th ed.).  S. Cyr. Hier. Catech. 13. 2.  S. Cyr. Alex. de S. Trin. dial. 4. tom v. pp. 508, 509.  S. Proclus Hom. in Incarn. 5. 6. 9.  Bright. Hist. of the Church. p. 149. of us all, the more fervent they are in the faith, the more hostile are they to what is said, supposing that a submissive spirit indicates, not piety, but treason to the truth, and therefore they would sacrifice anything rather than their private convictions, and the accustomed doctrines in which they have been educated.  I am now referring to those who are moderate and not utterly depraved in disposition, who, if they have erred in regard to the truth, have erred from piety, who have zeal, though not according to knowledge,90    Rom. x. 2. who will possibly be of the number of those not excessively condemned, and not beaten with many stripes,91    Luke xii. 47. because it is not through vice or depravity that they have failed to do the will of their Lord; and these perchance would be persuaded and forsake the pious opinion which is the cause of their hostility, if some reason either from their own minds, or from others, were to take hold of them, and at a critical moment, like iron from flint, strike fire from a mind which is pregnant and worthy of the light, for thus a little spark would quickly kindle the torch of truth within it.

Μʹ. Ὡς γὰρ περὶ Θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ μεγίστου τῶν ὄντων ἔχοντες τὸν ἀγῶνα, καὶ τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτῆς, καὶ τῆς πρώτης πᾶσιν ἐλπίδος, ὅσῳ τὴν πίστιν εἰσὶ θερμότεροι, τοσούτῳ προσαντέστεροι τῷ λόγῳ, καὶ προδοσίαν τῆς ἀληθείας, οὐκ εὐσέβειαν τὴν εὐπείθειαν ὑπολαμβάνοντες, πάντα πρόοιντ' ἂν πρότερον ἢ τοὺς οἴκοθεν λογισμοὺς, μεθ' ὧν ἕρχονται, καὶ τῶν δογμάτων οἷς συνανεστράφησαν τὴν συνήθειαν: καὶ τοῦτο ἔτι λέγω τῶν μετριωτέρων καὶ οὐ πάντη κακῶν τὸ πάθος, οἳ κἂν τῆς ἀληθείας διαμαρτάνωσιν, ἀλλὰ τῷ γε δι' εὐλάβειαν τοῦτο πάσχειν, καὶ ζῆλον μὲν ἔχειν, ἀλλ' οὐ κατ' ἐπίγνωσιν, τυχὸν ἔσονται τῶν οὐ σφόδρα κατακρινομένων, οὐδὲ πολλὰς δερομένων, ὡς οἱ διὰ κακίαν καὶ πονηρίαν τοῦ δεσποτικοῦ θελήματος ἀποπίπτοντες. Καὶ τάχα ἂν οὗτοι μεταπεισθεῖέν ποτε, καὶ μεταβληθεῖεν ὑπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς εὐλαβείας, ὑφ' ἧς καὶ ἀντέβαινον, εἴ τις αὐτῶν ἅψαιτο λόγος, ἢ οἴκοθεν ἢ ἔξωθεν κρούσας καιρίως, ὥσπερ σίδηρος πυρῖτιν λίθον, τὴν ἐγκύμονα καὶ ἀξίαν φωτὸς διάνοιαν: ἐν ᾗ καὶ τάχιστα ἂν ἐκ μικροῦ σπινθῆρος ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας πυρσὸς ἐκλάμψειε.