SECT. IV.] PROOF OF h :SEPARATE STATE. 31. bour is not in vain in the Lord," that is, there is certainly a future state of recompence for piety, and the discovery of it at the resurrection of the dead is the most public and glorious part of it, and, therefore, he insists upon this alone. Answer 2. But we may give yet a more particular answer to this objection ; for if we take in the whole scheme of the apostle's argument in this chapter, we shall find there is no sufficient ground for this objection against a separate state. He begins, verses 13-23. and argues thus, " If there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christie not risen," for he, rose as the first-fruits, and his followers shall be the harvest, verse 23. but if there were no harvest, therewere no first-fruits: And "if Christ be not risen, then our preaching is vain, and your faith is vain;" verse 14. Then we are found false wit- nesses in matters that relate to God, verse 15. mere impostors, who preach a wicked falsehood, and lead you to hope for a happiness, which ye shall never obtain: For " if Christ, who died for our sins, verse 3. be not raised for our justification, as in Rom. iv. 25. then ye are yet in your sins, ye lie yet under the guilt of sin : and, if so, then also they, which have fallen asleep in Christ, or have died in the faith of Christ, are perished." verse 18. they must either be condemned, or be utterly lost, both soul and body, having no ground for hope of eternal life, or any life or happiness at all hereafter. Then the hope of christians would be in this life only, and we are miserable creatures, who suffer so much for Christ's sake, verse 19. It would be better for us, who have senses and appetites as well as other men, to in- dulge these senses and appetites, and eat and drink, for to-morrowwe die, and there is an end of us : There can be no future state of happiness, of any kind, for us to expect, either in soul or body, if we have deceived you in the doctrine of the resurrection of Christ, and all our gospel be false: We are then such sort of impostors and wicked cheats, as can have no belief of a future state of rewards or punishments, and we had better act like ourselves, and, like mere epicureans, give ourselves ùp to all present pleasures, than expose ourselves to perpe- tual sufferings for the sake of a man, who, if there be no resurrection, died, and never rose again, and, there-
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