2 SAMUEL VII. 1, 2, 3.

And it came to pass, when the king fat in his boufe, and the Lord had given him reft round about from all his enemies; that the king faid unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an houfe of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. And Nathan faid to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the Lord is with thee.

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EFORE I begin to treat on these words, 1 muft acquaint you with the reason of my choofing them for the present subject of this occasional Difcourfe.

There has been, you know, fome time ago, à very good defign fet on foot here among us of building a Church for the fervice of God, and the Christian Religion; which good defign, though it had a beginning, and the walls thereof raised, as you fee, to a confiderable height; and though there have been, by all report, large contributions and benefactions made, fufficient to carry on and finish the work; yet, whether by occafion of the late wars, or rather the late wars occafioned by its neglect, and the continual troubles thereupon enfuing; or whether by the collufion and fraud of all or any of the Trustees, to whom the care of that structure was committed; or whatever else might be the occafion of putting a stop to that B 2 intended

intended noble and spacious building, I cannot say; but this is certain, that it has long fince been unhappily dropped, neglected, and laid afide; and the ruinous walls, which still remain, are a standing monument of reproach to us and our nation to this day.

Many, it is true, and juft are the judgments of GOD in this world, and for fome great and crying fin, no doubt, fuch public calamities are ufually fent; but whoever were the inftrumental caufes of this great offence, or by whofe facrilegious hands fuch charitable contributions have been perverted and mifapplied, must be one day accounted for before GOD in judgment; and dreadful, I fear, will that account be, if not atoned for, and averted by a timely reftitution.

That we may therefore revive this commendable good work, which once, it seems, had a beginning, and ftill may, by the bleffing of GOD, and your unanimous and hearty concurrence thereunto, be brought to good effect, is what I fhall at present endeavour, by the example here before us, to excite your pious and charitable difpofitions, and from these words here read to you in my text, encourage you to imitate that fame public and glorious undertaking, which firft was in the heart of king David, and approved of and confirmed by Nathan the prophet.

And it came to pass, when the king fat in his boufe, and the Lord had given him reft round about from all his enemies; that the king faid unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an Houfe of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. And Nathan faid to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the Lord is with thee.

From the confideration of which words, and

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the application of them to our prefent purpose, we may obferve these two things."

I. The obligation that all of us lie under, to go and fet about this neceffary work, Go, do all that is in thine heart.

II. The encouragement here proposed for the doing it, For the Lord is with thee.

I. Of the obligation incumbent upon us all, to go and fet about this neceffary work, Go, do all that is in thine heart.

And to this we are obliged, not only in respect to our duty, but gratitude to GOD Almighty. And,

First, In point of duty.

Now to do good is a duty of that importance and extent that it is the chief end and business of our whole life; it was the moft acceptable facrifice that could be offered under the law, and is of perpetual obligation to us Chriftians under the gofpel: for to be beneficial to mankind, is to imitate the example of our Saviour Chrift, who made it his fole delight to go about doing good; it was his meat and drink to do the will of God that fent him, and to finish his work.

To this we are obliged by the strictest bonds of love and charity to mankind, as men, and much more as Chriftians; and the greater the good is which is in our power to do, the greater ftill are the obligations to the performance of it; and confequently, the greatest good of all we are moft indifpenfably obliged in duty to perform. Now what greater good can we poffibly do either to the honour of GOD, our bleffed Saviour, his holy religion, or ourselves, than this commendable

work here before us, the building and repairing the house of GOD?

Such good works of piety and mercy, which regard the fpiritual welfare of men, is what all Christians are bound to advance to the utmost of their power; because they are the only facrifices. we have left, and are of equal obligation with praise and thanksgiving; and no one fure will refuse to give GOD thanks for his mercies, neither ought we to forget to fhew mercy ourselves, by doing good and diftributing fomething of our fubftance; for with fuch facrifices we are exprefsly affured that GOD is well pleased: nay, all our prayers, praises, and thanksgivings, will prove but lip-labour, without fome more fubftantial proof of our duty, especially now we have fo fit an opportunity.

Secondly, In point of gratitude.

Neither is it without reafon that God requires this of us; because he is the fole Proprietor and Lord of the whole earth; fo that we have nothing but what we hold by virtue of this tenure, nothing but what we receive from him; and all that is required of us, or that he is pleased to accept of in return, is only a small quit-rent as it were out of what we poffefs, as an acknowledgment that it is by his favour and bleffing that we enjoy it.

Hence it is, that, in all ages, they that were piously and devoutly difpofed, and had a true fenfe of God's benefits and mercy, were always careful to pay this homage of duty and gratitude, and never thought they could do enough to any pious ufe, whereby to teftify their acknowledgements of God's dominion, and his right of propriety over what they had: witness those ancient

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and ftately Cathedrals, which ftill remain the glo ry of their times, and a lafting teftimony of munificence to pofterity: as alfo in former times before them, the children of Ifrael, who when the Tabernacle was to be built for GOD's worship and service, were fo far from being backward in contributing towards it, that they presently brought more than could be used in the building it; fo that the people were reftrained from bringing any more, for they had enough and too much. Such was their pious emulation in thofe days, and zeal to promote GoD's honour and fervice.

King David too was fo fenfible of God's goodnefs towards him, upon the daily fuccefs of whatever he took in hand, that he began to make it a matter of conscience to live in a palace of cedar himself, and to let the ark of GOD remain within curtains; this reflection gave him no peace nor fatisfaction in his mind, though he was at rest from all his enemies round about, it yielded him no real enjoyment of his 'happiness, though completely fettled in the throne of Ifrael; the pleafures of his court, and magnificence of his palace, which usually allay and divert those thoughts, did but encrease them fo much the more, and upbraid him with neglect: yea, fuch was his zeal and religious affection for the house of God, that it brought him to this folemn refolution and vow; Not to fuffer bis eyes to fleep, nor his eye-lids to Slumber, neither the temples of his head to take any reft; until be bad found out a place for the Temple of the Lord, an habitation for the Almighty God of Jacob. Pfalm xxxii. 4, 5.

Now, though David, who was a man after GOD's own heart, was not permitted to fet about this holy and religious work himself, because he had frequently been engaged in wars, and confe

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quently