Sugar is very sweet, and lemon is very sour. Any great portion
of the former will sicken, and any considerable quantity of the latter will set
the teeth on edge. But the two united counteract or neutralize the qualities of
each other, and form a combination from which is made a most agreeable
beverage, and adapted to the taste of all grades and classes of people. Beasts only
refuse it. Sugar is spiritual, and lemon is temporal matters. A false religion keeps
them separate. This continues the religious world in an unhealthy state, and sets
the teeth of the political world on edge, fitting them to " bite and devour."
The Latter-day Saints think proper to lose sight of this distinction by uniting
the two in one, and calling every thing an ordinance of religion that can tend to
man's pefection and happiness; whether it be to plough and sow the fields, to buy
and sell goods. wares and merchandize, houses or lands; to go to the polls and
vote, to the prayer meeting, or to the sacrament of the Lord's supper. All these,
with us, are ordinances of religion; and whatsoever we do, we wish to do all to
the glory of God. " For whatsoever is not of faith is sin." The term
" breakfast" includes every article necessary to satisfy a man's
appetite in the morning ; but should he continue to eat after he has taken a sufficient
quantity of food, he would receive harm rather than good. So also the kingdom of
God includes every thing necessary for man's present and future well-being ; but
should he attach to himself appendages of his own formation, not connected with
the kingdom of God, he may expect to sink rather than rise in the scale of intellectual
enjoyments.
The priesthood is the power by which all things are sustained,
and it holds the keys of death and hell. It can bind on earth and it is bound in
heaven. It can loose on earth and it is loosed in heaven. It can forgive sins on
earth and they are forgiven in heaven. It can sit in judgment on earth and that
judgment is sanctioned and recorded in heaven. Wherever you find a church, Mr. President,
whose priesthood does not possess this power, know ye that that church is not the
church of God according to the New Testament, neither according to the dictates
of the spirit of truth.(Speech of Elder Orson Hyde, Delivered Before the
High Priests' Quorum, in Nauvoo, April 27th, 1845, Upon the Course and Conduct
of Mr. Sydney Rigdon, and Upon the Merits of His Claims to the Presidency of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [Liverpool: James and
Woodburn, 1845], 4-5)
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