diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index b62b0968d..6f95692d3 100644
--- a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@ distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-3.1-bin.zip
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-4.10.2-bin.zip
diff --git a/src/main/groovy/com/marklogic/gradle/task/MarkLogicTask.groovy b/src/main/groovy/com/marklogic/gradle/task/MarkLogicTask.groovy
index a6395ec6b..04ab5e851 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/com/marklogic/gradle/task/MarkLogicTask.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/com/marklogic/gradle/task/MarkLogicTask.groovy
@@ -44,21 +44,29 @@ class MarkLogicTask extends DefaultTask {
 		project.hasProperty("mlAdminPassword") ? project.property("mlAdminPassword") : project.property("mlPassword")
 	}
 
+	DatabaseClient newClient() {
+		newClient(null)
+    }
+
 	/**
-	 * If the "database" property is set, then the DatabaseClient that's returned will use the App-Services port
-	 * (defaults to 8000) to connect to the given database. Otherwise, the DatabaseClient will try to connect to the
-	 * REST API server defined by mlRestPort.
+	 * If the "database" property is set or is passed as a parameter, then the DatabaseClient that's returned will use
+	 * the App-Services port (defaults to 8000) to connect to the given database. Otherwise, the DatabaseClient will
+	 * try to connect to the REST API server defined by mlRestPort.
 	 * @return
 	 */
-	DatabaseClient newClient() {
-		if (project.hasProperty("database")) {
+	DatabaseClient newClient(String database) {
+		if (database != null){
+			println "Connecting via the App-Services port to database: " + database
+			return getAppConfig().newAppServicesDatabaseClient(database)
+		}
+		else if (project.hasProperty("database")) {
 			println "Connecting via the App-Services port to database: " + project.property("database")
 			return getAppConfig().newAppServicesDatabaseClient(project.property("database"))
 		}
 		else {
 			getAppConfig().newDatabaseClient()
 		}
-    }
+	}
 
     void deployWithCommandListProperty(String propertyName) {
         deployWithCommands(getProject().property(propertyName))
diff --git a/src/main/groovy/com/marklogic/gradle/task/databases/DeleteUserSchemasTask.groovy b/src/main/groovy/com/marklogic/gradle/task/databases/DeleteUserSchemasTask.groovy
index 03b58ed2e..8f690209b 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/com/marklogic/gradle/task/databases/DeleteUserSchemasTask.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/com/marklogic/gradle/task/databases/DeleteUserSchemasTask.groovy
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class DeleteUserSchemasTask extends MarkLogicTask {
 		String fullQuery = "cts:uris((), (), " + xquery + ") ! xdmp:document-delete(.)"
 		println "Deleting user schemas in database '" + database + "' via : " + fullQuery
 
-		def client = newClient()
+		def client = newClient(database)
 		try {
 			client.newServerEval().xquery(fullQuery).eval()
 		} finally {