RIGHTEOUSNESS

THE

CENTRAL PRINCIPLE OF CHRISTIANITY.

MATTHEW, V. 6.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.

THE writings of the New Testament are distinguished by a comprehensiveness of expression which, I apprehend, will be found to be one of the highest qualities of style. I know not how to describe this excellence in the terms of rhetorical art; but it can have escaped the notice of few readers of the Bible. It would not be right to call it a condensation of thought, for this, usually at least, implies an absence of that simplicity which is essential to a book intended to have general circulation among the people, and such a book is the Bible. Neither would it be doing justice either to the sacred writings or to their authors, to resolve this quality into a happy choice of words, for such selection of language supposes a study of mere rhetorical effect, which was far below the aim or

the thought of those who composed the records of Christianity. Still I can no better explain what I have in mind than by representing it as the union of singular brevity and clearness of expression with the largest extent of thought, so that a few words open to view a vast field of truth, so that a short sentence will not only be suggestive, but sufficiently instructive in respect to the broadest and deepest questions which man can raise ; and I cannot cite a stronger example of this peculiarity of style than the passage which I have just repeated from the Evangelist." Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."

If we consider but for a moment the import of this declaration, inscribed on the pages of the everlasting Gospel as it fell from the lips of the great Teacher of mankind, we shall perceive that it answers those two great inquiries which in all ages have occupied the attention alike of the speculative and of the practical, what is the chief good, and how may it be attained. What should be the highest object of human desire, and how shall the desire, when directed to its proper object, be converted into possession? These are the questions on which ethical science has labored, and to which the toilworn lives of successive generations have endeavored to discover the reply. The doubt in which they have been involved, the difficulty that had seemed insurmountable, vanish before the words of Christ. "Blessed" ah! that was the word which touched the problem that humanity was anxious to solve; for it was not the Jew alone, but man, suffering, struggling, dying, yet curious, impatient, hopeful man, that longed to know, more than all things else, who were the blessed the happy. "Blessed are they who do hunger

and thirst after righteousness." What! happy they who are conscious of a want that preys upon them like hunger upon a starving man, like thirst upon one whose lips are parched? Yes; "for they shall be filled." They shall get what they desire, and it shall satisfy them, they shall get it, and they can get nothing better. This is the great good; this the loftiest height to which human desires can climb, the amplest blessing which Divine love can bestow. How strangely must this language have fallen on the ears of thousands who were listening with eager curiosity, and who had all their lives thought of righteousness only as the means to something better. It was as if to one who had devoted his days and nights to study for the sake of the fame or the emolument he might gain a voice from the skies had announced, that the reward of his industry should be his learning, not honor, not wealth, but knowledge. How incredulous are multitudes now, who think there must be something beyond to which righteousness is the avenue, but who are rebuked by the decisive declaration of Jesus, that this itself is the reward of its acquisition. To be righteous is the largest satisfaction that humanity can reach. Equally plain is the instruction concerning the means. They who hunger and thirst for it shall obtain it. Intense desire a desire

which can neither be put to rest nor be diverted from its object by any thing short of this object, or any thing dif ferent from it for which no other similitude could be found so apt as the craving of those appetites which must be satisfied or a man must die,- such desire is the way to fruition. Where this is felt, there will be satisfaction as the consequence. He will be righteous, he will be

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blessed, whose chief desire, whose ruling passion is, to be righteous.

Thus does Christianity, through the voice of its Divine Founder, proclaim righteousness to be the chief good, and the earnest desire for it to be the way to its attainment. So does it place a perfect character above every thing else, and make the inward life the indispensable condition of blessedness. For what is righteousness? It is, as the word denotes, the right state of a man, of the whole man, in his secret and his visible life, in his principles, motives, thoughts, feelings, dispositions and habits. Righteousness, (a word that has slipped out of use, while other words, neither so expressive nor so comprehensive, have taken its place,) righteousness is regard to the right, and exemplification of it. It is being just what one should be, doing just what one ought to do; walking in the straight way, keeping the path of rectitude at whatever cost of difficulty or whatever sacrifice of temptation. It is, then, a state of the mind and a habit of the life, to which we are pointed by our Lord in the language before us. In other words, it is character, — personal excellence. This is pronounced by him to be man's best possession; to secure which he must supremely desire it.

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The great purpose of the Gospel, therefore, as I understand it, is to produce personal excellence, or, as the Apostle has admirably described it, to make us perfect men in Christ Jesus." " Righteousness," this is the word which unlocks the treasures of the Christian revelation. The disciple of Christ must be a righteous man; the Christian preacher must preach righteousness.

It may be objected that this is a partial view of Christianity, and that other things besides righteousness were

made the subject of the Saviour's mission and teaching. On the contrary I maintain that this term, and this alone, describes the whole design and influence of his ministry, that it includes every thing that belongs to the Gospel, and that any view which falls short of the limits embraced within this description is inadequate, if not unfaithful. What is there which this excludes? which it does not require as a necessary part of its significance? Let us examine it and satisfy ourselves on this point. See, for example, how as with outstretched hands it points at once towards God and towards man, indicating alike the duties of piety and of philanthropy. Towards God, I say; for righteousness we have been directed by the very com position of the word to define as conformity to the right; but what is the right, except the will of God. No other standard certainly does Christianity recognise, and no other has human research or invention ever been able to discover. Right is not an abstract thing, as some teachers in philosophy seem anxious to represent it; nor a mere naine for the unalterable fitness of things; but the product and expression of the divine will. That is right which God approves, and righteousness in man is nothing. but harmony between him and God. Faith in God, then, is the very foundation of this righteousness, its root and support. I do not believe in the reality nor in the possibility of a perfect character in man without faith in God, nor do you, nor does any one. A righteous man without piety! the terms will not stand together; the one part of Granting that the atheist

the sentence annuls the other. may be a man of veracity, generosity, honor, or the undevout man industrious and benevolent, he is in each case only partly right and mainly wrong. He is no