True, the passage above quoted does not furnish detailed explanation of the Prophet's view concerning the substance filling all space, but it must be remembered that it is simply an incidental paragraph in a chapter of religious instruction. True, also, the Prophet goes farther than some modern scientists, when he says that this universal substance bears a controlling relation to all things; yet, when it is recalled that eminent, sober students have suggested that the facts of science make it possible to believe that matter itself is simply a phenomenon of the universal ether, the statement of the "Mormon" prophet seems very reasonable. The paragraph already quoted is not an accidental arrangement of words suggesting an idea not intended by the prophet, for in other places, he presents the idea of an omnipresent substance binding all things together. For instance, in speaking of the controlling power of the universe he says: "He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before him, and all things are round about him; and he is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things."[A] [Footnote A: Ibid, 88:41.] That Joseph Smith does not here have in mind an omnipresent God, is proved by the emphatic doctrine that God is personal and cannot be everywhere present.[A] [Footnote A: Ibid, 130:22.] Lest it be thought that the words are forced, for argument's sake, to give the desired meaning, it may be well to examine the views of some of the persons to whom the Prophet explained in detail the meanings of the statements in the revelations which he claimed to have received from God. Parley P. Pratt, who, as a member of the first quorum of apostles, had every opportunity of obtaining the Prophet's views on any subject, wrote in considerable fullness on the subject of the Holy Spirit, or the light of truth: "As the mind passes the boundaries of the visible world, and enters upon the confines of the more refined and subtle elements, it finds itself associated with certain substances in themselves invisible to our gross organs, but clearly manifested to our intellect by their tangible operations and effects." "The purest, most refined and subtle of all these substances--is that substance called the Holy Spirit." "It is omnipresent." "It is in its less refined particles, the physical light which reflects from the sun, moon and stars, and other substances; and by reflection on the eye makes visible the truths of the outward world."[A] [Footnote A: Key to Theology, 5th ed., pp. 38-41.] Elder C. W. Penrose, an accepted writer on Mormon doctrine, writes, "It is by His Holy Spirit, which permeates all things, and is the life and light of all things, that Deity is everywhere present. * * By that agency God sees and knows and governs all things."[A] [Footnote A: Rays of Living Light, No. 2, p. 3.]