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popery and prelacy, and there withall to bless us with the power and
purity of heavenly doctrine, worship, discipline, and government in the
Church of God, according to His will revealed in the Holy Scriptures;
and to let us have all this accompanyed and attended with many great and
singular blessings, in the conversion and comfort of many thousands, and
in reforming and purging the land from that gross ignorance, rudeness
and barbarity, that once prevailed among us. Wherefore our zealous and
worthy forefathers, being convinced of the benefit and excellency of
such incomparable and unvaluable mercies, thought it their duty, not
only by all means to endeavour the preservation of these, but also to
transmit to posterity a fair _depositum_ and copy in purity and
integrity, and as a fit expedient and mean to accomplish and perfect the
same, they entered into the National Covenant (no rank or degree of
persons, from the highest to the lowest excepted) wherein they bound
themselves to defend the reformation of religion in every part and point
of the same, with their lives and fortunes to the outmost of their
power, as may be seen in the National Covenant of this Church and
kingdom, which was five times solemnly sworn.

Likeas the Lord was so pleased to bless our land, and to beautify it
with His presence, that our neighbour nations of England and Ireland,
who beheld this, and were groaning under and likeways aiming at the
removal and abolishing of popery and prelacy, had sought and obtained
assistance from this nation to help them in their endeavours for that
end, and had been owned of God with success, they likeways thought it
fit to enter into a most Solemn League and Covenant with this Church and
kingdom for reformation and defence of religion, wherein, with their
hands lifted up to the most High God, they do bind and oblige themselves
to maintain, preserve and defend, whatever measure and degree of
reformation they had attained unto, and mutually to concurr, each with
another with their lives and fortunes in their several places and
callings, in opposition to all the enemies of the same, as may be seen
at large in the Solemn League and Covenant. By means of which, these
nations became (as it were) dedicated and devoted to God in a peculiar
and singular manner, above all other people in the world and that by an
indisolvable and indispensable obligation to perform, observe and
fulfill the duties sworn too, and contained t