Καὶ τάχα δ' ἐκ γαίης ἐλπίζομεν ἐς φάος ἐλθεῖν
Λείψαν' ἀποιχομένων ὀπίσω τε θεοὶ τελέθονται."
Translation:—"It is impious to disperse the remains of man; for the ashes and the bones of the dead will come again to light, and will become similar to the gods."
Virgil speaks of the resurrection of the body, though in an obscure manner, in the sixth book of his poem Eneida.
Therefore in the first centuries of the Christian era, and before the coming of Jesus Christ, the doctrine of the resurrection of the body was held by a large number of Pagans.
2d. It can be proved that the Church of Rome, which, in the sixteenth century, transmitted the doctrine of the resurrection of the body to the now self-called Orthodox Christian Churches, did not hold it from the apostles of Jesus Christ:—
It will be evident that the Church of Rome did not hold the doctrine of the resurrection of the body from the apostles of Jesus Christ, if it can be proved, 1st, That the Fathers of the first centuries did not agree on this doctrine; 2d, That nearly all the Christian denominations of the first two centuries, and the majority, to say the least, of those of the century following, disbelieved it; and, 3d, That this doctrine is irrational.
But it can be proved, 1st, That the Fathers of the first centuries did not agree about the doctrine of the resurrection of the body; 2d, That nearly all the Christian denominations of the first two centuries, and the majority, to say the least, of the century following, disbelieved it; and, 3d, That this doctrine is irrational.
1st. It can be proved that the Fathers of the first centuries did not agree about the doctrine of the resurrection of the body.