Howbeit, it is naturall to unnaturall people, and peculiar unto witchmongers, to pursue the poore, to accuse the simple, and to kill the innocent; supplieng in rigor and malice towards others, that which they themselves want in proofe and discretion, or the other in offense or occasion. But as a cruell hart and an honest mind doo seldome meete and feed togither in a dish; so a discreet and mercifull magistrate, and a happie commonwealth cannot be separated asunder. How much then are we bound to God, who hath given us a Queene, that of justice is not only the very perfect image & paterne; but also of mercie & clemencie (under God) the meere fountaine & bodie it selfe? In somuch as they which hunt most after bloud in these daies, have least authoritie to shed it. Moreover, sith I see that in cases where lenitie might be noisome, & punishment wholesome to the commonwealth; there no respect of person can move you, no authoritie can abash you, no feare, no threts can daunt you in performing the dutie of justice. In that respect againe I find your Lordship a fit person, to judge and looke upon this present treatise. Wherein I will bring before you, as it were to the barre, two sorts of most arrogant and wicked people, the first challenging to themselves, the second attributing unto others, that power which onelie apperteineth to God,[a] who onelie is the Creator of all things,[b] who onelie searcheth the heart and reines, who onelie[c] knoweth our imaginations and thoughts, who onelie[d] openeth all secrets, who[e] onelie worketh great wonders, who onelie hath power[f] to raise up & cast downe; who onelie maketh thunder, lightning, raine, tempests, and restraineth them at his pleasure; who onelie[g] sendeth life and death, sicknesse & health, wealth and wo; who neither giveth nor lendeth his[h] glorie to anie creature. ♦[a] Apoc. 4, 11.♦ ♦[b] Rom. 8. Acts. 5. Apoc. 2.♦ ♦[c] Luke. 16.♦ ♦[d] Dan. 2. & 28, & 47.♦ ♦[e] Psalm. 72. & 136. Jer. 5.♦ ♦[f] Job, 5. & 36 Sam. 12. 1. Reg. 8. 2. Reg. 3. Isaie. 5. Zach. 10. & 14. Amos. 4. 7.♦ ♦[g] Job. 1.♦ ♦[h] Isaie. 42, 8.♦ And therefore, that which greeveth me to the bottome of my hart, is, that these witchmongers cannot be content, to wrest out of Gods hand his almightie power, and keepe it themselves, or leave it with a witch: but that, when by drift of argument they are made to laie downe the bucklers, they yeeld them up to the divell, or at the least praie aid of him, as though the raines of all mens lives and actions were committed into his hand; and that he sat at the sterne, to guide and direct the course of the whole world, imputing unto him power and abilitie inough to doo as great things, and as strange miracles as ever Christ did.