order to avert judgments, and turn away justly impendent wrath and long
threatened strokes.

The consideration of these blessings and benefits, on the one hand,
which followed the zealous entering into, and sincere performing of
these sacred oaths; and upon the other hand the sense we desire to
retain of the plagues and curses, threatened by God in his word against
covenant-breaking inflicted upon covenant-breakers in former ages, and
foreign nations, and visibly impending upon us in these nations, for our
perfidious dealing in God's covenant; hath moved us a _poor
insignificant handful of people_, unworthy indeed to be called the
posterity of our zealous reforming ancestors, though heartily desirous
to be found adhering to the same standard of doctrine, worship,
discipline and government to which they adhered, to attempt this solemn
and weighty duty of renewing (in our capacities and stations) these
covenant obligations, that we might at least give some discovery of our
respect to the cause of God, for the advancement and preservation
whereof these covenants were first entered into, and afterwards again
and again renewed by our religious progenitors, and by the whole
representative body of the three kingdoms, who had any zeal for the
interest of religion. And that we might, for our parts, be in some
measure instrumental to transmit a testimony for the work of God in our
land to the succeeding generation. Neither do we want, besides these
general motives, some special inducements to this undertaking. As 1.
Because these national covenants, having been nationally broken, and
their funeral piles erected by wicked and perfidious rulers in the
capital cities of the kingdom, with all imaginable ignominy and
contempt, have long lien buried and (almost) quite forgotten under these
ashes; most people either hating the very name and remembrance of them,
or at least being ashamed honorably to avouch their adherence to them,