Hearings in Smoot Case

Thirty-seven years ago this day I was sitting upon the bench to my right. President Snow sent to me a note, and all that was on it was : "I want to see you at 'my office at the close of these services." I had no more idea, my brethren and sisters, what President Snow wished of me, than I have at this moment how long I shall live. ¶

I went immediately, at the close of the meeting, to his office, and as I entered the door most of the members of the Twelve were in the room, and President Snow told me I had been chosen to be one of the quorum of Twelve. I had had no previous intimation, so it was a complete surprise. ¶

HEARINGS IN SMOOT CASE ¶

It was just a short time after — two years, I may say — that I was elected to the Senate of the United States. There is hardly anybody in this audience, or, I was going to say, in the United States, but what can remember, if they were of age at that time, what took place. The charges that were made against me have been published so often, and I am quite sure that every one here knows what they were. I shall not take the time to read them. ¶

Last night I picked up the first volume, (one out of five large volumes), containing the hearings in what was known as the Reed Smoot case. All the powers of the churches of this nation used every effort and all the influence that they could bring to bear upon the senators of the United States, to have them vote for my expulsion from the Senate. ¶

SENATOR BEVERIDGE'S INTEREST ¶

Albert J. Beveridge, a member of the Committee on Privileges and Elections, met me often, asking me every conceivable question as to the beliefs, the aims and the objects of the Mormon people, what oaths we had taken, and everything connected particularly with what is termed in the world the "Hierarchy." ¶

I read last night, out of Volume I of those hearings, many of the questions which were asked President Joseph F. Smith, Apostle Lyman, and others who were called there to testify. I might add that in all those five volumes my name was mentioned very seldom. It was "the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." ¶

QUESTIONS ASKED OF MINISTERS ¶

Later, in the book, "The Young Man and the World," published by Senator Beveridge, are questions that were asked of many ministers of the United States, and I am going to call your attention to the questions that he submitted to not one but hundreds of ministers of the gospel. ¶

"The first question was: Yes or no, do you believe in God the Father ; God a person, God a definite and tangible intelligence ; not a congeries of laws floating like a fog through the universe ; but God, a person in whose image you were made ? Don't argue ; don't explain ; but is your mind in a condition where you can answer 'Yes' or 'No' ?" ¶

Then he continues : "Not a man answered 'Yes.' " Each man wanted to explain that the Deity might be a definite intelligence or might not, as the case may be ; that the latest thought was much confused on the matter, and so forth and so on. ¶

"The second question: Yes or no, do you believe that Christ was the Son of the living God, sent by him to save the world ? I am not asking whether you believe that he was inspired, in the sense that the great moral teachers are inspired. Nobody has any difficulty about that. But do you believe that Christ was God's very Son, with a divinely appointed and definite mission, dying on the cross, and raised from the dead ? Answer 'Yes' or 'No.' ¶

"Again, not a single answer with an unequivocal, earnest 'Yes,' but again explanations were offered. In at least half the instances, some or most of the answers were that Christ was the most perfect man that the world had seen, and humanity's greatest moral teacher. ¶

"The third question : 'Do you believe that when you die you will live again as a conscious intelligence, knowing who you are, and who other people are?' ¶

"Again, not one answer was unconditionally affirmative. 'Of course, they were not sure as a matter of knowledge.' 'Of course, that could not be known positively.' On the whole, they were inclined to think so, but there were very stubborn objections, and so forth and so on." ¶

"The men to whom these questions were put were particularly highgrade ministers. One of 'them had already won a distinguished reputa- ¶

tion in New York and the New England states for his eloquence and piety. Every one of them had had unusual successes with fashionable congregations. But every one of them had noted an absence of real influence upon the hearts of their hearers, and all thought that this same condition is spreading throughout the modern pulpit. Yet not one of them suspected that the profound cause of what they called the 'decay of faith' was not in the world of men and women, but in themselves. ¶

"How could such priests of ice warm the souls of men? How could such apostles of interrogation convert a world ?" ¶

WITNESSES IN THE SMOOT CASE ¶

The balance of the chapter is worthy of reading, but I haven't the time. This young man at the time was a very popular Senator of the United States, and as I read the hearings in my case, and his questions that were asked President Joseph F. Smith, when the latter was a witness before the Privileges and Elections Committee, I felt in my soul then, and you couldn't help it if any one of you were to read the proceedings, that what Senator Beveridge wanted to know was why and how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held together so well, and why its members were willing to sacrifice so much of their time and their substance, and were willing to give their lives for the Church, if necessary, as shown by the testimonies given, and he felt in his soul that there was something greater than the thoughts of man; that there must be some power in the Church and that power was manifested in its representatives who testified in this case. ¶

It seemed rather hard at the time, my brethren and sisters, that so many of the leading men of the Church were dragged to Washington to testify but I get so much comfort out of the fact that though the Committee on Privileges and Elections had an idea that was anything but favorable to the Mormon people and the Authorities of the Church, I know, from the lips of the men constituting the Committee, that the result of the hearings and of the visit of the President of the Church and members of the quorum of the Twelve and many other leading men gave a complete answer to the false charges that had been made against the members of the Church for so many years. ¶

A STRONG TESTIMONY ¶

God never requires anything of this people — never has and never will — that he is not prepared to help them fulfil, and will overrule all things and defeat all enemies that stand in the way of the fulfilment of his purposes. ¶

A wonderful Church is ours ! The power back of it is divine revelation. Church members are loyal to its institutions. It is not an organization for Sunday only. It enters into every-day life and never should be lost sight of in our dealings at home and abroad and in our association wherever we may be or go. ¶

I have never been ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have ¶

never in all my life been placed in a position where I felt that it was necessary that I should violate any law, ordinance or commandment of God. I never expect to be. ¶

May God's blessings attend this people, his Church, and may his influence and power ever be with President Grant as long as he lives, and with the Authorities of the Church from the highest to the lowest, I pray, in the name1 of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶