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,
there
were
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-morrow
we
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-