Joseph Smith as Scientist: A Contribution to Mormon Philosophy Part 8

REPENTANCE.

The second principle for the government of the individual, according to Mormon theology, is repentance. So commonly has this principle been discussed from its relation to moral law that its counterpart in all human effort has often been overlooked.

[Sidenote: Repentance follows faith.]

To repent is first to turn from old practices. Thus, he who violates any of G.o.d's laws renders himself liable to certain punishment, but, if he repents, and sins no more, the punishments are averted.

Naturally, such a change of heart and action can come only after faith has been established. No man will change a habit without a satisfactory reason. In fact, all the actions of men should be guided by reason. Repentance then is a kind of obedience or active faith; and is great in proportion to the degree of faith possessed by the individual. Certainly, the repentance of no man can transcend his faith, which includes his knowledge.

[Sidenote: Scientific repentance follows scientific faith.]

So it is in science. For centuries, wounds of the body were treated according to certain methods, a.s.sumed to be correct; and, especially in time of war, large numbers of the patients died. Then it was found that low forms of life--the bacteria--infected the wounds, and caused the high mortality. This led to the antiseptic treatment in surgery, which destroys germ life, and leaves the wound absolutely clean. As a consequence the mortality from flesh and other wounds has diminished remarkably. The medical profession repented, or turned away, from its former methods, and the reward was immediately felt. However, before antisceptic surgery was finally and fully established, faith in the practice had to be awakened among the members of the profession. A chemist, making refined a.n.a.lysis may apply a certain factor, a.s.sumed to be correct in his calculations, but in reality incorrect. As a result, the determinations are wrong. When later, the correct factor is discovered, and applied, the results of the work become correct.

Repentance from the previous error, changes the chemist's work from wrong to right. In fact, in any department of knowledge, when it is discovered that a law of nature has been violated, it becomes necessary, if further progress is desired, to cease the violation.

Should a scientist persist in violation of a known law, he knows that the consequences, great or small will certainly follow.

[Sidenote: Repentance means adopting new habits; not simply turning from old ones.]

To repent is more than to turn from incorrect practices. It implies also the adoption of new habits. The man who has turned from his sins, may learn of a law, which he has never violated, yet which if obeyed, means progress for him. If he does not follow such a law, but remains neutral in its presence, he certainly is a sinner. To repent from such sin, is to obey each higher law as it appears. In the spiritual life, it is impossible for the person who desires the greatest joy to remain pa.s.sive in the presence of new principles. He must embrace them; live them; make them his own.

Not only must the worker in science turn from scientific error; he must also accept new science as it is discovered. When the chemist, working with the best known a.n.a.lytical methods, learns that a more rapid or more accurate method has been found, he must adopt the new fact, in order to make the results of his work more accurate. When the chemists of a hundred years ago learned of the atomic hypothesis, it became necessary to adopt it, in order to insure more rapid progress in chemistry. Those who failed to accept the new doctrine worked in greater darkness, and made no material progress. Newton's doctrine of gravitation opened a new method of investigating the universe. Those who did not adopt it were soon outdistanced by their more active colleagues.

In every such case, the obedience yielded to the new knowledge is a kind of repentance. When a person, in religion or science, ceases to break law, he ceases from active evil; when he accepts a new law, he ceases from pa.s.sive evil. No repentance can be complete which does not cease from both active and pa.s.sive evil.

[Sidenote: Repentance is active faith.]

Viewed in this manner, then, repentance is obedience to law and is active faith. The law, before it is obeyed, must be understood--that is, faith must precede repentance. Therefore, the obedience yielded can increase only with the knowledge or faith of the individual. As the Prophet Joseph Smith stated it, "No man can be saved in ignorance"

and "a person is saved no faster than he gains intelligence."

Repentance is as truly the second principle of action for individuals, in the domain of science as of theology.

Chapter XI.

BAPTISM.

A repentant man turns from previous violation of law, and accepts every new law that may be revealed to him. Repentance is obedience; and the repentant person is always ready to obey righteous laws.

Baptism is one of the laws of the Kingdom of G.o.d. "Except ye repent and be baptized ye can in nowise enter the Kingdom of G.o.d." The repentant person must of necessity accept this law with the others with which he may be familiar.

[Sidenote: The equivalent of baptism found in science.]

Students of science, who agree that faith and repentance have a place in science, frequently a.s.sert that the equivalent of baptism is not found in external nature. This claim may be proved false by examining the nature of law.

The chemist must frequently produce the gas hydrogen. To do it, an acid must be poured upon fragments of certain metals. In thus producing the gas, the chemist obeys law. The astronomer who studies the stars discovers that by using a piece of gla.s.s properly ground, his powers of vision appear to be strengthened. He therefore prepares such lenses for his telescopes, and thus obeys law. The surgeon uses antisceptics in the treatment of wounds because he has learned that such application will destroy germ life, and thus the surgeon obeys law. The electrician has found that by winding a wire in a certain manner around iron and rotating it near a magnet, electric currents are set up. He builds dynamos according to such principles, and thus shows his obedience to law.

It must be noted that the scientist does not know just _why_ acid added to metal produces hydrogen, or _why_ a certain curved lens brings the stars nearer; or _why_ certain chemicals destroy low forms of life or _why_ wire wound in a certain way when rotated in the magnetic field will produce electricity. Nature requires, without volunteering an explanation, that to produce hydrogen, see the stars, destroy germs and produce the electric current, certain invariable laws must be obeyed.

Baptism is essentially of the same nature. To enter the Kingdom of G.o.d, a person must be baptized. Just _why_ baptism should be the ordinance that opens the door, no man knows. It undoubtedly has high symbolic value; but the symbolism might be expressed in many other ways. All that man can do is to obey.

[Sidenote: It is unreasonable to do only what is fully understood.]

Men say at times that they will do nothing which they do not fully understand, and therefore they will not be baptized. It would be as unreasonable for a man to say that because he does not fully understand why a certain winding of the wire is necessary to produce electricity he will not produce this wonderful natural force. All theology and all science contain laws that must be obeyed in order to obtain certain results, although the full reasons for the required combinations are not understood.

He who is baptized, enters the Kingdom of G.o.d. He who throws acid on metal enters the kingdom of hydrogen; he who grinds the lens right, enters the kingdom of the stars; he who uses antisceptics right, enters the kingdom of lower life, and he who winds the wire correctly, enters the kingdom of electricity. Yielding obedience to any of these various laws, is a form of baptism, which gives entrance to a kingdom.

[Sidenote: Baptism is obedience to law.]

The essential virtue of baptism is obedience to law. The prime value of any natural law is attained only after obedience has been yielded to it. Baptism is conformity to certain details in entering G.o.d's Kingdom. Scientific baptism is conformity to certain details in entering the kingdom of science. Only by baptism can a man attain salvation; only by using lenses of the right curvature can a man view the stars. Religious success does not rest in the degree to which every law is explained; but rather in the degree to which all known laws are obeyed. Scientific success does not rest upon the degree to which every law is explained; but rather in the degree to which every discovered law is obeyed and applied for man's advancement.

In science and in theology man must be content "to see through a gla.s.s, darkly." Until the essential nature of infinitude itself shall be understood, man must be content to learn to use unexplained laws.

Science is the great explainer, but she explains relations and not the absolute foundations of phenomena.

After faith or knowledge has been obtained, the alpha and omega of religious or scientific progress is obedience. The cry of universal nature is, Obedience!

Viewed rationally, therefore, the baptism taught in theology is an ordinance which has its counterpart in every department of science.

Joseph Smith was strcitly scientific in cla.s.sing baptism as the third great principle governing human action.

Chapter XII.

THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST.

[Sidenote: The gift of the Holy Ghost is a gift of intelligence.]

Baptism by water is insufficient to open the door to G.o.d's Kingdom.

The Gift of the Holy Ghost, obtained by the laying on of Hands by one having authority, completes the ordinance. Not only Joseph Smith, but the Savior Himself taught distinctly that to enter the Kingdom of G.o.d, a person must be baptized by water and by fire; and the promise is given that those are "baptized by water for the remission of sins, shall receive the Holy Ghost."[A]

[Footnote A: Doctrine and Covenants, 84:63, 64.]

Jesus, speaking to His disciples, taught that "the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."[A] This clearly implies that the promised gift is essentially a gift of increased intelligence with the added power that results from a more intelligent action. That this is the Mormon view of the effect of the Gift of the Holy Ghost may be amply demonstrated from the standard works of the Church and from the writings of the leading interpreters of Mormon doctrine. Parley P. Pratt in the Key to Theology says, "It quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural pa.s.sions and affection * * * *. It develops and invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man."[B] The Prophet Joseph Smith declared "This first Comforter or Holy Ghost has no other effect than pure intelligence. It is * * * * powerful in expanding the mind, enlightening the understanding, and storing the intellect with present knowledge."[C] Concisely expressed, therefore, Joseph Smith and the Church he restored, teach that the Gift of the Holy Ghost, is a gift of "intelligence."

[Footnote A: John 14:26.]

[Footnote B: Key to Theology, 5th ed., pp. 101, 102.]

[Footnote C: History of the Church, Vol. III, p. 380.]

[Sidenote: Science furnishes an equivalent of the gift of the Holy Ghost.]

If the equivalents of faith, repentance and baptism are irrevocable laws for the individual who studies science, the question arises, Is there also, a scientific equivalent for the Gift of the Holy Ghost?

Even a superficial view of the matter will reveal such an equivalent.

To use again the ill.u.s.trations employed in the preceding chapter, if the chemist has obeyed natural law in producing hydrogen, that is, has been baptized into the kingdom of hydrogen, he may by the proper use and study of the gas obtained, add much to his knowledge. He may learn that it is extremely light; that it forms an explosive mixture with air; that it will destroy many vegetable colors, and will burn with an almost invisible flame. Thus, the possession of the gas enlarges the knowledge and develops the intelligence of the scientist. Is not this another form of the Gift of the Holy Ghost?