Joseph F. Smith warns that changes to the sacrament could lead to changing temple ordinances.
Joseph F. Smith, Discourse at Weber Stake Conference, July 16, 1893, Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star 55, no. 38 (September 18, 1893): 605
I want to speak of one or two little things that have been brought to my mind here and at other places which may be profitable to some of us. I would like to call the attention of the congregation especially of the bishops to the mode of administering the sacrament. The book of Doctrine and Covenants teaches us that the elder or priest who administers the sacrament “shall kneel with the Church.” Of course, it is quite difficult, and probably inappropriate, for a whole congregation to kneel while the blessing is being asked upon the bread and upon the water. The confusion and noise incident to kneeling and rising again would be inappropriate. Besides, the construction of our meeting houses, and the of the congregations generally, would make that practice rather impracticable. But there is nothing, that I know of, that would make it inappropriate for the Elder who asks the blessing to kneel, as the word of the Lord requires. I have noticed in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, probably where the example should be set, that the bishops who ask the on the bread and the water do so standing upon their feet, and see that the same rule applies here. I have spoken to Brother Shurtliff in relation to the matter, and he assures me that in the future an example be set in this regard and those who administer the sacrament will kneel when asking the blessing. It is not that this form is absolutely essential to the acceptance of this ordinance by the Lord; but it is in accordance with the word of the Lord which was given for our guidance; and where it is possible to follow the written word, in the spirit in which it is given, it is always better to do so. Indeed, by doing so we will avoid a serious wrong, that might eventually grow out of a disregard for the rules that the Lord has established, for it might lead to a changing to some extent of the ordinances of the house of God. It is necessary that we should pay proper attention and care to carrying out the purposes of the Lord in the manner which He has revealed. And this may be extended to other matters of our religion. One of the charges brought against the children of Israel and mentioned by the prophets in the latter times was that “they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” That is really the complaint against the world to-day and it is not meet that we should indulge in any such things.