OF MAN AND HIS IMMORTALITY.
The doctrines which Joseph Smith taught respecting God were also calculated to have an effect on his teachings respecting man, and that it did so is evident from the following:
I have another subject to dwell upon which is calculated to exalt man. * * * It is associated with the subject of the resurrection of the dead, namely, 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 heads? Who told you that man did not exist in like manner upon the same principles? God made a tabernacle and put a spirit into it, and it became a living soul. [Refers to the old Bible.] How does it read in the Hebrew? It does not say in Hebrew that God created the spirit of man. It says, "God made man out of earth and put into him Adam's spirit, and so became a living body." * * * I am dwelling on the immortality of the spirit of man. Is it logical to say that the intelligence of spirits is immortal, and yet that it 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 not spirits, for they are co-equal with our Father in heaven.