On the basis of the fundamental laws, above defined, what does science require of its devotees? How does it affect the actions of the individual? As in theology, the scientific worker must have faith in the principles that have been discovered. It is not possible in one lifetime for a man to repeat all the work of preceding workers, to demonstrate the accuracy of their results. Much must be taken on trust; though at any time, should it be necessary, the earlier work may be repeated. Besides requiring faith in the principles discovered and enunciated by others, science demands that its every worker shall believe in things that lie far beyond the reach of man's senses.
In theology, at least in the system established by Joseph Smith, a similar faith is required of the individual. God and angels have been seen by very few individuals. These realities must be accepted by faith. In the words of the Prophet Joseph, "Faith is the assurance which men have of the existence of things which they have not seen, and the principle of action in all intelligent beings." With respect to the first principle of science and theology, "Mormonism" is in entire accord with the best philosophy. The individual, whether scientist or theologian, must base his work on faith.
The scientist who has acquired faith in a law of nature will no longer transgress that law. He will obey it. If he establishes the faith that a wire connected in a certain way with the electric dynamo carries a current sufficiently strong to destroy life, he will not wantonly seize that wire in his hands. Before this faith came to him, he probably came near losing his life, by the careless handling of the charged wire. To conform to the laws of nature is scientific repentance. Faith in science or religion is a high form of intelligence and is opposed to ignorance. Repentance is the use of this intelligence for the benefit of man.
In "Mormonism" the second principle of action for the individual is repentance. If faith in God has been attained and his laws have been made clear, the believer will no longer violate those laws; he will obey them. That is repentance. Not by a jot or tittle does this kind of repentance differ from the repentance taught by science. True, science does not speak of repentance, but it thinks it. In the matter of the great principle of repentance, governing the action of workers in science or theology, "Mormonism" is eminently sane and philosophical. Faith does not compel men to repent; but it is a necessary precedent. The man who does not repent in science or theology, after he has acquired faith, renders himself liable to injury and retards his own progress.
In the system of theology taught by Joseph Smith, baptism is the third great principle to be obeyed by the individual; that is, unless baptism follows faith and repentance it is impossible to enter the kingdom of God. In science there is a counterpart of baptism which is the third principle of scientific progress.
A man who has attained faith in electricity resolves to refrain from violating any of the laws of electricity. If he desires to produce a current of electricity, he winds a wire around a piece of iron, and revolves the coil in the field of a magnet, and the current is produced. If the wire has not been wound in a certain definite manner, and has not been placed in the proper relation to the magnet, no current can be produced. The scientist may rail and object that it is all nonsense to insist that the work be done just so to produce the current. Nature is inexorable. The man to enter the kingdom of the electric current must yield obedience to the order of nature; he must receive a scientific baptism.
The baptism taught by the theology of Joseph Smith is nothing more than obedience to law. Just why it is necessary to be buried in the water to enter the Church, perhaps no man fully knows. Nor does any one know just why the wire must be wound, just so, to produce the current of electricity. Of one thing every thinker may be certain, that the essential principle of baptism is as necessary in science as in theology. In this matter also, then, Joseph the Prophet is eminently philosophical.
The fourth principle in "Mormon" theology teaches that after baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost is conferred which enlightens the mind, clears the intelligence, and brings man nearer the presence of God. So also in science, to the man who obeys the law of nature, come greater power and intelligence, to him who winds the wire right, the electric current comes, with all its latent powers. Thus is the Holy Ghost conferred in science; and thus, also, in a more subtle and greater degree is it conferred in the Church. The dogma of Joseph Smith and the teachings of science harmonize perfectly in the examination of the fourth fundamental principle of the philosophy governing the individual.
[Sidenote: Evolution.]
It is becoming fairly well demonstrated that the ceaseless changes and transformations in nature cause a greater and greater complexity in nature. This, in other words, means that the earth and all on it are developing and progressing. According to Darwin and his followers, man and animals advance. Only those who progress, persist; those who retrograde, die. Creation as a whole grows and develops, and must of necessity do so. By this law, the purpose of the earth and the universe is explained to be endless growth. The law of evolution is the great cementing law of science. Even so, in the philosophy of Joseph Smith, the doctrine is taught that all things advance; that man shall continue to advance, in intelligence, and all pertaining to it, until he shall become as God is now. Meanwhile, our God will also increase in his fulness, and ever be a God to us. Through this doctrine, all the principles of the Gospel are made coherent. All the requirements of man have in view his eternal growth. Man's presence here on earth is simply that he may better learn to understand the nature of gross matter, and thus to develop and progress more completely.