BRIGHAM YOUNG SCRIPT

Welcome to the southern headquarters of Zion. As you see, it is rather simple (gesture to the office). We are a simple hard working people, isolated in the desert by choice so we can serve God without interference.

Some folks think Dixie is a God-forsaken place — too hot, floods and harsh landscape. The people I called to move here and build the Kingdom of God in this desert were not thrilled at the prospect. Some avoided the call, but those who came have proven themselves in the refiner’s fire. One of them wrote a rather irreverent song about this place. Here are a few lines from it:

Oh what a desert place this was when the Mormons found it.

They said no white man could live here and injuns prowled around it.

They said the land it was no good and the water was no gooder.

And the bare idea of living here was enough to make one shudder.

Messkeet, soaproot, prickly pears and briars.

St. George, you long will be a place that everyone admires.

Now, how’s that for prophetic? Look around and already you can see gardens, temple, homes, canals — but it only happened by the toil of good people and the sustenance of the God of Zion.

This home which I invite you to visit has been arranged by my wife Harriet Amelia Folsum who accompanies me to St. George each season so I can nurse my rheumatism and avoid the cold winters in the north. Thanks to a man named Samuel Morse I can keep in touch with headquarters in Salt Lake. We can communicate with various areas in the Church and know what is happening back in Washington. Less than ten years ago, the fastest I could send or receive a message from Salt Lake was by horseback. Imagine, we could not do it any faster than Fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob thousands of years ago.

Just about everyone thinks he or she has business with the President of the Church, and nearly every visitor to the territory wants to meet me, so I’ve had this office built next to my house to keep from tracking too much red dirt into the house. I think people understand us better when they come to visit us here in the West.

People always ask — are you really a prophet?.

I’m a rather practical man — cabinetmaker by trade — but the Latter-day Saints sustain me as their Prophet. So people then ask what I have prophesied lately. I recall one prophesy in regards to this very place. In 1861, before the people were called to come here, I was on my annual tour of the settlements and was south of here a mile or two at the confluence of the Virgin and Santa Clara rivers. We called that spot Tonaquint, an Indian designation. There were a half dozen families there experimenting with cotton. It was exciting to see cotton thriving. I was moved at their devotion and the possibilities that their crop presented for our whole people. The spirit of the Lord came upon me as I gazed north from there and saw the vista — Pine Mountain in the north with the red hills below them and the two black mesas, one on the east and one on the west. I said to those assembled, "There will yet be built, between those volcanic ridges, a city, with spires, towers and steeples, with homes containing many inhabitants."

Well, you can see what has happened in less than two decades. To me it is a miracle — one that came through our own muscle and the Lord’s blessing. We often despaired, but you can see these spires and they will be here in the next century and beyond. It will be a place everyone admires.

A prophet also gives sermons. I guess why I am really here is to give you the "good word". Just a few points:

The Lord wants us to learn the order of Heaven.

We must learn to pull together, not against each other.    

We must learn to be self-sustaining.

Make what you need among yourselves.

 Practice industry, economy, prudence and frugality in all your ways.

Eat what promotes health and longevity.

Sleep regularly but not overly long.

Keep yourselves and your homes clean.

Study chemistry, astronomy and kindred sciences.

Forego the fashions of the world.

Mothers, teach your daughters to wash, starch, iron, bake, cook and make their own adornments and teach them industry and economy.

Pray with your families and in secret.

We must be united after the order of heaven or we will miss the Celestial Gate.

Return to SGL Staff Home Page.