chapter 5, the most eminent scientists of the day declare that the

existence of this world-ether is one of the few things of which men may be absolutely sure. Yet the ether cannot be seen, heard, tasted, smelled or felt. To our senses it has neither weight nor substance. To believe the existence of this ether requires a faith which is certainly as great as the greatest faith required by Mormon theology.

Numerous other illustrations might be cited, without greatly emphasizing the truth that the great fundamental doctrines of science require a great faith in realities that are beyond the reach of our senses.

[Sidenote: Faith comes slowly and naturally.]

The great foundations of science have not come as a "great wakening light," but have come slowly, through a process of normal, guided growth. The first experiment was made, from which a simple conclusion was drawn; the second experiment furnished a second conclusion; the two results combined produced a third conclusion, and so on through thousands of experiments and conclusions, until the brilliant conceptions of modern science were attained. In short, the scientist works very simply by careful observation of nature, "the earth and its fullness," and by as careful reasoning from the observed facts. The mind builds noble structures of the materials the senses bring. The same method may be employed in gaining faith in the principles of theology; and the Apostle Paul tells us distinctly that the righteousness of God is revealed from "faith to faith," and that the eternal power of God and the Godhead and "the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made." The scientist, likewise, begins with the things that are made and proceeds "from faith to faith," gaining "here a little, and there a little," until a faith is reached which, to him who has not followed its growth, may seem absurd in its loftiness.

[Sidenote: Science cannot progress without faith.]

Certainly, no man can progress in science unless he has faith in the great inductions of scientific men. Faith is as indispensable for scientific progress as for theological advancement. In both cases it is the great principle of action.

This subject merits more extended discussion, but the exposition of the nature of faith is outside the argument running through these chapters. It must be sufficient to remark again that Mormonism is strictly scientific in stating as the first principle of the guidance of the individual, that of faith in unseen things; for that is the basic principle for the beginner in modern science.[A]

[Footnote A: Read for a fuller exposition, We walk by Faith, Improvement Era, Volume 3, p. 561.]