The Charlotte Democrat., 1891-10-09
Prayer By Rev. Thos Dixon.

The Exposition was opened on Thurs
day by the following beautiful prayer be
Rev. Thomas Dixon:
Our Father, we thank thee for the
victories of peace we thank thee for this
hour and all it signifies, for the return of
prosperity, and for the white banners of
peace that reign now supreme. We thank
thee that thou has guided and directed
the destinies of this people, that thou hast
guided and directed even better than we
know how to ask for guidance. We
thank thee, our Father, that we can see
today in the renewed prosperity of the
South, the answer to the cry of the soul
of the Old South, which thou didst not
answer in kind, and yet which thou didst
answer most richly and gloriously in thy
wisdom, in thy providence, in thine own
way.
We ask for Thy richest blessing to rest
this morning upon this Exposition we
ask Thy blessing to rest upon its pro
moters and its managers, that they may
have wisdom and discretion and bring it
to glorious results. We ask Thee espe-
ciallv to bless the Southern States repre-
sented here.
Oh, our Father, we ask Thy choicest
and richest blessing to rest upon this fair
and beautiful land, our own, our native
State We thank Thee that Thou hast
blessed it in the past; we thank Thee
especially for the promise Of the present
and the future. Let Thy kingdom. come,
and Thy will be done here > Lord, bring
us towards the Kingdom, until we shall
see the waste places blossom as the garden
Lead us and guide US until the South
shall be blessed with an era of prosperity
that shall cause all the past and its sad
ness, all the anguish and the tears and the
agony of hearts as they look back over
the past, to rejoice. Lord, bring that era
that shall be upward, higher and nobler
and grander than the old has ever been.
Lord, grant that even those whose hearts
were broken in the past shall rejoice in
the new life, in the new era, in the new
promise. We thank Thee for the hope
Thou hast given US of it's fulfilment. We
ask Thee to bring it about.
We ask Thee to bless every State re
presented here today, and Lord, we
especially ask Thy blessings upon the old
State on whose soil the Exposition opens.
Let Thy blessing rest upon her and upon
her people. We ask Thy choicest bless
ings to rest upon the Governor, whom
Thou hast called to fill the high office of
State. Give him wisdom, give him Thy
guidance, and particularly Thy blessing,
we pray Thee, for his responsible duties.
Wilt Thou teach us, oh Lord God, that it
is sacred to hold Office under government.
Lord teach us, that it is as divine a mis-
sion to be Governor Of this State as to be
the Pope of all the Catholic world, or the
Cardinal or the Bishop, or the minister
that stands before the sacred alter Lord
teach us the sacredness Of the secular
Give them thy blessing and thy power.
Lord, bless the people into whose faces
we look this morning, the people of this
old State, our native State. Grant thy
kingdom to come, and thy will to be done
here, until it shall be as the desire of our
hearts. Wilt thou bind together not only
these Southern States, but this great
nation. Lord, wilt thou bring together
the people that we represent, the people
into whose faces we look from day to day,
whom we have learned to love, and we
pray this morning, as the particular desire
of our hearts, that they shall be one peo-
| pie. Oh, bring it about till the good peo.
pie of the North shall clasp hands with
the good people of the South, and there
shall be no North, no South, no East, no
Wost. Oh, may the day come when this
| nation shall be one nation with one God
and may thy peace and thy glory and thy
king dom reign supreme, We ask it all for
| Jesus sake. Amen"