THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF MATTER.
[Sidenote: Until recent days many believed that matter could be
created or destroyed.]
It was believed by the philosophers of ancient and mediaeval times,
especially by those devoted to the study of alchemy, that it was
possible through mystical powers, often of a supernatural order, to
annihilate matter or to create it from nothing. Men with such powers
transcended all known laws of nature, and became objects of fear,
often of worship to the masses of mankind. Naturally enough, the
systems of religion became colored with the philosophical doctrines of
the times; and it was held to be a fundamental religious truth that
God created the world from nothing. Certainly, God could do what his
creatures, the magicians, were able to do--that part of the reasoning
was sound.
In support of this doctrine, attention was called to some of the
experiences of daily life. A piece of coal placed in a stove, in a
short time disappear--it is annihilated. From the clear air of a
summer's day raindrops start--created out of nothing. A fragment of
gold placed in contact with sufficiently strong acids, disappears--it
is destroyed.
[Sidenote: Matter is eternal, its form only can be changed.]
Towards the end of the eighteenth century, facts and laws of chemistry
were discovered, which enabled scientists to follow in great detail
the changes, visible or invisible, to which matter in its various
forms is subject. Then it was shown that the coal placed in a stove
unites with a portion of the air entering through the drafts, and
becomes an invisible gas, but that, were this gas collected as it
issues from the chimney, it would be found to contain a weight of the
elements of the coal just equal to the weight of the coal used. In a
similar manner it was shown that the raindrops are formed from the
water found in the air, as an invisible vapor. The gold dissolved in
the acid, may be wholly recovered so that every particle is accounted
for. Numerous investigations on this subject were made by the most
skillful experimenters of the age, all of which showed that it is
absolutely impossible to create or destroy the smallest particle of
matter; that the most man can do is to change the form in which matter
exists.
After this truth had been demonstrated, it was a necessary conclusion
that matter is eternal, and that the quantity of matter in the
universe cannot be diminished nor increased. This great
generalization, known as the law of the Persistence of Matter or Mass,
is the foundation stone of modern science. It began to find general
acceptance among men about the time of Joseph Smith's birth, though
many religious sects still hold that God, as the Supreme Ruler, is
able at will to create matter from nothing. The establishment of this
law marked also the final downfall of alchemy and other kindred occult
absurdities.
[Sidenote: Mormonism teaches that all things are material.]
No doctrine taught by Joseph Smith is better understood by his
followers than that matter in its elementary condition is eternal, and
that it can neither be increased nor diminished. As early as May,
1833, the Prophet declared that "the elements are eternal,"[A] and in
a sermon delivered in April, 1844, he said "Element had an existence
from the time God had. The pure principles of element are principles
which can never be destroyed; they may be organized and reorganized,
but not destroyed. They had no beginning, and can have no end."[B]
[Footnote A: Doctrine and Covenants, 93:33.]
[Footnote B: The Contributor, Vol. 4, p. 257.]
It is thus evident that from the beginning of his work, Joseph Smith
was in perfect harmony with the fundamental doctrine of science; and
far in advance of the religious sects of the world, which are, even at
this time, slowly accepting the doctrine of the persistence of matter
in a spiritual as well as in a material sense.
Mormonism has frequently been charged with accepting the doctrine of
materialism. In one sense, the followers of Joseph Smith plead yes to
this charge. In Mormon theology there is no place for immateralism;
i.e. for a God, spirits and angels that are not material. Spirit is
only a refined form of matter. It is beyond the mind of man to
conceive of an immaterial thing. On the other hand, Joseph Smith did
not teach that the kind of tangible matter, which impresses our mortal
senses, is the kind of matter which is associated with heavenly
beings. The distinction between the matter known to man and the spirit
matter is very great; but no greater than is the difference between
the matter of the known elements and that of the universal ether which
forms one of the accepted dogmas of science.
Science knows phenomena only as they are associated with matter;
Mormonism does the same.