Returning unto God the great concernment of a covenant people. Or A sermon preached…

2. Let us pray and promise better Obedience. O cry to Heaven as Ephraim did, Turn thou me and I shall be turned. Men say, they cannot turn themselves. Must they sit still then, & do nothing, under pretence that God must do all? Nay, but they must stir up themselves, and call upon God. It is a precious Truth, that the Lord has in his gracious Covenant, promised that his people shall return unto him: Nevertheless, he saith, I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them, Ezek. 36. 37 Nor is it enough for us to pray, but we must, (though not in our own strength) promise better obedience. And this particular, doth not only suit with the solemn work, which we are now to attend, and which hath occasioned our being thus before the Lord this day: but it is the very direction, which God himself doth give unto his Israel in this Context, that so they might become a Returned, Reformed people. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord. What words? even words of prayer, therefore it is added, say unto him, take away all Iniquity, &c. And words of promise too, so will we render the Calves of our lips. The Lord puts them upon promising, that they would live more to his praise and glory for the time to come, then ever they had done before. And accordingly we see them Renewing their Covenant, ver. 3. Ashur shall not save us, we will not say any more, to the works of our ⟨p. 15⟩hands, ye are our Gods. So that they engage against the special reigning sins of the Times, which they had been guilty of, and that for the future, they would endeavour to love God more, and to serve him better.

2. Let us pray and promise better Obedience. O cry to Heaven as Ephraim did, Turn thou me and I shall be turned. Men say, they cannot turn themselves. Must they sit stil then, & doe nothing, under pretence that God must do all? Nay, but they must stir up themselves, and call upon God. It is a precious Truth, that the Lord has in his gracious Covenant, promised that his people shall return unto him: Nevertheless, he saith, I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them, Ezek. 36. 37 Nor is it enough for us to pray, but we must, (though not in our own strength) promise better obedience. And this particular, doth not only suit with the solemn work, which we are now to attend, and which hath occasioned our being thus before the Lord this day: but it is the very direction, which God himself doth give unto his Israel in this Context, that so they might become a Returned, Reformed people. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord. What words? even words of prayer, therefore it is added, say unto him, take away all Iniquity, &c. And words of promise too, so will we render the Calves of our lips. The Lord puts them upon promising, that they would live more to his praise and glory for the time to come, then ever they had done before. And accordingly we see them Renewing their Covenant, ver. 3. Ashur shall not save us, we will not say any more, to the works of our