This seemingly extraordinary doctrine, which some have asserted was
entirely unknown and impossible to the American Indians,[254-3] was in
fact one of their most deeply-rooted and wide-spread convictions,
especially among the tribes of the eastern United States. It is
indissolubly connected with their highest theories of a future life,
their burial ceremonies, and their modes of expression. The Moravian
Brethren give the grounds of this belief with great clearness: "That
they hold the soul to be immortal, and perhaps think the body will rise
again, they give not unclearly to understand when they say, 'We Indians
shall not for ever die; even the grains of corn we put under the earth,
grow up and become living things.' They conceive that when the soul has
been a while with God, it can, if it chooses, return to earth and be
born again."[255-1] This is the highest and typical creed of the
aborigines. But instead of simply being born again in the ordinary sense
of the word, they thought the soul would return to the bones, that these
would clothe themselves with flesh, and that the man would rejoin his
tribe.
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