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“Holy Bible, —Book Divine,
Precious treasure, thou art mine.”
H. C. HORNADY and JAMES N. ELLS,
EDITORS AND PROPRIETORS.
J. M. WOOD, )
J. S. BAKER, y Associate Editors.
D. P. EVERETT, )
ATLANTA, GEORGIA:
Saturday, IVovember t, 1863.
The End of the Third Volume.
This week we reach the end of the third
volume of The Banner and Baptist, and
feel like saying a few things to our readers.
It is known to most persons who have
kept posted upon the history of the times,
that this paper was originated by the breth
ren of Cherokee Georgia, and was regarded
at the time as a necessity. The Index was
then under the control of brother Joseph
Walker, whose notions- of a free press did
not meet the views of the Baptists of this
State. Some of the most worthy and in
fluential brethren were refused access to the
columns of the Index , if the sentiments ex
pressed failed to correspond with the views
of the editor. To this state of things many
Baptists determined not to submit, and
hence The Banner was started as the rep
resentative of a free press and of sound
Baptist practice. But there vere not want
ing prophets who were ready to predict a
failure of the enterprise, and as they were
anxious to be found true seers, they began
and maintained a course towards The Ban.
ner calculated to produce the result so con.
fidently foretold. But, having faith in the
truth, and in an honest and an outspoken
support of it, the editors flung their Banner
to the breeze, and under God went forth
upon their mission of love; and to this day
no article has ever been excluded from our
columns which has been written in a style
suitable for publication. The views of the
editors have been earnestly controverted by
some of our ablest brethren, and yet none
have ever, so far as we know, had occasion
to complain of the want of courtesy due to
them. We have ever tried to hold an even
balance, as between ourselves and those
who have differed from us, rendering to
every man that which we conceived to be
his due. And while we have pursued this
liberal policy in the past, we see no reason
why we should depart from it in the future.
It has been with great self-distrust that
we have trodden the path editorial, beset as
it is with so many difficulties and trials,but
never has our faith in the final success of
The Banner been permitted to fail. The
crisis in its history we regard as past, and
henceforth we trust and believe that this
paper will take its place amongst the pub
lications of the day, as one of the existing
realities of the times.
Having associated with us brother Jas.
N. Ells, as joint proprietor and co-editor—
a gentleman of acknowledged literary taste
and of large experience in the newspaper
business—we can confidently challenge
comparison with any weekly paper pub
lished in the South or elsewhere. We
have already begun to improve, and we in
tend to continue our improvements until
The Banner shall be everything that can
be desired in a family paper. And as we
are about to commence the new volume,
now is the time for those wishing the paper
to send on their subscriptions. To those
friends who have stood by us while weath
ering the storm winch has swept away so
many weekly papers, we would return out
most sincere thanks, at the same time feel
ing that words can not express the gratitude
of our hearts. . H.
An Editor Caned. —One of the editors
of this journal was ‘ cane ’ and, the other day,
very unexpectedly. Happening in at the
Messrs. Richards’ bookstore, we were con
fronted near the door by Mr. S. D. Niles,
whom we had always supposed to be a w irm
friend. A few words passed between us, of
a decidedly personal nature, when Mr. N.
stepped back a few paces, seized an ebony
polished walking-cane from a rack n ar by,
and suddenly asked our acceptance of
it, as 4 a slight token of his regard for the
new editor of The Banner.’
We were not ruffled unpleasantly at this
undeserved treatment; and actually believe
we could control our temper, now-a-days,
if any of our patrons should come along
and boot us. *
1 ■ a
Brother J. M. W.’s * Reply * to The
Countryman will appear next week.
ss® m&stmmm, am® JSASPsasw.
Poetry.
Any thing that has in it a genuine human
interest is sure to win its way to the heart,
so irresistible is the touch of real truth. —
This is the vital and enduring element of
the Dutch painters; their genuine state
ment of truth is sufficient to keep alive
their pictures, though that truth be ever so
obvious and commonplace. And this is
why those books are so successful that treat
of the coarser passions; they have in them
a real human interest, because they make
their appeal to feelings which do exist. —
We are not arguing in favor of Dutch pic
tures or French novels, but for that reality
which is the basis of all poetry, and that
truth which is the basis of all beauty. We
do not forget that it is not in the vulgarity
of common things, nor the mediocrity of
average characters, nor the familiarity of
familiar affairs, nor the everydayness of
everyday lives that the poetry consists —
not the commonness of a common man,
but those universal powers and passions
which he shares with heroes and martyrs,
are the true subjects of poetry. Though
we advocate that all beauty must be true,
we are not responsible for the converse of
the proposition, that assumes all truth there
fore beautiful, and that consequently ‘twice
two are four’ constitutes poetry.
Like the consecrated banner of a Cortez,
wherein the enthusiastic churchman may
see the cross, and the ambitious patriot the
crown, but which to the eyes of the rabble
in their train is merely a waving absolution,
this cry for common sense, matter-of-fact
and everyday life, may be followed by some,
not for the right in which it originates, but
for the wrong to vs hich it may be perverted ;
but if it be so, they can never arrive at re
sults more lamentable than the crowd who
have followed the formulas of ‘high art’
and the ‘ideal’—spasmodic poesy. And
if poetry is to get home to us with its bet
ter influences, to hearten us in the struggles
of life, beguile us of our gloom, take us
gently from the dusty high-road, where we
have borne the burden in the heat of the
day, into the pastures where the grass is
green and grateful to the tired feet, the air
fragrant, and the shadows are refreshing,
and draw us delicately up to loftier heights
of being, we must have songs set to the
music of the faithful heart—we must have |
poetry for men who work, and think, and
suffer, and whose hearts would feel faint
and their souls grow lean if they fed on such
fleeting delieiousness and confectionery tri.
fie as the ‘ spasmodists ’ too frequently offer
them; we must have poetry in which natu
ral emotions flow, real passions move in
clash and conflict—in which our higher
aims and aspirations are represented, with
all that reality of daily life which goes on
around us in its strength and sweetness, its
sternness and softness, wearing the smiles
of rejoicing, and weeping the bitter tears
of pain—weaving the many-colored woof of
time, and working out the hidden purposes
of Him that ‘ sitteth in the heavens.’ %
The Atlanta Boreas Society.
“ Now there was at Joppa a certain dis
ciple named Tabitha, which by interpreta
tion is called Dorcas; this woman was full
of good works and alms-deeds which she
did.” [Bible —Acts ix., 3G.
The ladies of the First Baptist Church
and congregation, in this city, have formed
a ‘ Dorcas Society,’ and are determined to
do all in their power to ameliorate the con
dition of the suffering poor in this vicinity.
They have also proposed to see to it that
every soldier from Atlanta, in our country’s
defence, shall be comfortably clad during
this winter, if the gentlemen at home will
aid them in procuring the material to con
struct garments. Committees of ladies
will shortly present an opportunity for the
citizens of each ward to do incalculable
g>od by contributing means to this noble
and praiseworthy object. Surely it will
requite no rhetorical effort to induce every
true-hearted son of the South to do his duty
in this important particular.
The constitution adopted by the Society
admits gentlemen as auxiliary members.—
The payment of one dollar annually, and
twenty-live cents monthly, constitutes a
membership; twenty-five dollars for a life
membership, and one hundred dollars fora
life directorship. Several gentlemen have
enrolled their names, and we trust many
more will. Let us all do what we can for
the poor, and thus realize the Divine prom
ise that ‘it is more blessed to give than to
receive.’ Let us, men of Atlanta, heartily
encourage our mothers, sisters, daughters,
and wives, in their noble efforts in this
mission of love, and we may expect the
approbation of Him who ‘ went about doing
good.’
The following are the Officers of the
Dorcas Society :
President—Mrs. H. C. Holcombe.
\ ice Presidents—Mrs. J. I. Whitaker
and Mrs. J. A. Anderson.
Secretary—Mrs. .Tames N. Ells.
Treasurer—Mrs. A. B. Forsyth.
A Thought for Business Men.
Were a group of genuine philosophers
assembled for the purpose of investigating
the means whereby they derived their va
rious acquirements, the grand corollary of
their deliberations would be, that the uni
versal and only possible process of commu
nicating knowledge is advertising . And
when we regard the fact, that the vast do
main of science and art is indebted to this
luminary for light and vitality, that by its
effulgence was espied the subtile clue to
nature’s law of gravitation, and divine rev
elation was reflected upon the human soub
it swells into a prolific theme of momentous
importance. Volumes might be filled with
an enumeration of its advantages. Indeed,
the same arguments might be adduced in
its favor as are advanced for the diffusion
of knowledge.
By long observation and experience has
it been discovered that to accomplish the
merchant’s object at the present day, it is
indispensably necessary for him to read the
newspapers, and to advertise extensively
an account and description of his merchan
dise. His main object is to procure good
articles at reasonable prices, and to dispose
of them as soon as possible, at a fair profit.
To do this, he must know what others have
for sale, and make known to them what
saleable articles he has on hand. Thus
precisely as he was attracted to his partic
ular mart for the purchase of his stock, he
will attract customers to call and buy.
It is suggested that ‘ The Banner and
Baptist,’ having a large and constantly in
creasing circulation, would be an excellent
medium through which our merchants and
business men could come before the public.
Our terms for advertising are reasonable.
Sabbath Appointments.
Rev. Mr. Gaskill will preach in the First
Baptist Church, to-morrow, morning and eve
ning, at the usual hours.
—The Ladies’ Dorcas Society will hold the
regular monthly meeting, at the close of the
evening service.
Money Reeeived for Colportage.
Pea-Vine Church, - - - - $8 15
Mrs. Wilson, for Bibles - - 100
The Banner for the Soldiers
The following sums have been received
for sending The Banner to our soldiers :
Flint River Association - - S3O 00
Georgia Baptist Convention - 37 50
Coosa Association. —A Proportion.
It is proposed, by the Executive Com
mittee of the Coosa Association, that an
effort be made immediately, by the church
es and their pastors, to raise funds to em
ploy an Army Missionary to preach to
Georgia soldiers, and to distribute religious
reading among them. This can be easily
done —if the brethren will take hold
promptly and earnestly. Brethren Swan
son, Gwin and Hamilton, members of the
Committee, will no doubt do their part
well. Will not the pastors, or some mem
ber in each church, see all the members
and friends of their respective congrega
tions, and report the result to me as soon
as possible? J. M. Wood,
2t Chairman Executive Committee.
Colporteur’s Report.
Atlanta, October 21, 1862.
Dear Brother Hornady:
1 now make my Report of the last four
months’ labor in the hospitals in this city :
I have had twelve hospitals to visit until
within the last few days, when they were
removed to the Fair Ground. While this
duty has been somewhat laborious, it has
afforded me much pleasure. I have found
the new corners glad to receive tracts and
such reading matter as 1 have had to give
them. Many of the first comers, who have
left for their regiments, promised to meet
me in heaven. There are now many pro
fessors of religion in the hospitals, and a
good number glad to receive religious in
struction. In the last four months eight
soldiers professed to have found peace in
believing. I have preached tw’elve sermons
and held seven prayer meetings, and often
prayed from one to three times a day with
the sick. I have distributed about ninety
thousand pages of reading matter, and
about 300 Camp Hymns, and about 700 co-i
pies of The Banner and Baptist —besides
other tracts and papers that I have taken
no account of, for want of time.
I have received donations for colportage
as follows: From brother Cook, $1; from;
J. J. Thrasher, $5; from Rev. M. D.
Gaar, HI ; from Jas. Reeves, HI; from A.
C. Wyly, $10; from a soldier, 50 cents—;
$18.50.
My time is wholly occupied with the:
work, which is increased by the arrival of
some five hundred more sick —so that my |
hands and head and heart are full. I de
sire to gain some of them to the Saviour;
of sinners; and that I may be an instru-i
ment in God’s hands, will you pray for
yours in Christ. P. A. Hcghks.
Terms of The Banner and Baptist — i
three dollars a year, in advance.
Our Army—The Future.
We hope every one will read the follow,
ing statement, written by the correspondent
of the Savannah Republican —Mr. P. W.
Alexander—concerning our army, its great
deeds, its trials, its sufferings, and its perils
in the future. *
I can recall no parallel instance in histo
ry, except Napoleon’s disastrous retreat
from Mosco v, where an army has ever
done more marching and fighting under
such great disadvantages than Gen’l Lee’s
has done since it left the banks of James
river. It proceeded directly to the line of
the Rappahannock, and moving out from
that river, it fought its way to the Potomac,
crossed that stream and moved on to Fred
ericktown and Hagerstown, had a heavy en
gagement at Boonsboro Gap and another at
Crampton Gap below, fought the greatest
pitched battle of the war at Sharpsburg,
and then recrossed the Potomac back into
Virginia. During all this time, covering
the lull space of a month, the troops rested
but four days! And let it always be re
membered to their honor, that of the men
who performed this wonderful feat, one
fifth of them were barefooted, one-half of
them in rags, and the whole of them half
famished. The country from the Kappa
hannock to the Potomac had been visited
by ihe enemy with fire and sword, and our
transportation was insufficient to keep the
army supplied from so distant a base as
Gordonsville; and when the provision
trains would overtake the army, so press
ing were the exigencies of their position, the
men seldom had time to cook. Their diffi
culties were increased by the fact that their
cooking utensils, in many cases, had been
left behind, as well as everything else that
would impede their movements. It was
not unusual to see a company of starving
men have a barrel of flour distributed to
them, w r hich it was utterly impossible for
them to convert into bread with the means"
and the time allowed to them. They could
not procure even a piece of plank, or a
corn or flour sack, upon which to work up
their dough.
Do you wonder, then, that there should
have been stragglers from the army ? That
brave and true men should have fallen out
of line from sheer exhaustion, or in their
efforts to obtain a mouthful to eat along the
roadside ? Or that many seasoned veterans,
the conquerors in the Valley, at Richmond
and Manassas, should have succumbed to
disease and been forced back to the hospi
tal? That there has been unnecessary
straggling, is readily admitted ; but in a
large majority of cases the men have only
to point to their bleeding feet, tuttered gar
ments and gaunt frames, for an answer to
unjust charges.
No army on this continent has ever ac
complished as much, or suffered as much,
as the army of Northern Virginia within
the last three months. At no period during
the first Revolutionary war—not even at
Valley Forge—did our forefathers in arms
encounter greater hardships, or endure them
more uncomplaingly.
But great as have been the trials to which
the army has been subjected, they are hard
ly worthy to be named in comparison with
the sufferings in store for it this winter, un
less the people of the Confederate States,
everywhere and in whatever circumstances,
come to its immediate relief.
The men must have clothing and shoes
this winter. They must have something
to cover themselves when sleeping, and to
protect themselves from the driving sleet
and snow-storms when on duty. This must
be done, though our friends at home should
have to wear cotton and sit by the fire. —
The army in Virginia stands guard this day,
as it will stand guard this winter, over ev
ery hearthstone throughout the South.—
The ragged sentinel who may pace his weary
rounds this winter on the bleak spurs of the
Blue Ridge, or along the frozen valleys of
the Shenandoah and Rappahannock, will
also be your sentinel, my friend at home.
It will be for you and your household that
he encounters the wrath of the tempest and
the dangers of the night. He suffers and
toils and fights for you, too, brave, true
hearted women of the South. Will you
not clothe his nakedness then? Will you
not put shoes and stockings on his feet ?
Is it not enough that he has written down
his patriotism in crimson characters along
the battle road from the Rappahannock to
to the Potomac? And must his bleeding
feet also impress their mark of fidelity upon
the snows of the coming winter? I know
what your answer will be. God has spoken
through the women of the South, and they
are His holy oracles in this day of trial and
tribulation.
It is not necessary to counsel violent
measures; but it is not expected that any
person will be permitted to accumulate
leather and cloth for purposes of speculation.
The necessities of the army rise up like a
mountain, and can not, and will not be over
looked. It was hoped at one time that we
might obtain winter supplies in Maryland.
That hope was born after the army left
Richmond, and has now miserably perished.
The Government is unable to furnish the
supplies; for they are not to be had in the
country. If it had exercised a little fore
sight last spring and summer, when vessels
were running the blockade with cargoes of
calico, linen and other articles of like- im
portance, a partial supply at least of hats,
blankets, shoes and woolen goods might
have been obtained from England. But
foresight is a quality of the mind that is
seldom put in practice in these days.
But w hatever may be done by the people,
should be done immediately. Not one mo
ment can be lost that will not be marked,
as by the second hand of a watch, with the
pangs of a sufferer. Already the hills and
valleys in this high latitude have been visit
ed by frost, and the nights are uncomforta
bly cool to the man who sleeps upon the
ground. Come up, then, men and women
of the South, to this sacred duty. Let no
thing stand between you and the perform
ance of it. Neither pride, nor pleasure,
nor personal ease and comfort, should with
hold your hands from the holy work. The
supply of leather and wool? w e all know, is
limited; but do what you can, and all you
can, and as soon as you can. If you can
not send woolen socks, send half woolen or
cotton socks; and so with underclothing,
coats and pants. And if blankets are not
to be had, then substitute comforts jnade of
dyed osnaburgs stuffed with cotton. Any
thing that will keep off the cold will be ac
ceptable. Even the speculator and extor
tioner might forego their gains for a season
and unite in this religious duty. If they
neither clothe the naked nor feed the hun
gry, who are fighting for their freedom and
for their homes and property, what right
have they to expect anything but eternal
damnation, both from God and man ?
if the Army of Virginia could march
through the South just as it is—ragged and
almost barefooted and hatless—many of
the men limping along and not quite well
of their wounds or sickness, yet cheerful
and not willing to abandon their places in
the ranks —their clothes riddled with balls,
and their banners covered with the smoke
and dust of battle, and shot into tatters,
many of them inscribed ‘Williamsburg,’
‘ Seven Pines,’ ‘ Gaines’ Mill,’ ‘Garnett’s
Farm,’ ‘ Front Royal,’ ‘McDowell,’ ‘Cedar
Run,’ and other victorious fields —if this
army of veterans, thus clad and shod, with
tattered uniforms and banners, could march
from Richmond to the Mississippi, it would
produce a sensation that has no parallel in
history since Peter the Hermit led his
swelling hosts across Europe to the rescue
of the Holy Sepulchre.
I do not write to create alarm, or to pro
duce a sensation, but to arouse the people
to a sense of the true condition of the arm v.
1 have yet to learn that anything is to be
gained by suppressing the truth, and leaving
the army to suffer.
Messrs Editors :
A few words to your readers
Paul says: “Not without law to God,
but under the law to Christ.” 1 Cos. ix : 21.
The ten commandments are in Christ’s
hands: let us heed them. We are not at
liberty to disobey one of them. We must
not use them piece-meal. Idolatry and
profanity must not be more strenuously
opposed than Sabbath breaking; and love
to Christ must be maintained with all the
zeal used in opposing disobedience to pa
rents, or murder, or theft; and covetous
ness must be resisted with the same promp
titude and ardor which we use in opposing
false swearing. Winking at adultery is
as sinful in the servants of God, as to ad
vocate enmity to God. For an “offence
in one point,” incurs the guilt of all the
Decalogue. (James ii: 10.)
If the heart be prepared to keep the first
table of the law, there will be little diffi
culty in keeping the second. If we love
Christ “ with a pun heart fervently,” we
shall then “ love one another” in like man
ner.
When the violation of any one command
ment becomes excessive, then extraordina
ry exertions to suppress such violation are
excusable, and even commendable. But
when all the ten are equally profaned, then
zeal, separately and hotly manifested in re
ference to a single one of them, is apt to
run into fanaticism. And I think there is
danger of our brethren committing an er
ror touching the fourth commandment: J
mean, the keeping of the Sabbath day.
There is the appearance of our Govern
ment having violated this precept, by run
ning cars, drilling soldiers, building fortifi
cations, &c., on the Sabbath day. 1 have
little question as to whether ministers of
the Gospel and religious bodies should not
feel it to be their duty to refrain lrom the
least opposition to such movements on the
part of the Southern Confederacy. I think
they should refrain.
1 am not sure that Blackstone, in his
Commentaries on English Law, in all his
quotations from the. Old Testament, gives
any referenceof Divine authority for killing
a man in self-defence. Blackstone was a
religious lawyer. The house of Peers,
with “ two archbishops and twenty-four
bishops, with four bishops from Ireland,”
did not all furnish Blackstone’s mind with
Bible law for committing homicide in self
defence. And so, misconstruing the pas
sage in Numbers xxxv : 22—25, they man
aged to divide homicide into three degrees,
instead of two. In the Bible we have no
such degree as man slaughter—that is, no
degree between excusable homicide and
murder. Under Moses’ law, it was one or
the other of these. Wilful death, in anger,
was always murder, and punishable with
death. To kill, in defence of one’s own life,
was excusable.
In the New Testament, our Saviour in
tended not to meddle with this law. In re
ligious life, forbearance was recommended
to the extent of receiving a second blow ;
parting with a coat, rather than sue. for a
cloak ; going two miles w ith a man, rather
than injure him for compelling us to go one
with him. The defence of life, and law of
murder, He left with the civil law. 1
therefore take it for granted that, as He
taught that it was lawful to save life, it was
of consequence lawful to do so, at the ex
pense of taking the life of a murderer for
