Show A GRAND arand OCCASION the saints have a spiritual fo feast at manti conference proceedings THRONGS IN attendance may 19 1888 f special to the newe about sixty persons bound for this place to attend the dedica dedicatory torl services in the temple and perhaps the the stake conference to be perhaps g eld here today and tomorrow started from salt lake city by yesterday mornings utah central train before reaching nephi the number was increased to about eighty there the passengers assi engers were transferred to the sanpete ralley railway which by the way is unaccustomed to carrying so 80 many passengers and is poorly sup mant pile belled with cars the accommodations however however were ample if not of the best order consisting chiefly of box and flatcars flat cars with seats seata arranged in them indeed there were more than necessary and some of the flat ears were switch switched edoff off before a start was made the passengers accepted t affe improvised accommodations rood good natu doubtless realizing ng that the present manager of the road mr theodore bruback who has on only held the position since the first of f april is doing his utmost for the im ro of the road and the convenience abee of the public and trusting that he be will as he intends to clear the road of its encumbrances as soon as possible and push it on through to manti the run ran to chester was made on time and the scenery on the way enjoyed amon among 9 the other pleasing and surprising sights eights witnessed was the appearance not far from the track as the train approached pro ached the summit of the mountain dividing div idine sanpete and juab valleys valley of three antelope la in their wild native state on arriving at chester at teams in abdu abundance dance were found waiting to convey the party to their destination the ride by team from there to mauti manti afforded algood opportunity to note the condition of the crops which appear tobe to be very backward compared with those in salt lake and utah valleys le a sad aad to see the improvements waith which have been madel made since former visits in the way of building more mere and better houses fencing and cultivating more land etc which are very apparent all along the route A st sight of the temple is obtained when a long way off when it appears much nearer than it really is but its real beauty is best appreciated from a nearer view and will be greatly enhanced by the completion of the terrace walls and the planting of flowers and shrubs thereon all of which will de be done dene in time A WHOLE HEARTY WE WELCOME laotie was extended by brother john B maiben and the bishops and saints of manti to the visitors as they arrived all seeming to vie with one another in their efforts to make it as comfortable and pleasant as possible for them at atan au early hour this morning the teams loaded with the residents of the surrounding towns and villages began caming aming in and before the time arrived for the commencement of the quarterly stake conference the meeting house was pretty well filled on the stand were to te be seen apostles lorenzo snow F 1 richards john he henry smith H J grant and john W taylor a alor the presidency of the san acte to stake president A 0 smoot and his a counselor david john of utah stake president john tJohn R murdock of the beaver beaver stake brothers jacob Gate sand john morgan of the presiding in council of seventies and many ott others era from salt lake city and other parts rt s clr the h opening prayer was offered by president john morgan and the manti choir led by prof A C smyth discoursed sweet music 6 before ef orand and after tt A APOSTLE JOHN W TAYLOR was the me first speaker speake he expressed the pleasure he felt at meeting with the saints under such favorable circumstances cum stances and alluded to the in of the prophet joseph smith on the necessity of securing by united prayer and humility the spirit of tb th eLord and faith in his promises when called upon to administer to the sick felt that the same was necessary when meeting for public worship that the speaker might be inspired and the congregation edified humility v was one of the first essentials and the saints were exhorted to cultivate it alluded to his own experience in seeking and securing a testimony in regard to the truth of his bis religion and portrayed the effect of the operation of th the e holy ay spirit stating that its tendency d ei anity never ever was to puff up or fill one wi with A vanity but to render humble and childlike rebuked the evildoers evil doers among the saints and exhorted them to repent of their sins and live near to the low lord it if they would have their temple tempie accepted of of the lord and his spirit I 1 to abide there epostle JOHN HENRY SMITH said be rejoiced in the gospel of christ and had bad received a testimony of the truth the temple which had been completed and which it was the design to dedicate was among the grandest mona monuments ments of the integrity integrity devotion ae devotion and self gelf sacrificing spirit 0 of the saints that existed the spirit which had bad prompted of that house should ethl be cultivated cultivate d by them and they should now seek through faithfulness to prove themselves worthy to eater therein and perform ordinances for the benefit ot of themselves and their friends who were dead felt assured that their work in the erection of the temple was accepted of the almighty and considered it a credit to all who had assisted toward its erection ELDER JOSEPH B NOBLE stated that it was his happy lot to become a member of the church about 50 years ago and to associate with the prophet joseph smith and the early saints was no less happy at the thought of having the privilege of attending the dedication of another temple in this age was a living witness to the early teachings of the prophet joseph upon the principle of celestial marriage and knew the purity of his motives ELDER JACOB GATES rejoiced in contemplating the I 1 future of the saints as well as at having had the privilege ot of living in the days of joseph the prophet and listening te his predictions mandof many of which he bad seen the fulfillment fulfilment of felt confident of the final triumph of the tee work of god over all that opposed it and grateful for the privilege of labor laboring ilog in temples and performing a work in which countless thousands who were ware behind the veil were interested exhorted the saints to note the fulfil fulfill ment of prophecy in the me events which were transpiring throughout the world and to be content to continue a peculiar people and having come out from the world not to seek to 0 return thereto when he contemplated his bis experience terrence peri lence ence of fifty two years in the ter hurch church he felt that 1 he could forgive the enemies of the truth for all they had bad done for it had been proved tru true e that they could do against b but ut for the work of the lord lora their acts having bees been overruled tor for good APOSTLE HEBER J GRANT stated that no person would be admitted to the temple except those who could be recommended by their bishops 0 s and through their recommends attain obtain tickets from the presidents of the stakes in which they resided COUNSELOR DANIEL n H WELLS said the honor had bad been accorded to him of taking charge of the temple and the work to be performed med therein it had been his custom when called upon to perform any work in connection with the church to appeal to the lord in faith and prayer for assistance which he had always obtained and he hoped to do so la in the present instance ile he then read the names of thirty tr two persons who had bad been selected to officiate in the temple and requested them to meet and confer with him PRESIDENT CANUTE PETERSON requested all the visitors present who were not already provided for to meet the bishops at the close of the meeting and be taken to the homes of saints who would entertain them closing prayer by elder lorin farr AFTERNOON SERVICES the meeting house during the afternoon was crowded to its utmost capacity and many listened at the windows unable to gain entrance to the building the opening prayer was offered by elder david john COUNSELOR D H WELLS W ex expressed esse pleasure leasure at enjoying t the ie privilege 0 of again meeting with the g saints I 1 ts in sanpete after a prolonged absence a ce felt grateful for his bis standing sandin I 1 in t the church achurch anda and a testimony of th the e gospel Ke being present when joseph smith atrat announced the doctrine of baptism tor for the dead and t though bough no not then a member of the 0 church ha had a testimony that it was a t true rue principle and offered a prayer to G god od that he might never reject it was afterwards promised by uncle john smith when receiving a patriarchal blessing that he should do a great work in behalf of his bis dead friends and a great many other un unexpected acted and wonderful things were t adro ap him which have since been literally fulfilled proving in to him that the patriarch had bad tee the prophetic spirit it throughout nis life he had bad ae accomplished complis ed anything worthy he be felt to g give i ve god the glory though not aspiring to any position and feeling willing to tabor labor in any capacity he could not have been called to todo do anything that would suit him better than to labor in the temple had done considerable in that line in the past and felt in contemplating that work that he had not lived in iii vain looked for a great deal MORE MOKE FAITH to be developed among the saints than is exhibited today it might well be queried whether the saylor savior at his bis second see cond coming will find faith upon the earth unless it could be found among the latter day saints did not think the persecution the saints endured was due to t 0 their sins as it had been decreed that the righteous must suffer persecution when he be first became acquainted with the saints the they y were being persecuted without cause and I 1 in a embracing their faith th was prepared tor for a rough passage rough life quite as rough as it had bad been en had seen good results from the various dr ivings to which the saints had been subjected and the promise fulfilled that the wrath of man should be made to praise god and the remainder be restrained the saints had lived to complete in these mountains three temples Tem plas and for the sacrifice they mad it ad made in so doing they had been greatly rea t ly blessed and were better 0 off ff to today a than before the manti temple tempie was started satan was opposed to such work but every temple built every house of worship or bu building ildia tor for the education of the saints erected was a victory for the work of god exhorted the saints faints to be humble and faithful reminded them of the sa cred covenants they had bad made and the obligation they were under to serve god to the end referred to the WORD OF WISDOM and to the promises made in connection therewith and dx expressed pressed the assurance that its observance by the present generation would result in prolonging their lives from live five to ten years and those of the next generation at least twenty years and that a continuation in such a course would result in mans living to the age of a tree ease base and wealth were not essential to happiness greater happiness had not been witnessed among the saints than when they were journeying across the plains in poverty tilled filled with expectancy as to the f fulfillment ul fill ment of gods promises and relying implicitly upon him had heard joseph smith say the time would come when the saints would have trouble with the government of the united states at time their troubles had been conf confided laed to a count county or to a state would rather be handled handled by a government making pretentious to respectability than by a howling mob such as used to assail the saints in missouri and illinois satan bad inspired men to resort to various methods to destroy M mormonism orn consisting ot of rid ridicule C ule misrepresentation argument force etc but all had failed and would continue to the work ol of god could not be impeded by mobbing the people confiscating their property or even oy by killing them but would only oaly be It hastened ened on by such measures the statistical report ot of sanpete stake was read showing a total of members of the church therein DR being introduced by apostle lorenzo lorenxo snow said he be felt that mat the latter day saints were under greater obil obligations actions unto the almighty than any other people le living because of their being blessed blessed with greater light and knowledge even at aa the father portrayed in the parable of the prodigal son was filled with j jw 0 v at the return of his wandering offspring so would the almighty be beat at seeing his covenant peo pie who had erred turn to him with full fall pu purpose of heart the saints were persecuted more than others because of their high mission it should be a cause of rejoicing unto them that the world was opposed to them as thereby was the word of the lord fulfilled felt an additional testimony oily of the saints being the people of god when he entered the sacred edifice erected by them in manti and enjoyed the 1 which abided therein could testify that joseph smith was indeed a prophet of god and that the latter day saints were the accepted people of god PRESIDENT rZ TERSON announced a general meeting to be held ata at M in the evening and invited all to attend also stated that owing to there not being hay bay enough in manti to feed all the teams which had come in a quarter section of meadow laud had been secured by bishop jensen as a pasture for them and that he would have faithful herdsmen in attendance to look after the animals gratis dismissed by counselor john B maiben soon after the close of the meeting numerous teams began arriving from chester 1 loaded with more visitors and the 9 good saints were busy as bees providing for their comfort it is safe to say that so domany many people we were renever never in mantl manti before at one time and the number is likely to be vastly increased by new arrivals tomorrow and next day the streets of manti presented a lively scene on saturday ev evening eBing wagons by the score came caine rolling in from the north south and east some of them from such a distance as to re q quire ai re several days travel to te reach here all of the settlements of sanpete were of course largely represented while from the number of sevier county people seen ou on the streets it really seemed as it half the residents of that regi region 0 had migrated hither bither then too panguitch pa u itch stake and piute diute county had turned te d out enforce in force and made pilgrimages to this mecca and emery stake had bad sent many representatives in addition to the scattering members of nearly all the other stakes until manti mand fairly overflowed with inhabitants the stack yards were full of wagons and many were left standing upon the street in front of the houses heudes of friends while hundreds of campers whom the good peo alf ale of manti could not possibly find room for in their houses occupied the meetinghouse meeting house square tithing yard and other such places about town and a better natured and more happy throng of people could not be found upon the earth A very large audience was present at at the evening meeting Ac eting the opening prayer was offered by bishop 0 F whitney APOSTLE FRANKLIN D RICHARDS said he rejoiced in the opportunity of meeting with so many sa saints inep in manti feeling that the minds of the be saints were occupied d with the subject of the dedic dedication of the temple it occurred to him that sarae corae matters pertaining thereto would be appropriate to lo spead speak upon it had been decided to commence work in the |