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CU > * . , •. “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