The Manti Temple was dedicated on on 21 May 1888. The photo below is of a page from the Manti Temple Jubillee Book or the book celebrating the first 50 years of operation of the Manti Temple. The caption under the photo at the top of the page reads, "Sealing Room in the Manti Temple."

This particular page details the "Volume of Work" or the numbers of various ordinances performed during those first fifty years of the Manti Temple operation. This information is shown on the bottom part of the page. An enlargement of the lower part of the page is provided here for clarity:

A similar book was published for the Manti Temple to commemorate the first 100 years of operation. This "Centennial" book was published by the "Manti Temple Centennial Committee" in 1988, and copies of this book were still available for sale in bookstores in 1998. The Manti Temple Centennial book also contains a record of ordinances performed as did the Jubilee book. The summary of this ordinance report from the "Centennial" book follows:

The ordinance reports in both the 50-year "Jubilee" book and the 100-year "Centennial" book list the same ordinances, but with the following exceptions: The report from the "Jubilee" book lists four ordinances which do not appear in the report from the "Centennial" book. These four "missing" ordinances from the report in the "Centennial" book are:

1. "First" Baptisms
2. Baptisms "For Health"
3. "Adoptions"
4. "Higher Blessings"

Why are these ordinances mentioned in the 50-year report, but don't appear in the 100-year report? What were they? Are they important? Why were they deleted in the latter report? Let's look at them.

First, the category "First" Baptisms refer to an individual's baptism for him or herself for the remission of personal sins. Formerly, initial or "first" baptisms occasionally did occur in the temple, but this ordinance was of course not required to be performed in the temple. For example, my mother was baptized at the age of eight years old in 1936 in the Manti Temple, so her own baptism was actually one of these statistics in the Jubilee book.

The second category of baptisms, "for health," is a type of rebaptism. Rebaptism was a regular and frequent occurrence in the former-day LDS church. As repentance is not a one-time occurrence, but a life-long process, so is baptism supposed to be continually available to symbolically wash clean our sins that we repent of. Baptism is intended to be unto the "remission of sins." It is not true that the sacrament was originally intended to renew the covenants of baptism, as the chief symbology of baptism is to wash away sin, and to bury the old, sinful person and to come forth a new person. The sacrament prayers say nothing of the remission of sins.

In former times, a person could be rebaptized for many reasons: often before a wedding, upon entering the "United Order," upon repentance from a serious sin, if a person desired a refreshed commitment to the work of the Lord, for an improvement in health, when directed to by the Church Leaders, or for other reasons. Being rebaptized "for health" at that time was considered so important and sacred that this form of rebaptism was performed inside temples. This record, therefore, from the Manti Temple Jubilee book is an undeniable indicator that rebaptism was a part of former-day LDS practice. We recommend you review the rebaptism information in pamphlet, "They Have Transgressed the Laws, Changed the Ordinance, Broken the Everlasting Covenant.". As President Brigham Young said:

About this time came a revelation concerning baptism for the dead. I know that in my traveling and preaching, many a time, I have stopped by beautiful streams of clear, pure water, and have said to myself, "How delightful it would be to me to go into this, to be baptized for the remission of my sins." When I got home Joseph told me it was my privilege. At this time came a revelation, that the Saints could be baptized and re-baptized when they chose, and then that we could be baptized for our dear friends. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 18:241)

The third category of ordinance in question is called "Adoptions." This ordinance is the true sealing principle. The true sealing principle or the "Law of Adoption" is to properly order the family of God, sealing righteous men to other righteous men (alive or deceased) by revelation, so that this family of God may be properly ordered from Father Adam to the last worthy member of this divine family. Worthy women are sealed as wives to their husbands. For example, Brigham Young was "sealed" or "adopted" as a son of Joseph Smith. The present Telestial, worldly family organizations are not after the Celestial pattern of God. It is therefore a distortion of the Law of Adoption to seal people up in the pattern of their present, corrupt, Telestial family organizations to be a part of God's divine Celestial Family.

The Law of Adoption or the true sealing principle was changed in the 1890's during the administration of President Wilford Woodruff, when it was decided to seal up individuals according to their existing earthly family organizations only, and not to seal men to men as sons and fathers.

The Manti Temple Jubilee book refers to "sealings" for the dead as well as "Adoptions," indicating that there were at one time true "Adoption" ordinances performed in the Manti Temple. Perhaps some of the "sealings" for the dead referred to in the Jubilee book were for righteous individuals by revelation. However, it is foreign to the proper ordering of the Family of God to indiscriminately seal up deceased individuals according to their corrupted earthly family organizations into this "family" without revelation, and without consideration as to their worthiness and stead before God.

The fact that "Adoptions" are not even mentioned in the "Centennial" book indicates that the principles of the "Law of Adoption" have been truly lost and forgotten to the LDS Church.

For fourth category of ordinance in question is called "Higher Blessings." These "higher blessings" refer to the ordinance of anointing a man a "King and a Priest unto the Most High God," and anointing a women to be a "Queen and a Priestess to her husband." This is an ordinance for endowed persons in the Kingdom of God on the earth who have been proven faithful and true in keeping the commandments and their covenants.

This is an essential ordinance, sometimes referred to as the "calling and election" ordinance, which prepares a man or woman for the presence of our Lord and to be an heir to the Celestial kingdom and a member of the Church of the Firstborn, or the eternal church. The eternal church, the Church of the Firstborn, or the Kingdom of Heaven is not the same as the temporal church, or the Kingdom of God on the Earth.

This ordinance was intended for proven, worthy men and women while still in mortal probation. A few dozen couples received these ordinances under the hands of Joseph Smith in Nauvoo. Following Joseph's death, many other individuals received this ordinance in Nauvoo and after the pioneer trek west under the hands of Brigham Young and his successors. For a further discussion of this ordinance, including some actual LDS statistics on its performance, we refer you to an article by Jeff Hanks on Second Anointings on this web site.

The records show that the LDS practice of this ordinance waned and essentially disappeared under the administration of Heber J. Grant. The evidence from thereafter reports that this ordinance was no longer considered important by LDS leaders, at least for a period of around 50 years. We feel it is significant that the statistics for this ordinance were reported in the Manti Temple Jubilee book, which book was not published in secrecy, but was available to any individual at the time who wished to purchase one. That the performance of this ordinance is recorded in the Manti Temple Jubilee book, but not mentioned in the Manti Temple Centennial book is further evidence of the LDS church abandoning and greatly changing the emphasis of this sacred and essential ordinance.

We continue to ask those who examine these things to study them diligently, and prayerfully and honestly ponder these things in your heart.

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