Discourse the Fourth.

Matth. V. ver. vi.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst af= ter righteousness, for they fhall be filled.

Τ'

HO God has provided Entertainment for all the Appetites which he has made, yet there are but two Appetites of Man which he intends to gratifie to the heighth, and to bless with a full and lasting Satisfaction; and thofe are, the Defire of being happy, and the Defire of being good. There are fome Appetites of Man which are never satisfied; for, fays the Wise Man, Eccl. 1. 8. The eye is not fatisfied with feeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. Seeing and Hearing are the most refined of all the Senses; and thofe Appetites which are moft fpiritual and refined, and come nearest to the Elevations of the Intellectual Nature, are always hardest to be fatisfied: And the Intellectual Nature it felf, when it is more raised and elevated, as in the State of Separation, will have a more enlarged Appetite, and a sharper Edge of Defire, and fo will be harder to be fatisfied than it is now. Which, by the way, I take to be the Reason why those

Senfual

Senfual Spirits, which now feel no great Uneafinefs from the Abfence of the Supreme Good, will, notwithstanding, hereafter be extreamly miferable, in being exiled from his Beatifick Prefence. As for the groffer Appetites of the Animal Nature, fuch as Hunger, Thirit, and the like; thefe, indeed, have this Advantage above the Finer, that they may be fatisfied for fome time, and fuch is the Brutishness of Man) are too often over-charged. But then they will return again in certain Periods, like the Tide, and be as importunate as ever for new Supplies; and, as our Saviour told the Woman of Sa maria, Joh. 4.13. Whosoever drinks of this Water shall thirst again. The Appetite may be laid afleep for a while, but it will infalli bly awake again into its former Eagerness.

But it is not the Unhappinefs of Man to have all his Appetites like thefe, fuch as will either never, or not finally be fatisfied. There are two that are defigned for a full and lafting Satisfaction; the Defire of being happy, and the Defire of being good and vertuous; but ftill with this material difference between them, That the Defire of Happinefs is not abfolutely fecure of Satisfaction, but only upon Condition.. The Satisfaction of this Defire is fufpended upon the Quality of our Moral Conduct: But now, the Defire of Goodness and Vertue has, by the

Grace

Grace and Indulgence of God, an abfolute > Title to Satisfaction,and is fure to be throughly gratified: For, fays our Saviour, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righte oufness, for they shall be filled. Shall be filled, without any farther Condition, or Reserve. That we may the better comprehend the Senfe and Truth of this Beatitude, it will be neceffary,

I. To enquire,what Righteousness that is, which if we hunger and thirst after, we shall be filled.

II. What kind of Hunger and Thirst that is, to which this Promife of Repletion is made.

III. To make good the Propofition it felf, that those who do hunger and thirst after Righteousness, shall be filled.

To fatisfie the firft Enquiry, I fhall not critically weigh all the acceptations of the Word Righteousness in Scripture; thinking it fufficient to the Business in hand, to confider the general Kinds and Degrees of Righteousness. This therefore may be confidered either in a Judicial, or in a Moral Senfe. Righteousness in a Judicial Senfe imports as much as a Legal Discharge, whereby the Perfon impleaded becomes Right in the Court, or Righteous. Which Legal Dif

charge

charge may be again two Ways, either by remitting a Criminal, or by acquitting fufpected or accused Innocence. These are the two Ways of a Legal Discharge; and then is a Perfon judicially righteous, when he is discharg'd either of these two ways; either by the Remiffion of his Guilt, or by the Declaration of his Innocence. The latter of thefe is properly Juftification; tho' the former be that Juftification whereby Christians > muft expect to ftand in the Judgment of God, fince, in the other Senfe, no Man living fhall be juftified: For we are not justified as innocent Perfons, but as Sinners; and, accordingly, are not acquitted, but pardoned.

Righteoufnefs, in a Moral Senfe, may be fuppofed to import all thofe Divine and Moral Vertues which are required by the Chriftian Law; confifting of the whole Duty of Man, to God, himfelf, and his Neighbour. This latter kind of Righteousness may again be confidered, either Materially and Abstractedly for the bare Vertues themselves, as they 7 are certain fuppofed Actions which naturally tend to the Good and Perfection, both of Human Nature, and of Human Society; or elfe Formally and Concretely for fuch and fuch Vertues as fubjected in Man; or for the habitual Will of doing fuch fuppofed Actions, which is formal Vertue, and whereby the Man is denominated vertuous or righteous,

This is not one of thofe Diftinctions which are without any Difference: For the Diffe rence is very clear and great. As for instance, When it is faid, I love or practife Ver tue, and, I am proud of my Vertue, 'tis plain that the Word Vertue does not bear the fame Notion in both Propofitions. For, when it is faid, I love and practife Vertue, there it is plain that Vertue is taken Materially, for the Abstract Idea of Vertue, which is fuppofed to be the Object of my Love. But when it is faid, I am proud of my Vertue, here 'tis as plain that Vertue is taken Formally, for my Habit of Willing it; whereby I am denominated vertuous: For I cannot be fupposed to be proud of Vertue in its Abftract Idea, but only of the Love I have towards it. To be short, Moral Vertue may be taken either for the Things which are fit > to be done, or for the habitual Will of doing them. The former is the Righteoufnefs of the Law, prescribing what ought to be done: The latter is the Righteoufness of the Man, willing to do what is fo prefcribed. Thefe are the general Kinds of Righteousness.

Now to the Question; What kind of Righ teousness that is, which if we hunger and thirst after, we fhall be filled? Lanfwer, First, That the Righteousness here intended can not be Judicial Righteoufnefs, fince the mere Defire of Pardon or Juftification is not of it

felf