SECT. IV.] PROOF OF .A SEPARATE STATE. X13 to. the Philippians, should mean no more than this, as verses 13, 14. " I forget the things that are behind, as though I had gained so little already, as not to beworth my notice ; and I reach forth unto those things which are .before, that is, further degrees of holiness to be obtain- ed, pressing towards the mark of perfection, if by any means I might be made so conformable to the death of Christ, as to be entirely dead to sin, and ifby any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead ;" that is, to such a perfection of hòliness, as is represented by the resurrection of Christ; Rom. vi. 4, 11. or as that in which the " dead saints shall be raised ; for I know I have not already attained it; nor am alreády perfect." Answer 3. Suppose the soul of St. Paul, to be present with Christ after death in heaven in the separate state, yet this is not the ultimate or highest happiness of the saints, and therefore he aimed at something higher and further, -namely, the more complete happiness which he should enjoy at the resurrection of the dead. Objection V. is borrowed from several verses of 1 Cor. xv. viz. 13, 18, 19, 39.;. where the apostle is imagined to argue thus, " If there be no resurrection of the dead." verse 13. " Then they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished," verse 18. " Then we have hope only in this life, and nothing else to support us," verse 19. Then, "what advantage do I. get by all my sufferings for Christ, if the dead rise not r" We had better comply with the appetites of the flesh, and enjoy a merry life here, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die,' verse '32. whereby it is evident, that the apostle places the blessed expectation of those, that are fallen asleep in Christ, only, and entirely, upon their being raised from the dead, which he would not have done, if there had been such a separate state: Iie extends our hope in Christ beyond this life, and raises his own expectation ofadvantage, or reward for his sufferings on the account of the gospel, entirely and only upon the resurrection of the dead, having no notion of any happiness in a separate state of souls : For:if he had any such opinion or hope, thisexpectation of the happiness of the soul in a separate state, might have been a sufficient proof, that those, who died or slept in the faith of Christ, are not perish- ed, and he had abundant reward for his sufferings, in that
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