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quently a man of blood; yet GoD, it seems, accepted of his good will, in being the first proposer of it, and he did well, it is faid, in that it was in his heart.

And, to fhew you that it was not a bare propofal or pious intention that came thus into David's heart, but an earneft defire and fincere affection he had for God's fervice, and for the magnificence of his holy Temple; that though the glory and honour of that prodigious fabrick was transferred to his fon and fucceffor king Solomon, both to begin and finish that work; yet king David, before he died, not only gave this as an efpecial charge upon his bleffing to his fon; but he himself took all imaginable care for the performance of it; as may appear by that vast preparation of all things, both of men and money, wood and stone, and other materials made ready to his fon's hands; that fo he might fet about it with so much the greater application and dispatch. And moreover, faith holy David, Because I have fet my affection to the house of my God, I have of my own proper good, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy houfe, given even three thousand talents of gold, and feven thousand talents af filver, to overlay the walls of the boufe withal. Chron. xxix. 3, 4.

But to fee the influence of a good example, the people alfo, after the king's royal bounty and generofity, were encouraged to contribute liberally and cheerfully, and rejoiced with great joy; because that with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord: and this they did, not out of an opinion of their own worthinefs, but out of a due fense of their duty and gratitude; thereby to acknowledge God to be the fole benefactor and giver of it all; But who am I, fays good king Da

vid, in the name of all his loving fubjects, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer fo willingly after this fort? For all things come of thee, O Lord God, and of thine own have we given thee.

With the fame forward zeal and liberality, though not with the fame magnificence, it is observed, the fecond Temple was re-built and raised out of its rubbish, after so many years captivity, and that too even in troublous times; wherein the workman was obliged with one hand to hold the weapon of defence, whilft he wrought with the other in the work.

Since therefore the Lord our God hath given us reft on every Side, fo that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent; our obligations to this duty are still so much the greater: For if the Jews deferved reproof for neglecting to re-build the houfe of GOD, when under fuch miferable circumftances; how much more inexcufable muft we needs be for this neglect of ours, even in the midst of peace and plenty ?

Is it a time for you, O ye, faith the prophet Haggai, to dwell in your cieled boufes, and to let this houfe of God lie wafte? And is it not a fhame for us to fee this Church of ours lie thus under reproach, and ruinous even to a proverb? whilst the inhabitants round about us caft the same in our teeth; and we ourselves, with I know not what pretended difficulties and excufes, endeavour to fhift it off as far from us as we can, faying with thofe in Haggai, This is not a time; the time that the Lord's boufe fhould be built is not come: and can there be any thing more seasonable and neceffary than this is, when moved by the juft complaint of strangers for want of room, which have occafioned their too frequent neglect of God's fervice? and when we ourselves, pent up and confin

ed,

ed, as within curtains, to the narrow limits of this private chapel (if at most a chapel), dark and difuniform as you fee it is, are obliged thus to pay our public devotions in private as it were, and to worship the GOD of order in much confusion?

Shall we then, who profefs ourselves Chriftians, and worshippers of the true GOD, and in a true manner, thus fhun the light, as if afhamed of our profeffion? when the inhabitants round about us are not only not ashamed to acknowledge their falfe and imaginary deities, in the most public manner they are able; but infult us with their number of Churches and Pagodas, even upon our own territories? What is this but locking up the word of GOD from the reft of mankind, and keeping the key of knowledge to ourselves? whereas our light ought to be diffufive, and shine forth in a more open profeffion of our religion, "that others also, by feeing our good works, may join with us in glorifying our Father which is in "Heaven."

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I need not mention to you the inconveniences of this place, upon the account of its difficult afcent and fituation; for those are but small in respect to the great advantages we receive from it: but what is more to be lamented, it is fuch a common thoroughfare, and thereby fubject to all manner of indecencies and unholy profanations; which render it at other times more like a den of thieves than a house of prayer; fo unsuitable to the facred holiness of God's house, and so directly oppofite to our Saviour's example, that he forbad all common and ordinary ufes to be made of the Temple, and would not fuffer any man to carry fo much as a veffel through it to defile it. Mark xi. 16.

We are usually very exact, I cannot but ob

serve it, "in keeping up the fashions and customs of our country, and seem perfect masters of those lighter ceremonies; and fhould we not much rather endeavour to preferve these weightier matters, the dignity of our Religion, and the uniformity of its worship, by keeping up the canons and rubrics of our Church, with the appointed forms and ceremonies thereof? And how is it poffible to keep any form, decency, or order (which is the very beauty of holinefs) when we are thus irregularly crowded together?

We all, I prefume, profefs ourselves members of the Church of England, and rejoice in that character of being accounted true Churchmen; and is there none, of all the fons and daughters which fhe hath brought up, to take her by the hand, and lift her up out of her ruins? none to have pity upon her, nor grieved to fee her in the duft?. Surely our bowels could not but yern, had we any bowels of mercy left, to see our natural mother lie thus difconfolate, deftitute, and forlorn, to whom (next to GOD) we owe our temporal being; and ought we not much rather to have compaffion on her, to whom, by God's bleffing, we owe our fpiritual welfare? Can a woman forget her fucking child, that she should not have compassion on the fon of her womb? yea, faith God, they may forget, fpeaking to the Church; yet will I not forfake thee, Ifai. xlix. 15.

GOD's love to his Church, we fee, is constant, and perpetual, and he will always preserve it with his almighty presence, whether we remember it or not, even unto the end of the world; but, fhall we not hereby become very ungrateful to neglect fo gracious and merciful a Saviour, into whofe Church we were baptized, confirmed, and

brought

brought up, and at whose table we are continually eating and drinking?

But further, we are still obliged to set forward this work, by another moft neceffary and indifpenfable duty, and that is Reftitution. Now, though each of us here may fay, Our bands have not done this wickedness, neither have our eyes feen it; yet by our connivance at it, our hearts feem to have consented thereunto; and facrilege is a fin of that malignant influence, that though the fact committed was but by a few, or by one fingle perfon; yet the guilt is diffufive, and cries aloud to God for vengeance, not only upon him or them that did it, but upon a whole community. As in the cafe of Achan, GOD punished the whole camp of Ifrael, and charged his wickedness upon them all; faying, Ifrael bath finned; for they have taken of the accurfed thing, and they have alfo ftolen and diffembled. Jofh. vii. 11.

And will a man rob God? yet ye have robbed me, faith the prophet Malachi to the facrilegious Jews: but ye fay, Wherein have we robbed him? In forfaking the house of GOD, and neglecting to build it up; in not reftoring the wages of the fervant and hireling, which of us have been kept back; and the charitable contributions of the fatherlefs and widow, which have been perverted and mifapplied by the people of this land, ftill cry; and the cries of them that have watched on the wall are entered into the ears of the Lord of Saboath; and fhall not I vifit for these things, faith the Lord? Shall not my foul be avenged of fuch a nation as this?

For confider, faith the prophet Haggai, and reflect upon your ways; ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did

blow

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