[Sidenote: As the Prophet placed himself in tune with the unknown, he became less dependent on external aids.]
The Prophet did not always receive his revelations by the assistance of the Urim and Thummim. As he grew in experience and understanding, he learned to bring his spirit into such an attitude that it became a Urim and Thummim to him, and God's will was revealed without the intervention of external means. This method is clearly, though briefly, expressed in one of the early revelations:
Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought, save it was to ask me; but, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right, I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right; but if it be not right, you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought, that cause you to forget the thing which is wrong.[A]
[Footnote A: Doctrine and Covenants, 9:7-9.]
[Sidenote: The "testimony of the spirit" is scientific.]
The essence of this statement is that if a person will concentrate his powers so as to come into harmony with God, truth will be revealed to him; and is not that like the tuning of a coil of wire so that it can take up the waves of certain lengths, that may be passing through the ether? If an inert mass of iron can be so tuned, can anyone refuse to believe that man, highly organized as he is, can "tune" himself to be in harmony with the forces of the universe? The universal ether of science is like the Holy Spirit, and the waves or energy of the ether is like the intelligent action of that Spirit controlled by God. Heat, light, magnetism, electricity, and the other forces, become, then, simply various forms of God's speech, any of which may be understood, if the proper means of interpretation is at hand.
In the Book of Mormon, the Prophet states that "When ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost; and by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."[A]
[Footnote A: Moroni 10:4, 5.]
This involves the principle discussed above. By placing oneself in harmony with the requirements of the subject in hand, the truth must become known, even as an instrument properly tuned must feel the influence of the ether waves with which it is in harmony.
Again, then, the conceptions of the Mormon Prophet rise to equal heights with the best theories of the scientists. In simple phrases, apparently unconscious of the philosophical meaning of the doctrines, Joseph Smith recognized the various means whereby man's senses may be enabled to seize upon and comprehend the natural forces which to man's unaided senses must remain unknown forever.