As modern science arose, certain conceptions became established which were directly related to the idea of God. In obedience to the modern tendency towards simplification, the great variety in the material world has been referred to a few elements (nearly 80); and all the forces of nature are now held to be modes of motion of matter or of the one all pervading substance, the ether. The complexity of nature is produced by new combinations of matter, ether and motion. According to this doctrine, all the phenomena in the universe may be explained by referring them to the action of forces upon matter and ether. There is a limited number of elements, which, at the present, can not be converted into each other. There is only one ether, which can probably exist in various degrees of density. There are numerous forces, which may be converted into each other. Thus light may be changed into heat; heat into electricity and electricity into light again. Scientists have long asked if there is one great universal force, of which all other forces are merely variations. Usually, the thinkers have agreed that the indications point to such a central force, which by many has been identified with gravitation. Newton and many of the men who followed him in the development of the theory of gravitation, agreed that probably the force of gravitation is the source of all other natural forces. Thus the doctrines of modern science point to _one_ force from which all other forces are derived; and thus, the complexity of nature has been simplified, by explaining it on the assumption of this one force. Those who believe in God have claimed that this points to one great Being as the mover behind all things; the atheists have declared, that these scientific conceptions indicate that there is no real necessity for a God; and many honest searchers who have reached this closed door, have declared, "I do not know. It may be God; it may be force. It cannot be known." [Sidenote: "Mormonism" teaches that intelligence is the force of forces.] "Mormonism" has harmonized science and theology in its conception of God. As has been shown earlier in this volume, Joseph Smith taught that the central force of the universe is intelligence. Gravitation, heat, light, magnetism, electricity, chemical attraction, are all various manifestations of the all-pervading force of intelligence. This, it may be seen, is the simple theory advanced by scientists, with the definition of the first force added. [Sidenote: God is the greatest intelligence.]