"We believe in morality, chastity, purity, virtue and honesty, and wish to promote the happiness of our fellow-men."
The Elder's words were listened to with marked attention. He expressed a willingness to answer questions, and a desire to have as many asked, concerning the religious principles believed in by his people, as the listeners were pleased to propound.
"Mr. Durant," said Sutherland, when the former was seated, "I have not only listened to all you have said with the greatest interest, but have taken pleasure in reading the tracts left while on your former visit, and whether your faith is correct or otherwise, it will be a difficult task to disprove any of your arguments by the Sacred Record. I wish to ask you a few questions regarding some of the principles you have not touched upon, and which I understand to be a part of your faith. I am informed that you believe in a literal resurrection of the body? Is this correct?"
"Certainly," answered the Elder promptly. "How could we lay any claim whatever to a Christian belief in the resurrection unless we believed in a literal resurrection?"
"Well you certainly would not be compelled to believe in a literal resurrection in order to lay claim to having a Christian belief in that principle, for all Christians are surely not believers in it."
"All true Christians must follow Christ's teachings regarding this principle as well as all others, or else how can they be considered true Christians? Christ is the resurrection and the life. (John xi: 25.) He was also the first fruits of the resurrection. (Acts xxvi: 23.) He, therefore, is our great pattern. We know He was put to death (Matt. xxvii: 50); that His body was laid in the tomb (Matt. xxvii: 60); that when His friends visited that tomb the body was gone; that an angel declared that the body had been resurrected (Matt. xxviii: 6); that He appeared to His apostles with the body which had been crucified, even bearing the prints of the cruel nails in His hands, and the marks of the spear in His side, and to satisfy Thomas, He asked to be handled that no mistake might be made regarding its being a literal resurrection of the same body He had before the crucifixion (John xx: 27, 28). This was the resurrection of our Master, and inasmuch as He has commanded us to follow Him, why should ours not be the same?"
"But you will admit that if Christianity is true and Christ is really the Savior, that there is a great difference between His resurrection and that of those who have died since. His body had only just been interred; there had not been sufficient time for it to decay in the grave, and He was God Himself, while the bodies of others decay, and are scattered, in some cases at least, to the four winds," answered Brown.
"How about the statement regarding the resurrection of others, who, the scriptures declare, came forth from their graves at the time of Christ's resurrection? (Matt. xxvii: 52.) They certainly must have slumbered for a long time."
"I cannot understand," said Brown "how it could be possible for a literal resurrection of the body to occur after decay had taken place, and the body had returned as dust to the earth."
"Mr. Brown," the Elder said, "you will candidly admit that there are many things now accepted as truths which at one time seemed to you incomprehensible?"