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Show SMITH'S CONFESSION. It Confirms Ono of . tho Gravest Charges Against the Church. Is'ollhor tho legal nor the moral aspect of tho public confession made by President Smith of tho Mormon church, to tho effect that ho lied in his testimony beforo tho Senate Sen-ate committee. Is of much interest to the Nation as a whole. If Mr. Smith committed legal perjury, tho Government's, lnw officers may need to look after him. With respect to his lying as an offenso against personal moralq. that Is primarily pri-marily a question between him and his Muker. nnd secondarily a uolnl for consideration b.; his followers In estimating hla worth aa a religious leader. Bui there is an aspect of publlo Interest in Mr Smith's confession, anil thnt Is Its confirmation con-firmation of ono of tho gravest charges ngalnst tho Mormon church as ft rollglbua organization. organiza-tion. Tho chnrgo In question Is that tho Mormon church has considered Itself abovn tho Nation ln a legal bciiso as not bound to obey tho Nation's law o because it has what It rcgardB as direct revelations of tho Dlvlno will. Now, tho whole theory of religious toleration recognizes tho right of Individuals to believe be-lieve thnt God declares hla will directly to them, and to follow tho Dlvlno command so received In to far ns obedience to It docs not Infringe tho laws of tho land. For Instance, a man may bcllcvo ho has a Divine command not to cut his hair, and Incur In-cur no ponnliy Ho may bcllcvo that ho ought note to servo In the army, and a tolerant toler-ant statute will excuse him. No mny bellovo It Is a Dlvlno command that no woman bo unmarried, and And e.oclal support for hla tho-ory tho-ory a.s long as ho doen not attempt to practice prac-tice It to tho extent of having two wives at the name llmo. When ho does that, society refuses to accept ac-cept his methods of carrying out his religion, arid puta him ln Jail for pructlccx In dellanco of social order. And with this lost illustration we are brought directly to tho charge against tho Mormon church. That church profossen to have a direct rov- elatlon thnt polygamy is the will of God. Under Un-der social and legal pressure It officially renounced re-nounced tho practice. Then tho question arose whether, under favoring circumstances, tho Mormons might not have another rovelatlon commanding them lo resumo polygamy. It was charged that Mormons believed tho bonds of their church capablo of such direct communion com-munion with God that If they should declaro yuch a new revelation their followerj would feel bound to obey. Bofore tho Senate commltteo President Smith testified that ho was Incajmblc of receiving re-ceiving Dlvlno revelations for tho guldunco of IiIh followers. Now ho say that he lied thut ho ' Is capable of receiving revolutions. Of course. If ho Is capnble. ln vlrtuo Of his office, no must bo his successors, and tho Mormon church Is likely, at any tlmo when It may 6ccin safe, to resume tho prnctlco of polygu-my. polygu-my. Thus tho" Mormon church not only puts Itself It-self In tho'medloval position of holding that "It Is not necessary to keep fnith with Infidels," In-fidels," but u)w reasserts that It Is, as nn organization., above, the laws of tho laud, mid tvlll obey them Only on grounds of expediency that ll liao a right to disobey them In nodal prnctlco a well us deny them In Individual belief Evidently there can be no truce or peace wllh Mormonlsm until Mormons deliver themselves them-selves frorri tho delusion that ' thcro " can bo any rulo of social conduct abovo the laws of the. Jiitlna unl" ,hw licccme-tVmcticana Unit nnd Mormons second, Instead of Mormons first nnd Americans only when It Is convcnlonU Chicago Inter Ocean |