--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Widtsoe, John A. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 12 number: 5 published: 1909-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Widtsoe, John A., "Ether, Holy Spirit, and Holy Ghost," *Improvement Era* 12, no. 5 (March 1909): 391–394.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1205unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1205unse start_page: 391 end_page: 394 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1909-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1205unse publication_year: 1909 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1909, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Ether, Holy Spirit, and Holy Ghost ETHER, HOLY SPIRIT, AND HOLY GHOST. Ether. The last one hundred years have been a period of tremendous scientific progress. Every department of human thought has been touched with the light of intelligence. New sciences have been founded and developed, and the older sciences have been extended far beyond their ancient limits. The accumulation of facts has been so great as to stagger the human mind. Today, this work of mastering nature's secrets goes on with undiminished vigor. 392 IMPROVEMENT ERA. As science has progressed it has become more and more evident that at least a large class of the phenomena of nature can not be explained in ordinary terms of material things as we know them. It has been borne in upon the human mind with greater and greater insistency that in order to explain even imperfectly the nature and relation of the great forces of the universe, it is necessary to assume that space is completely filled with a subtle substance of marvelous and controlling properties. Every new discovery makes the truth of the existence of such a substance more probable. What this substance is, no man knows, for it lies beyond the reach of human senses. In the operations of nature alone do we recognize it. It makes possible heat and light and electricity and magnetism; by its aid does nature speak in the thunders and the lightnings, and by its relations to universal things, even the human mind is aided. Nothing in the world of things and thoughts is unaffected by this universal substance. This substance (which may perhaps be a means through which the Spirit of God operates) is the ether of science. The name stands for man's conception of an eternal reality, back of the operations of nature, which, though in itself unknown and unknowable , may be dimly understood through its eifects upon things material. Holy Spirit. When Joseph Smith was led by God to reestablish the Church of Christ, one of his main duties was to restore in the minds and hearts of men a rational conception of God, the Ruling Force of the universe. The Prophet made it a cornerstone of his teachings that God is personal, and though of infinite power, might and majesty, occupies only a limited portion of space. The old dominating idea that God is everywhere personally present was firmly declared to be wrong. Nevertheless, the Prophet taught that God controls every part of the universe, and that within his immediate reach and power are every man, animal, tree and stone. The very hairs on our heads are counted and governed Dy him. The Prophet further taught that a personal God with a body occupying limited space can exercise such intimate and universal power by the use of a holy substance of remarkable properties, the Holy Spirit, diffused throughout space, and filling every part of it. By this holy EDITOR'S TABLE. 393 substance, the Light of Christ, the Spirit of Truth, God is in communication with every part and being of the universe; by its means He can transmit His will and power to the uttermost parts of space, and touch the hearts of His children everywhere As taught by Joseph Smith and the leaders of the Church, even the physical light from the sun, heat, electricity, thunder and lightning are expressions of divine will, by the operations of this holy, universefilling substance. (Doc. and Cov. 88: 3-13.) This conception is one that, taken in connection with the idea of a personal God, makes the "Mormon" philosophy of God and his attributes lucidly clear and yet convincingly rational. This holy substance, servant of God, filling all space, and carrying God's will and word to the whole universe, is variously called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Light of Christ, the Spirit of Truth. It can not be said with authority that the ether of science and the Holy Spirit of "Mormonism" are one and the«same. However, it can be said safely, that they are both included in the works of God. Both the ether and the Holy Spirit are poorly known to human understanding; that both are mighty servants of the Master we know. The marvel to us is that Joseph, the boy Prophet, unacquainted with the learning of men, should embody in the theological structure which he gave to the world, a fundamental doctrine, the practical counterpart of which men of science have been compelled by their discoveries to include in their man-made philosophy. It is more a marvel that Joseph Smith taught his doctrine of the Holy Spirit many years before the corresponding doctrine of the ether was finally accepted by the world of science. (For further discussion of this subject see the Y. M. M. I. A. Manual for this year.) Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead, and is a personage, distinct from the Holy Spirit or Spirit of God. Little has been revealed as yet concerning the Holy Ghost. However, we do know that the work assigned to this member of the Godhead is high and holy and necessary for man's eternal progress; that his presence and power are promised to those who have faith in God, who repent of their sins, who are baptized for the remission of 394 IMPROVEMENT ERA. their sins, and who have hands laid upon them by constituted authority, that they may receive his presence, light and intelligence. John A. Widtsoe.