The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-03-12
WHOM SHALL MY SOUL BELIEVE
Smoot Forgotten in Following the
Scent of the Primitive Trail.

AsA- raul tsloDNst
The senate inquiry into particulars of
the Mormon belief ana practice is as in
teresting as the story Of the rocks. whose
Cleavage shows Us imbedded there the
perfectly preserved forms Of creatures
that lived ages ago. For this investiga-
ton amounts merely to the putting Of
that Inquiry. ancient yet ever pertinent
ana pressing. Whom shall my soul be-
lever The senatorial inquisitors may
not be aware Of It, yet they arc but re-
newing the eternal ilterrOgatory that eN-
cry human soul puts 10 Itself IL the con-
tlict of authority and of apparent duty
that comes 10 II from the clash OF the
human environment with the ordinances
OF that world OF divine command and
necessary obedience IN which IL lives.
The senate has gone FAR afield from the
case of Senator SmOOt Il has almost for
gotten him In following the keen scent Of
the old, primitive trail. Il has even lost
temporarily its horror of polygamy and
It's place as protector OF the family uD-
Ger the spur of that compelling instinct
lhnt has inspired The hereto hunter the
public prosecutor In all ages since men
began TO I've together and be subject TO
some form OF common law. Obviously
the only question presently paramount
WIN the senators In charge OF this in
CURRY IS whether a devout Mormon re-
CARDS the law OF the hand or the man
gate OF MS church as possessing the
hiSher sanction; and which Of the two he
Womb obey IL they were 20 impel him in
contrary directions.
This question. perhaps the sternest that
can be set before any human soul, does
not attach 10 Mormonism On any peculiar
way. 1t has really no inherent connec-
ton with tnat or any other form OF
church government polity or doctrine. 1t
has been asked by those in authority ever
since authority erected itself upon an aus
tere but savage individuallsni. Lie can
not escape 1t. because IL sets over against
each other the two. highest cnoices and
asks the trembling being, lowering be
tween two eternities. with his souls fu-
ture I'm the balance. to make .his election.
J. IS the question that the Cavalier asked
ne Puritan, and that the Puritan tossed
back to him on the point Of his pike; II
Is the question that temporal and spiritual
authorities fling In each others faces for
ten centuries: II is the question OF the
Roman empire 10 the trembling Christian:
nav. it Is the cr1x Of every GIN. religious
Enstinct since first the ideal of "A God
trembled into shadOwy being in the soul
OF man.
we deceive ourselves in assuming that
these conditions Of the elder world have
Passed away because church and state
are separate here. and the two sources OF
authority have become reconciled TO a
divided and unconflicting sway. The de-
Fusion Is perfect Essentially We have
the union Of church and state; because
our laws have been made by those who
have common ethical system. have
been reared under a unitary code and are
substantially I'm agreement upon the basis
or morals. The GecalOgue IS the property
Of the Christian churches, and also the
scale by which our legal systems arc con-
structed. The architects OF church and
state being one they did not perceive that
their harmony arose from the use OF a
common measure. Set that aside. and we
nre back twenty centuries once more,
with the eternal and irrepressiblo con
flict raging uercely-
TIE human soul has always yielded SUI
prcme allegiance to spiritual lord. So
declare the works OF the martyrs, the
blessed millions who have passed TO
goriOus death by fire and sword and tor
lures unspeakablc To this age the con-
tict has grown strange aud unreal be-
cause Iof the most parry. our Splf1tudl
Ideas have nodded our institutions ana
or laws i'm conformity with themselves.
Reverse the process. Assume a Chinese
invasion and conquest, and q law for the
lnited States that every man shall burn
incense IN the joss house and bow him
SELF before the impressive statue of
Buddha, and quickly the flame Of con-
scientousness, of submission 20 the higher
law. would break through our shell Of
conventional obedience and the deeper lie
OF US spring into revolt
II happens IN the present instance that
the practice behind the question is one re-
voting and abOminable 10 our instincts
and 60 TIE development of the race. It
happens that the religious body Sheltering
r. has been tainted by that connection.
But in the abyss to which the senate in
curry probes we come upon ~ issue that
e-aSes these accidentals and restores to
Ne consciousness Of the souls necessary
and supreme independence There is no
enc but the haScSt who would not die for
fls most sacred ideals IL need be. 10 whom
they are not more than law or country.
father or mother or child. Without that
tedlty To its own self the soul OF man
would be but a vapOT instead OF the inn
perishable stuff Of which eternity's fabric
j. woven Forever must we all Of us stand
IN peril between its mmands and those
Of habit. social organization. the state.
Inc stcrneSt and most 1nsCrutable OF all
the commandments Is that In whose full
illiment we still falter and stumble in
the dark: Render therefore unto Caesar
the things that are Caesars and unto
0Ou the things that are Gods.