The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1878-11-07
Into Thy Holy Keeping"


The following most eloquent, im-
pressive and touching prayer was
offered up by Rev. G. G. Williams
at the unveiling of the Confederate
monument at Augusta, Ca, on the
31st ult:
Almighty God, Father of all Mer-
cies, we, Thy unworthy servants, do
give Thee most humble and hearty
thanks for all Thy goodness and
loving kindness to US end to all men.
More especially do We bless and
thank Thee this day for the good
examples of all those, our country
men, who at the call Of duty were
content to 90 forth and die. Grant,
we pray Thee, their name and
their fame may be ever fresh in the
hearts of grateful people, and that
their child1en's children may rise up
to bless and honor them
Blessed be Thy name. O Lord
God, that it hath pleased Thee to
put into the hearts of Thy servants to
build here an everlasting memorial
of our Confederate dead, to place
this living crown of beauty upon the
cold brows of those who;were 'faith~
full unto death
Guard it, We beseech Thee, from
all evil powers of the air, that no
blast of the lightning may come
nigh to hurt it, and no fury of the
storm to cast it down. If tho noise
of war and tumult or sedition be
heard again in our. land, and the
wild passions of men shall surge and
swell through these now peaceful
streets, grant that, as the flaming
sword Of cherubims turned every
way to guard the Tree of Life, so
Thy watchful care and Providence
may be round about this marble
plintll, that no unhoiy hand may
ever be lifted up against this fair
memorial of our 'honored dead.
Grant that it may stand here sign
and q witness to all generations for
ever. AS its marble shaft towers
up pure and white from the very
midst of the crowded streets, look
ing down upon the seething, busy
| life of trade that roars all day about
its base. may it speak to us from the
lofty height of its calm reposs, and
tell us by sunlight and by starlight
how noble thing it is to do ones
duty. May the martial memories
of Wellington and Nelson mingle
with those of our own heroes, and
echo through the light and through
the darkness that sublime lesson of
duty done in the very teeth of
death.
When all through the busy hours
men are hurrying past it in their
feverish race for gain, when the
hard driven bargain and the false
weight and the deceitful balances are
changing mems hearts and conscien-
ces into the worlds hard coin,
even here, within the shadow of its
purity, may they stop one moment
to read the story thai is carved on
wonder stones, and feel their selfish
ness rebuked. May the thought of
those who gave up life and all for
their country teach them the gol'
den lesson of humanity, that men
love their fellow-men.
If, sometime, in the darkness OF
the night, the outcast or the pro-
figate shall pass along this way
if the life that has been wrecked
of its purity and its hope shall
stand, perhaps, in the shaded cor
ners of yonder street-seeing NO
future but despair, and seeking only
to steep itself more deeply still in
vice-lhen may this marble pillar
CLEAN out Whitley in the darkness;
may it rise UP there before them like
the fair phantom of their lost inno'
cence; may they be beckoned to
draw near that they, too, may read
the story that is carved upon these
sculptured panels May that story
of lives laid down that other men
might live give them fresh faith and
courage to redeem their own. And
as thoy see this towering column
pointing ever 10 the sky, may their
hearts be lifted thitherward, anc
their stained and sinful lives be led