"If two things exist and there be one above the other, there shall be greater things above them. * * * If there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal" (Book of Abraham, Chs. 3, 16, 18). To this may be added the teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith who, in the closing days of his earthly ministry, dwelt much upon this subject and treated it with great emphasis. At the conference of the Church at Nauvoo in April, 1844, in a sermon, he said. "The soul--the mind of man--the immortal spirit--where did it come from? All learned men and doctors of divinity say that God created it in the beginning, but it is not so; the very idea lessens man in my estimation. I do not believe the doctrine. I know better. Hear it, all ye ends of the world, for God has told me so, if you don't believe me, it will not make the truth without effect We say that God himself is a self-existent being. Who told you so? It is correct enough, but how did it get into your head? Who told you that man did not exists in like manner, upon the same principles? Man does exist upon the same principles. * * * The mind or the intelligence which man possess is co-equal, [co-eternal][A] with God himself. I know my testimony is true. * * * I am dwelling on the immorality of the spirit of man. Is it logical to say that the intelligence of spirits is immortal, and yet that it (i. e., the intelligence) had a beginning? The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end. That is good logic. That which has a beginning may have an end. There never was a time when there were no spirits, for they are co-equal [co-eternal] with our Father in heaven. * * * Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle. It is a spirit from age to age and there is no creation about it. * * * The first principles of a man are self-existent with God."[B] [Footnote A: The Prophet could not have intended to teach that the intelligence in man was "co-equal with God," except as to being co-equal in eternity with God, since the Book of Abraham teaches that God is more intelligent than all other intelligences (Ch. iii:19), and the Prophet himself taught the same truth. Hence the insertion of the word above in brackets. It must be remembered that the report of this discourse was not stenographic and this was doubtless a verbal error, due to imperfect reporting.] [Footnote B: King Follett Sermon, April, 1844, "Improvement Era," Vol. XII, Jan. 1909. Also "Journal of Discourses," Vol. VI.]