Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of [thy] words, [saying],
Ver. 8. Surely thou hast spoken in my hearing] Here beginneth the charge, and it is for words; Quae leviter volant, non leviter violant. Nihil tam volucre quam maledictum, nihil facilius emittitur saith Cicero, pro Plancio, Nothing is so swift as an evil word, nothing is more easily uttered. But should a man set his mouth against heaven and utter error against the Lord? Isaiah 32:6. Should he toss that reverend name of God to and fro, with such impiety and profaneness, as if his speech could have no grace, but his disgrace? as if Augustus Caesar were dealing with some god Neptune, or the three sons trying their archery at their father's heart, to see who can shoot the nearest? Surely, as God is the avenger of all such; so Elihu cannot hear it, and not be kindled. Good blood will not belie itself. Psalms 139:20,21, "They speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred," &c. The very Turks have the Christian's blaspheming of Christ in execration; and punish it in their prisoners, when through impatience or desperateness they break out in this kind, What a shame is it, then, that our ranters (that last brood of Beelzebub) should, till of late, be suffered to affirm that Christ is a carnal or fleshly thing; and to contemn him by the notion of the man dying at Jerusalem? &c. Can we hear these hellish blasphemies without ears tingling, hearts trembling? &c. When Servetus condemned Zuinglius for his harshness, he answereth, In aliis mansuetus ero, in blasphemiis in Christum, non ita, In other things I can bear as much as another, but when I hear Christ blasphemed I am altogether impatient; for what reason? in this case patience would be blockishness, moderation mopishness, toleration cowardice. Madness here is better than meekness.