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Show UNION OF- CHURCH AND STATE. 181' protection from oppression, by those* parsing through their midst, were not made in vaifi J and I know of at lejwt / me instance in which the> nutrshal of the. State was despatched, with an adequate force, nearly. two bubdred. miles int6 the western desert, in ptir- ' suit of some miscreants who bad stolen off with nearly, the whole outfit of a party of emigrants. He pursued* and brought them back to , the city, and the. plundered* property was restored to its rightful- owner.. . While, however, there are all the exterior, evidences of a govern- • ment strictly temporal, it cannot be concealed that it is so intimately ." blended with the spiritual administration kof the church, that it would be impossible to separate the one from ' the other. The ' first'civil governor ijnder the constitution of . the n6w St& te^ elected - by the people, was the president of the ohurph, Brigh^ m Young; ' the lieutenant- governor Was \ ia first ecclesiastical counsellor, aftd .. the secretary of . state his "\ second counsellor: these' . three individuals forming together the « presidency' 1 of the church:- The bishops of the several wards, who, by virtue of their' office in th? church, had exercised not only a spiritual but a temporal authority over th4 several districts assigned to their charge, were appointed, • under* the civil organisation, to be justices, of the peace, and were; supported ih the discharge of their duties, not only by1 the civil power, but by th6 whole spiritual authority of the church also. . This intimate connection of church and state seems to' pervade every thing that is done, The supreme power in both being lodged in < the hands of the same individuals, it is difficult to separate their two official characters,' apd to determine whether in any one in? stance they qct as spiritual or merely temporal officer^. The, establishment of a civil government 9* all, seems to me to have been altogether the result of a foreseen necessity, which it was impossible to avoid. As the community grew innitinbenr and importance, it was not to be expected, as has been before remarked, . that the whole population^ would' always consist solely of members of the church, looking up to the presidency, not only as its! spiritual head, but as the diyipely commissionoa and. inspired source of ltfw in temporal matters and policy also. » It became necessary, therefore, to' provide for the government of the whole, by establishing ' sdme authority which could- not be disputed by tmy, and wonld ( - exercise a control . over them as citisens, whether they # ere mem-, bera of the church or fcet; and which, being acknowledge^ and recognised by thq Government of the United States, would be sup- |