Gods free mercy to England presented as a precious and powerful motive to humiliationGods free mercy to England presented as a pretious and powerfull motive to humiliation

Fourthly, The great hope we have of a reformation of the Church and State. We may now say in some good measure, as it is Canticles 2. 11. The winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come: ⟨p. 6⟩You know the birds sing early in the morning at the break of day, and the flowers appear at the beginning of the Spring; Blessed be God, here is a fair spring towards, the day begins to dawn, Reformation begins to blossom, and we hope that the winter of adversity is past and gone, unless our new sins do provoke God to repent of the good he intends to do unto us, as he dealt with Saul for his new transgression, after he had thought to have established him King, 1 Sam. 13. 13, 14.

Fourthly, The great hope we have of a reformation of the Church and State. We may now say in some good measure, as it is Canticles 2. 11. The winter is past, the raine is over and gone, the flowers appeare on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come: ⟨p. 6⟩You know the birds sing early in the morning at the break of day, and the flowers appeare at the beginning of the Spring; Blessed be God, here is a faire spring towards, the day begins to dawne, Reformation begins to blossome, and we hope that the winter of adversitie is past and gone, unlesse our new sinnes do provoke God to repent of the good he intends to do unto us, as hee dealt with Saul for his new transgression, after hee had thought to have established him King, 1 Sam. 13. 13, 14.

Fifthly, The many grievous yokes that God hath freed us from, so many, as that the day would hardly suffice to repeat them: God hath delivered us from Civill yokes, and from Spiritual; from Monopolies; from the late Canons mounted up against all good men, but now turned against themselves; from the Star-Chamber, and from the terrible High Commission, that wrack and torture of conscience, and conscientious men; which was appointed like the dogs in the Capitol, to scare away thieves, but hath for the most part barked only at honest men; from those two terrible Oaths, the Oath ex Officio, and the Oath of the late Canons, whereby the Prelatical party thought for ever to rivet themselves into the Kingdom, and to be above the hurt of the King and Parliament; this Oath is now made the great Canon to shoot them down.