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JjSamttr snb “Holy Bible,-Book Divine, Precious treasure, thou art mine.” H. C. HOMADY, l Editors JESSE M. WOOD, (" * J. S. BIKER. I Assistant Editors D. P. EVERETT. $ Assistant -unitors. ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Saturday, June 14, 1863. The Inner Life. Being accustomed to judge of human life by its phenomena, there are many of its richest portions which are partially, if not entirely, lost to us. The face, it is true, may afford some general index to what is passing within the secret chambers of the heart; but however astute may be the per ceptive faculties of the mind, many of the finer emotions entirely elude research, and baffle all our powers. There is such a thing as control exercised over the passions and feelings, and frequently the keenest sensibility is concealed by the semblance of calm and unruffled stoicism. But it is to religious life that we would direct the thoughts of the reader in these lines. That is a subject with which, in a preeminent sense, the soul is most intimate ly concerned. Does the Holy Spirit effect the regeneration of man ?—The soul is the mysterious temple in which its Divine work iaaccomplished. Is man led to forsake alife of vanity and sin, and turn himself heaven ward?—That change is wrought upon his inner nature, and whatever is seen of the transformation is but the external develop ment of the mighty force which asserts its supremacy in the bosom. Heavenly agen cies are, for the most part, invisible ; and it would be as easy to trace the wind back to its source or forward to its goal, as to discern how the Holy Spirit carries on its sanctify ing work in the soul. That is the ‘ holiest of holies’ in which God communes with His creature man, while conscience alone appears as'the Heaven appointed witness of the operations of Spirit upon spirit.— While the Word of God is the instrument by which the energies of the soul are excited and aroused, the Agent who wields it, in the work of sanctification, is the Divine Spirit sent by the Saviour ‘ to convince the world of sin, of righteousness and of judg ment to come.’ And though the individual may move about in the great bustling world and seem to differ in external ap pearance very little from the rest of man kind, he is, nevertheless, ‘ not of this world.’ His body is here, but his desires and af fections are fixed upon things above; and hence he is, in relation to this world, a pilgrim and a stranger. He has had a foretaste of the joys of the upper sanctuary, and so pleasing are the impressions left upon his spirit, that the pleasures of this world appear to him tame and insipid.— To him there is no society so sweet as that of his heavenly visitors—no music so en rapturing as that which comes floating down to him from the immortal harpers in the presence-chamber of his beloved Saviour. He disregards alike the brazen notes of war or the gushing music of the festive hall, for the rich harp-strings of his own spiritual nature will vibrate responsive only when the keys are touched l>y the fingers of an invisible Artist. Love springs in his soul a pure gushing fountain, but its stream me anders towards the heavenly world, and seeks to lose itself in the great ocean of Divine Benevolence. Ilis ‘ life is hid with Christ in God,’ and Hope with rosy finger ever points to that inner and upper world of which the present is but the imperfect: shadow. This is eternal life, life in Christ—exist ence which defies death, grasps and wears the amaranthine crown. Does the reader enjoy this inner life ? Does his heart feel its mighty pulsations'? Is his soul fanned by the gentle zephyrs of the Holy Spirit’s wing as He comes, a welcome guest, into its most secret chambers? Often when in solitude, di>es he hear a voice saying * Open to me and I will come in and sup with thee’ ? In plainer words, reader, art thou a child of God ?—an heir of glory ? Happy then, thrice happy, art thou; for soon thy mor tal, suffering life shall give piaee.to one of immortal felicity. BANNER AND BAPTIST. Worldly Glory. There is a charm in the face of earthly glory which has a most wonderful effect up on the children of men. The poet, ‘ his eyes in a fine phrenzy rolling,’ seeks it in his flowing numbers, or in the grandeur and sublimity of his imagery. His ideal di vinity sits enthroned upon the azure summit of Parnassus, * her locks wet with Castalian dews,’ and ever beckons him on to a nobler, loftier flight. With eager eyes he gazes upon the lofty turrets of fame’s proud tem ple, and, charmed with the glorious pros pect, he strikes his sounding lyre with a nervous hand, that listening multitudes may catch the matchless harmony of his tuneful verse, and shout in accents of delight their plaudits to his fame. The eloquent orator, with an eye of fire and tongue of silver, evokes the wildest passions of his race, and seeks to ascend, upon the inoense of their praises, to that spot w here glory sheds its gorgeous light. The fiery warrior, under the burning patronage of Mars, rushes to the field of strife, and grasps after the world-phantom where garments are rolled in blood, and fondly imagines that ‘Each purlins: stream, each rolling river Runs, mingling with his fame forever.’ But what, after all, is worldly glory?— Is it to be ‘One of the few, the immortal names That were not born to die ’ ? Fond delusion ! ‘The path of glory leads but to the grave.’ Human glory is, indeed, but the merest shadow of true immortality, ‘Which leads to bewilder, And dazzles to blind.’ There is no glory save that which encir cles the brow of a victorious soldier of the Cross. In the Celestial Sanctuary alone is found Fame’s imperishable scroll, upon which are inscribed the names of the sons of fadeless immortality. And were the self-sacrifice, the zeal and energy of men turned in the pursuit of heavenly glory, instead of being worse than wasted in ago nizing efforts to grasp the miserable coun terfeit, many a name which will perish with those of the Caisars might live beside that of Paul in the luminous pages of the Book of Life. [Editor'.al Correspondence.] An Apology. Old Friends.—Gov. Brown. National Sins. Discus sion Invited. Dear Banner : It has been some weeks since I have writ i ten to you. My apology is, that for eight I or nine weeks I was going to and fro through ! the earth, like the evil one, but not like him for an evil purpose, but for sundry" good and lawful purposes, which it would be needless to state. After encountering numerous perils, by land and by water, and seeing much of good and evil—but rather more of the latter, I think, than the former—-1 arrived at home in a very en feebled state, and have suffered since from serious bodily indisposition. The fact is, the heat of summer prostrates all my en. ergies, mental as well as physical. 1 shall have for this, and other causes, to abstain from writing for the press; 1 hope the non appearance of articles from my pen will not be construed by you, or your readers, as indicative of an abatement of interest in your prosperity, or in the good cause or causes which it is your object to advocate. During my recent travels I had the pleas ure of meeting with many endeared friends, and receiving from them renewed evidence of their kind Christian regard. One of these beloved brethren, since I bowed with him around his own domestic altar, has been called home to glory. (Dr. J. 11. Ragan.) I feel that 1 have lost one of my best friends, if his loss presses so heavily (on me, what must it do on his bosom com jpanion and his only surviving daughter ! May the God of all grace bind up the wounds which Death’s keen shafts have made, and pour in the balm of consolation. 1 had also the pleasure of renewing an (acquaintance, formed some sixteen years ago, with his Excellency, the Governor of our State, and also of baptizing two intelli gent domestics of his household. After | spending a Sabbath evening with him, and bowing with his family before the mercy seat of the Most High, I left the executive mansion exclaiming to myself, “ Eureka! Eureka! —l have found it! 1 have found it! ” —that is, the cause of the Governor’s unpopularity with certain city editors and city politicians, and his popularity with the unsophisticated masses in our rural districts. He has too much of piety and too much of the plebeian in his manners to find favor with the inflated aristocracy of our cities. One remarked, speaking of the Governor’s administration of our State affairs, “Joe Brown has demonstrated the truth of the old maxim : ‘ Honesty is the best policy.’ ” MORAL CAUSES OF WAR. I should like to write a series of articles I ! with a view of exciting a spirit of inquiry j into the moral causes of the war in which % we are engaged, but my enfeebled powers forbid my attempting to do so. It appears tome that all who have written about pur; .* national sins” have pointed out only some J of the putrid matter that has risen to the surface. They have not probed sufficiently deep to discover the latent cause of this putridity. If our nation has become so corrupt as to call down upon itself tokens of Divine displeasure, why is it? Where lies the secret cause of this corruption ? .Will any tell me it lies i.i the depravity of human nature? Ay, ay; but has not a merciful God provided a ‘ salt to arrest the process of corruption from this cause ? He has. “Ye are the salt of the earth,” says the Saviour to His disciples. But the “ salt hath lost its savor.” Christians, in stead of so acting as to preserve the world from corruption, have so acted as to expose themselves to the corrupting influence ol the world. Instead of elevating the world to the standard of Christianity, they have reduced their Christianity to the standard of the world ! Hence the corruption of our civil government, and hence the scourge of war! Again, we declaim and petition against felie desecration of the Sabbath; but no re knonstrance is heard against the desecration to/ the Sanctuary ! In the same chapter fand verse in which it is commanded “Ae 'shall keep my Sabbaths,” it is added “and REVERENCE MV SANCTUARY.” Do we show our reverence for the Sanctuary by entering it and dragging thence those appointed by the God of the Sanctuary to officiate at the altar (and who are enjoined to give themselves “ wholly ” to the work to which they have been appointed), and hurrying them off to engage in works of blood and carnage? Do we evince our reverence for the Sanctuary by stripping it of the bells which were given for the spe cific purpose of summoning worshippers to its holy courts, and applying them to a purpose for which the donors never intend ed them ? Human laws, if Chitty and other law writers are to be believed, condemn such an act as a breach of trust. ill that God who sums up the whole of our duty in three things: in dealing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly , approve of a breach of trust in sacred things ? * My sheet is full. I have only hinted at a few things whioh I should like to see fully discussed. Will not brother W. 1\ Brantley open the discussion by giving us his views on the subject? J. S. B. * There appears to me io be a better excuse lor the con observance of the Sabbath by civil govern ments, than for acts interfering with the regular administration of the word and ordinances ol the Gospel: for Christians are divided in sentiment re- to the particular day that should be observed a* a Sabbath. To grant the petition of First-day etu i liiias and reject a similar one from Jews and Sabbatarian Christiana, would be to favor one re ligious sect more tluio another. The same excuse cannot be given for calling otl from their work those who are called to labor iu the Sanctuary in sacred things. Forsyth. It has been our unspeakable pleasure to spend ten days with the dear people of Forsyth. Night meetings were held during the time of our stay, and we trust with good results. If no one else was blessed, we confess that forty times the labor bestowed would not balance the personal enjoyments of that meeting with our mother-church and friends of other days. To join with old friends in talking, singing and preaching about Jesus, is no common privilege. — Thanks to the Lord, and brethren of For syth, for the very kind treatment received while among them. The services have probably been continued by brother W. M. Davis, their worthy and efficient pastor. With pleasure we also state that we vis ited, while there, the Female College under the management of W. C. Wilkes, and came to the conclusion that there are but few such schools in Georgia. Even these times he has near a hundred pupils. We know of no School preferable to this. May the Lord continue to bless the peo pie at Forsyth ! W. Rome. A communication from Rome, regarding J. E. llyerson, has been received. If the author will furnish his name, we have no j objection to publishing the article next I week. In matters of this kind it is but rea sonable to ask the name of the author, which we respectfully do W. ■•***••" Cave Spring. Miss E. Culbertson has sent us $5 for Cherokee Indian Missions, which is hereby acknowledged. Mr. For Col portage. A Friend, #3 A Friend, 81 Mrs. Wiley, 1 A Friend, 1 Any liberal hearted ones who may wish to aid in this work, can do so by sendfhg us contributions for this object, every dollar of which shall be faithfully appropriated to the printing and circulating of Tracts among our soldiers. Brethren and sisters, help us in this good work. You can send contribu tions either by mall or by express. .— All Baptist ministers and others, in the Confederate States, friendly to the paper are requested to act as Agents. The Measures of Government. Dear Banner : I have seen in your col umns—but not under the editorial head— censures upon various acts of our Confed erate government, which l think unwise , if not positively unjust. I have also seen the opinion advanced, that had our Confederate forces, after the battle of Manassas, pushed forward and taken the city of Washington, it would have brought the war to a speedy close. lam one of many who entertain a very different opinion ; but instead of wri ting an article on the subject, I clip from the editorial head of the ‘ Thomasville Weekly Times ’ (edited by our very wor thy brother* ltev. T. J. Wombwell, brother of the brother Wombwell about whom your Florida editor, D. P. E., wrote so many good things) an article the sentiments of which I fully endorse, and which will supersede the necessity of an original article from me on the same subject. Please give it a place in your columns. J. S. B. The Mistakes of Government. —Some ed itors, and some pulpit and stump orators, are wont to harp much upon what they consider the mistakes |>f our Confederate rulers. Mistakes have no doubt been com mitted by them, for ‘to err is human ’; but it is by no means improbable that we shall hereafter see the propriety of many things which now appear to us as exceedingly im politic. Let us, for an example, refer to one instance in which our Government has often been charged with having committed a fatal error. We allude to the failure to pursue the enemy that fled from Manassas and attempt to take the city of Washington. This may or may not have been a mistake. That it was an error has never been satis factorily demonstrated. It is by no means certain that an army exhausted by hard fighting, as was ours, could have taken the city. The enemy would doubtless have rallied after entering the city. They could have obtained reinforcements far more readily and in much greater numbers than we. But suppose it to be certain that the city could have been taken —it doeß not follow that the taking of it would have put an end to the war, or rendered us more able to carry it on successfully. It would have taken a very large force, which we could not well spare, to have kept possession of it. The fall of Nashville, New Orleans, Norfolk, &c., renders it exceedingly im probable that we could have held it. To have been forced to surrender it, after hav ing taken it, would have been an event far more humiliating and more to be deplored than the failure to take it. But there is another aspect in which we should view this matter. It is a trite say ing, that ‘a victory is often more fatal than a defeat.’ What would have been the pro bable effect of the capture of Washington? Would it have quenched the lust for rapine with which our enemies appear to be insti gated ? Would it have allayed their envy or their hatred ? Would it not rather have excited them to more vigorous efforts to succeed in their unhallowed purposes ? And what, we may ask, would have been the effect upon us? Might it not have lulled us into a fatal security ? It is evi dent that the latent energies of the South were never thoroughly aroused (if indeed they be yet so aroused) until after the dis asters in Tennessee. The probability is we should have become inflated with ideas of our own superiority, morally and physi cally, and thereby called down upon our selves the righteous judgments of Heaven. But suppose it to be certain that we could have taken Washington, and that the taking of that city would have brought the war to a close, does it follow that it would have been best for us as a nation ? That is a matter about which we may well entortain a doubt. The true character of our ene mies had not then been fully developed. — The probability is that we would have been made the dupes of an artful and designing foe, and instead of securing our independ ence we might only have perpetuated our dependence upon them, and made the Southern Confederacy, commercially and politically, a tributary to one of the most unscrupulously mendacious and dishonest governments known among the nations of the earth. It is well for us that we eanr.ot alway s have our own way. An overruling Providence orders all things for the good of those who put their trust in Him, wheth er nations or individuals. One thing is certain: the wall of separa tion between the North and South is rising higher and higher every day that the war is continued. The Federals think to injure us by blocking up our ports. They are injuring themselves—for they are blocking up, permanently, the avenues to our hearts and to the hearts of our children’s children. The cowards! They dismissed their stone fleets as soon as England objected to it, and promised that they should hereafter be re moved ; but they can never remove the obstructions they have thrown against the portals of our hearts, No, never! never !! Motto*. The next general meeting appointed by the Coosa Association, for the first district, will be held with Bush-Arbor Church, on Friday before the second Sabbath in July, 1862. Brethren appointed to write upon selected subjects will be expected to have their articles prepared. All are requested to attend. Visiting brethren will be provided for, and we hope much good will be accomplished in our Redeemer’s cause. D. B. Hamilton, ) M. G. Garner, >- Commit!*:. B. F. Hooper, ) To Hie Christian Public. Camp at Atlanta,-* June tf, 18®2. ; Orders were read at our dress parade, last evening, commanding us, by order of Major-Gen’l Pemberton, to hold ourselvea in readiness to be called into immediate action. We know not where we may be ordered. I have one request of the Christian public to make, ere we leave. Nearly all the Tracts that our societies have issued have been read by our men. The thirst now manifested for religious reading ought to be gratified. Our brethren of every de nomination can do much in this way.— There are many of our Christian friends who have large quantities of religious pa pers, pamphlets, etc., lying about their houses. No matter how old they are, if they are only good. Those good brethren or sisters who have such, and desire that the brave defenders of their homes, their altars and their firesides, shall enjoy the reading thereof, can have them distributed amongst them by the plan herein suggested. Those living in Atlanta or the immediate vicinity can send the papers, pamphlets, etc., to Messrs. Scott, Brantley, Wilson, McDonnell, Freeman, Ilornady, or to myself on the encampment. Those living at a distance can send them by Ex press, directed to me. I hope the brethren will pay Express charges; from each one twenty-five oents would pay all —whereas if it all came out of my private purse, the cost would be felt in times like these. Shall I appeal in vain? Will not some dear, kind sisters undertake this work, and flood my tent with papers and pamphlets ? God only knows the influence they may exert. Mothers, wives, sisters, remember the loved ones on the tented field! Gio. C. Connor, Chaplain x Vol . Watkins' Bey. Ga. Vol. The Christian Index, please copy. ■tamblliig Tkotigkls. A few rambling ideas are scattered in my brain. The probability of collection ia quite dubious. The fact is, my mind is not settled —wandering amid the great de structive pile of ruins that lie embosomed in the past, and making excursion, with kind of mixed joy, among the fabrication* (false and real ) into the wide expanse of futurity. This war- —what sorrows lie hidden be neath the blood-stained mantle that envel ops us, nationally ! Many sad faces are mirrors to the sad scenes enacted on Old Virginia’s noble grounds. Many a warm hearted, impulsive and patriotic Southerner has filled a grave, that adds new honor to his name—that of a soldier’s mound. Some, who ne’er dreamed of aught but pleasure in the rosy-tinted future, have been made to pass through the fiery ordeal.— And we all feel it, more or less. There is a sadness, a heavy sadness weighing ou hearts strangers to such emotions in the swift gliding days of peace. Roll back, roll back, ye clouds of darkness ; let bright sunshine come again. Heal, oh heal our hearts that are breaking; stay the storm that madly raves. No difficulties press on rny mind in the form of subjugation. Victory seems perch ed on yonder golden tinged cloud that kisses the towering tree tops. Already, in the ears of imagination cau we hear the cry, Long wave our own true fag ! May na tions learn to look on us as a people walk ing in the paths of Godly rectitude, firm as the rocks of mighty nature, humane aud kind as our Omnipotent Creator, true and undisguised candor, becoming a national government. Let the cries that come across the hills and dales of our own free and lovely land b; changed to songs gleeful and happy, with their tones of former gay ety, only that there may be a gentle echoing of soft melody that fills every brave and enthusiastic Southern heart. Fanmik Williams. Warnervil/e, Ga. Crumbs. NO. VII. “ / shan’t Jo it, now ! ” was the remark a little boy made to his companion. It was said with a passion unjustifiable.— There are no circumstances which can make this proper. If we are encouraged to do wrong, let us mildly decline. If we are asked to do right, let us take care not to refuse. But our wills are so perverse, so often blinded by prejudice, by malice, by association! O, the wisdom of that uni versal prayer— “ Thy will be done”!— How hard it ia for me at times to yield ! I mourn my stubborn will. O, my Sa viour, wilt thou help ms to “deny ” my self and “ take up the cro9 ” ? How sweet is that submission which with reference to the right, exclaims, *• I will do it”; with reference to the wrong, “ 1 can not do it ”! Will. Jjgf* Our terms of Subscription£s2 00 per Annum, always in advanct.