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THE BAI’TIHT BANNER.
BY JAS. N. ELLS & CO.
VOL. IV.
®lw gjiiwr,
DEVOTED TO RELIGION AND LITERATURE,
Is published every Saturday, at Atlanta, Georgia, at the
subscription price of three dollars per year.
JAMES N. ELLS & CO.,
Proprietors.
Steam Press of Franklin Printing House—J. J. Toon & Co.
MISCELLANY ~
THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
BY JANK T. H. CROSS.
Manfully, hopefully, life we begin,
Facing its trials, unheeding its din,
Battling for right, and withstanding the wrong,
Helping the weak, and opposing the strong,
Greeting the Future, as one greets a friend,
(Trusting, not bending as slaves used to bend,)
Asking her gifts with undauntabie eye,
Fearless of danger, and daring to die.
Living for honor, and living for truth,
Treating misfortune with tenderest ruth,
Claiming no right that we will not allow,
Bowing to Virtue alone, when we bow;
Leaning to no man, but acting our part,
Heavenward looking, with resolute heart —
Thus consecrate we our lives unto thee,
Beautiful Land of the fair and the free I
The Enchanted IPot.
A SCANDINAVIAN LEGEND.
AS a fancy illustration of the way Prov
idence sometimes take to protect the
weak against the strong, the following sto
ry has an interest beyond the imaginary
scenes which it describes :
There was once a baron who was a very
hard and cruel man, quick to get and slow
to spend; greedy of gain and loth to give;
an oppressor of the poor and spoiler of the
needy. On his property lived a poor wid
ow with an only son, whom, little by little,
he had reduced to the lowest depth of pov
erty ; so that at last she was unable to pay
the rent due for her poor hovel of a house;
and although it was by his own extortion
and injustice that she was reduced to such
straits, he refused to wait a single day for
his money, threatening to turn her and her
son out of the house, and seize the misera
ble remains of their furniture. The poor
woman returned home and sent out her son
to try and borrow some money from her
friends; but one and all began to make ex
cuses, for no one would help them for fear
of the baron. So Ilolgar, for that was the
name of the widow’s son, returned home
quite out of heart. By and-by his path led
him across a little stream of water; and
when he approached the banks he saw a
feeble, miserable-looking old man standing
beside it, who, as soon as he saw Ilolgar,
asked him to help him over—he was too
weak to cross by himself. So Ilolgar took
him by the hand, for he was a very good
natured lad, and led him safely over
the wet slippery stepping-stones; and then
wishing him a kind good morning, was walk
ing away, when the old man called after
him to stop, and. said, “Do not go away
until 1 have thanked you and paid you for
your trouble.”
“ I don’t want to be paid,” Holgar said ;
“ I am not such a churl as to refuse to help
a fellow creature in distress; so good-bye.”
“ Nay,” said the old man, putting his
hand in his sack and pulling out a three
legged copper pot, “ but take that with
you.”
“I am very much obliged,” answered
Holgar, “but the pot will be of no use;!
for the truth is, we have nothing to boil in
it.”
“ Never mind you about that,” said the
old man; “you just put it on the fire and;,
see what will happen.”
So Holgar took the pot, which was for
all the world like any other copper pot, and '
went home to his mother and showed her
what he had got, and told her how all their
friends had refused to help them. But the
mother kicked the pot away with her foot,
and rocked herself backwards and forwards
in her chair, lamenting the unkindness of
their friends; and Holgar said: “Mother,!
I shall do as the old man told me—l shall
set the pot on the tire.”
So he set it on; and no sooner did the
pot feel the smoke and the flames curling
about it, than it called out, “ 1 run ! 1 run !” ■
“Where do you run to?” asked the
widow, suddenly stopping in her lamenta
tions, and starting up; but the pot only
cried, “ I run ! I run ■ ”
“ Well, run, then ! ” quoth the woman.
“ and fetch us some of the good soup, such
as 1 saw on the baron's kitchen grate.”
Searoely had she spoken when the pot
flew out of the cottage door, and presently
returned tilled with the most delicious soup.
Oh, it smelt no nee! For a moment or
two the mother and son stood quite amazed,
but soon recovering their senses, they fell
to and ate it up. .
But Holgar said, “Let us see it it can
bring us anything else but eatables; tor
food is a good thing, but money is better.’
So ho put the pot on the tire again,
and stirred the tire to make it burn bright
ly, and as soon as ever the pot felt the
flames, it called out as before,
“ I run ! I run! *
“ Run, then.” said Holgar, "and bring
us the ten pounds we owe the baron.
So the pot flew oil, and when it came
back —there lay ten golden sovereigns in
the bottom.
A BEiSSMMM A.K®
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, DECEMBER 6, 1862.
“Itis a splendid p t,” said Ilolgar; and
the next day he went and paid his debt to
the baron. Every evening they ordered
the pot to fetch what they needed —some-
times food, sometimes money, the latter of
which they saved in order to buy another
cow. And where the pot got the things it
brought them they did not know. Perhaps
.it ran to the old man who gave it to Hol
gar; but in truth the pot got them from
the baron’s kitchen and the baron’s money
box.
Now, the baron, being a great miser,
went every day to his money-box and
counted his money, and sorely vexed and
troubled was he when every day he found
something wrong. There must be some
one who has a false key, he thought; so the
next night he hid himself behind the cur
tain and watched. Presently he heard a
low knocking, and peeping out, he saw the
window open of its own accord, and a little
copper pot on three legs come in. It
knocked with its handle on the money-box,
and the fid flew open, and the p<9t scraped
into * itself some money, and jumped
out of the window, and the lid and window
shut of their own accord.
“Well,” exclaimed the baron, “this
beats Gaffer Clinch’s cat! ” But the next
night the baron was on the watch again,
and as the pot had collected the money it
wanted, he laid hold of it by one of the
legs, and thought that now the thief was
caught. But lo and behold ! the pot was
stronger than he was, and dragged him
across the room up to the window, and had
he not let go its leg, would surely have
flown off with him. “O, well, just you
wait, my good pot,” said the baron, ‘ you
have got away this time; but you shall
not make a goose of me again.”
The next night, as soon as ever the |>ot
had entered the room on its three copper
legs, and scraped together the money, the
baron, who was a stout, heavy man, clap
ped himself down upon it, and bursting out
laughing, said in a taunting tone, “ Now,
my lad, let us see what you can do.” But
the pot minded him no more than if he had
been a feather, and, while the baron was
i fain to hold tight on its sides, flew out of
the window with him over field and mead
ow, over stock and stone, and did not stop
until it stood below the widow’s chimney
piece.
“ Why, what’s come to the pot?” cried
the widow ; “ it has brought the baron.”—
And she and hereon were terribly fright
ed when they saw the lord of the manor
sitting there amongst the ashes.
As soon as the baron had recovered
breath enough to speak, he exclaimed, “Oh,
you wicked woman, I will have you and
your son hung and burnt. So it is your pot
that has been robbing me every day, and
breaking open my money-box.”
In vain the widow and Ilolgar protested
they knew not where the pot got the things
it brought them.
There the baron sat, boiling with passion
and refusing t j listen to a word.
“ Hold him fast, Pot,” said Holgar, when
he saw the baron trying to get up; “ifyou
mean to revenge yourself in that manner,
you shall sit there forever.”
No sooner had he said it when the baron
I found himself so tightly glued to the pot,
that he could not, though he tried with all
his strength, get free from it. He tugged
'and tugged until he and the pot both rolled
over on the floor together, and Holgar and
his mother stood by, laughing until their
sides ached. When the baron found that
all his strength was of no use, he stopped
rolling about, and said, “ Let me go, good
people, and 1 will not punish you at all.”
“That will not do,” said Holgar; “I will ■
have the leases of my father’s former |
I house, and you must supply me with hor-j
ses, cows, and sheep, and all things neces-,
sary for a farm.”
“No! no!” roared the baron, writhing;
■and twisting himself about as he spoke—
‘ “ No! that I never will : 1 will die first.”
| “Ah, well,” said Holgar. “never isalong
I day. You may sit there and think about
j it.” So he put on his hat, and went out of
doors. But he had hardly been gone above
a quarter of an hour, when his mother
came running after him, and called him j
back; and as soon as the baron saw him 1
he told him he would consent to all he ask
j ed. Then Holgar sent for some of the
neighbors, and put it all down upon a pa
per, and made the baron sign it, and then
told him he might get up and go home as
soon as he pleased. So he arose and slunk
home, quite ashamed of himself, grinding
. his teeth for very anger, and vowing ven-,
geance. However, he was so afraid of
Ilolgar and his pot that he thought it best
to keep his word, and let him and his
1 mother alone for the future. Perhaps, had
. he known the truth, he might have behaved
• less well ; for the very day that he fulfilled
his contract, and put Ilolgar and his moth
er in possession of the farm, the copper
, pot, greatly to Holgar’s grief, disappeared.
But no doubt he was better off without it,
for odd wax s of getting things are general
, ly wrong w ays, and the enchanted pot might
‘ not always have been so discreet as to have
, taken only what just belonged to his mot h
' er, and so might in the end have brought
them into sad trouble and disgrace.
HIS BANNER OVER US IS LOVE.
[Original.]
MY HEART’S FAIRY TREE.
BY JULIA PLEAS ANTS OURS WELL.
. Oh! ’tis over! ’tls over! my trance of deep gloom !
And the sunshine is bursting once more in my room ;
I have pined ’mid these hills,.where the pine branches wave,
And I said they were lonely and sad as the grave.
But that dream of my darkness is perished and past,
As I gaze on the features I worship at last;
Burst thou forth, oh, my heart! as these sweet feelings
throng,
And enchant the blue noon-tide and song'
In my soul’s crystal depths there are, trembling to birth,
Fairy branches, more fair than the forests of earth:
’Tis a pure silver tree, wh'ch the sorcerer’s skill
Wakes to life with the wand of his own wayward will.
And my heart, like the vase where that Fairy Tree grows,
Is expanding with bliss till its brightness o’erflows;
Till its gay silver leaves rustle forth In the breeze,
And the numbers they sing have the cadence of these.
Passages in the L.ife of an
Old Georgia Preacher.
NUMBER V.
The Baptists, though regarded by many
as “ unlearned and ignorant men,” have
ever been leaders in every important edu
cational movement in Georgia. The first
periodical published in the State, “The
Georgia Analytical Repository,” was orig
inated and edited by Dr. Holcomb. In
that paper he advocated the establishment
of “ Mount Enon Academy,” one of the
first, if not the very first, literary institu
tions started in the State, before the State
College at Athens was thought of. As
early as 1804 he selecte%a site for that
seminary, and petitioned the General As
sembly for an act of incorporation, which
was refused on the ground that, if the
Baptists established a college, their influ
ence might become dangerous to the reli
gious liberties of the State. The applica
tion was renewed, and a year or so after
wards the seminary w'as incorporated.—
Rev. Charles O. Scriven w'as its first Pres
ident. It was in successful operation seve
ral years, but was finally abandoned, for
reasons unknown to the writer.
I was personally acquainted with Josiah
Penfield, (for whom the village of Penfield
was named,) a deacon of the Church and a
large dealer in jewelry in the city of Sa
vannah. He died of consumption in 1828,
and in his will he bequeathed to the Gene
ral Association, as the Convention was then
called, two thousand five hundred dol
lars, for the purposes of ministerial edu
cation, on .condition that the friends of this
cause should raise an equal amount. This
condition was promptly met, and from this
small beginning Mercer University has
grown to its present proportions. The
writer was familiar with those early efforts,
and with the men of those times, and was
the youngest member of the first Board of
that University. 1 remember with what
earnestnees, and faith, and fervent prayer,
the then “ fathers of our Israel ” entered
upon and prosecuted that important enter
prise. A few only of that faithful band
now linger on the shores of time. 1 must
be excused for mentioning some of these
in this connection. Eternity alone can fully
disclose the importance to posterity of the
self-sacrificing labors of Stocks, Mallary
and Dawson among the living, and of Mer
cer, Saunders and Thornton among the
dCHd. Stocks was the wise and prudent
adviser; Mallary the indefatigable and suc
cessful agent; Dawson the fearless and
powerful advocate. The labors performed
bj B. M. Saunders, in the eady history of
this Institution, w’ere such as scarce any eth
er man could have borne. And then he
and others not only labored, but they gave,
and that freely. The poor preachers of
i those days, who so deeply felt the need of
education, and whose salaries annually !
were only two or three hundred dollars, in i
many instances gave the worth of a whole
1 year’s labor to the University. Leymen I
emulated the example thus set by their j
ministers, and an enthusiasm was excited
on the subject throughout the whole State, !
It was in this way that Mercer University '
became so liberally endowed; and the Geor-j
gia Convention was provided with such
ample means for the improvement of her
rising ministry.
Among others who enjoyed the benefits
of this school in its beginning, were Ever
ingham, who died in lower Georgia; Hill,
now of Texas; and Tryon, who preached
with great acceptance in Alabama, and fell
a victim to yellow fever in Galveston, Tex-,
as. It has already done much towards the
advancement of education in the Baptist
denomination, and in the State at large,
and its prospects are brightening every
’( year.
The zeal of che Baptists in this cause,
had the effect to rouse the M) Huxftsts and ,
Presbyterians to similar efforts, and they
in turn established denominational colleges,
which are both in a high state of prosperi
ty. The Methodists, not content with pro
viding a school for their »<>ns, with charac
teristic zeal attempted to raise one for their
. daughters also; and the Wesleyan Female
College in Macon, the fust female college
in the South, if not in the Union, sprang
into being.
Is it unphilosophieal t> maintain that a
i fundamental principle of the Baptists,
‘‘soul liberty,” impels tljem to be earnest
advocates for education ? If men are to
enjoy this liberty, they must have intelli
gence, so that they may not “use it for an
occasion to the flesh.” My connection
with the denomination, of near forty years’
standing, has satisfied me that no people on
earth are more under the influence of prin
ciple. Disturbances and divisions may
sometimes arise among them; but the
masses will finally fall back upon first prin
ciples, and be as firm and united as ever.
Harrison.
[Abr The Baptief Banner.}
Etiquette at Church.
Sleeping, whispering and laughing at
church are such gross violations of propri
ety, that it can hardly be necessary to
speak of them now ; but there are various
ways in which disrepect can be shown the
house of God, as well as the pastor, fevery
Sabbath, and which no doubt is done thro’
thoughtlessness. Any one who doubts the
truth of what I have to say, can hayy an
opportunity to prove it any Sunday.
When the hymns are given out, most
persons open their books (as they should),
and sit patiently and quietly till the singers
approach the last line; then, as if exfferj
encing great relief, the books are suddwly
closed, and throughout the church you may
hear them, one after another, dropped into
the racks with a noise like the scattering of
fire on a muster-field.
If, during the services, any unusual sound
is heard, it is remarkable how r quickly the
attention of the most indifferent are arrested,
how even the sleepers awaken from their
slumbers, and all heads are turned in the
direction of the disturbance, in the hope
that somebidy had fainted, that somebody’s
baby had fallen off the seat, or something
has happened to break in upon the monot
any. If the cause of the disturbance is not
discoverable, the audience relapse into its
former comfortable position, with a facility
not at all flattering to *the speaker.
The pronouncing of the benediction
seems to be the signal for the ladies to ar-'
range their cloaks in marching order ; while I
the gentlemen seize their hats and rush out
with as great precipitation as if the com-1
maud “ retreat ” bad MSAMwI fl unk tliC pul- ;
pit. Then, to add life and variety to the
occasion, you may hear numerous small
sized boots making their exit with an ener
gy and in a manner which leaves on your
mind no doubt but their owners possess the
true spirit of “Go-a-head.” Would it not
be better to remain in silent reverence un
til the last tone of the blessing of the
speaker falls upon your ears, and even a
few seconds after; then leave the church
quietly and seriously—not like escaped
prisoners or liberated school-boys. In
some churches, (and I believe in most oth
ers,) it is customary for the gentlemen to
leave first, the ladies meekly waiting for
the male portion of the procession to pass
along. To this there is no particular ob
jection, though it savors a little of Orien
tal custom. In retiring from the sanctuary
in this manner, one is reminded of the old
ballad <»f Peter and Dobbin,
“ His wife should follow, not lead, through life.”
E. B. C.
The Mother’s Mission. —Possibly the
most important subject in the world. The
Mother’s Mission ! how much depends upon •
the understanding which a woman has ofj
these words. As there is no love like a
mother’s, so is there no power like hers. —
From her breast the young immortal
draws far more than the sweet food which
strengthens his infantile frame. Looking)
up from her lap ‘ into the blue heaven of
her eye,’ every shaping influence falls sweet ;
ly and ceaselessly upon his receptive and
plastic soul. The few years which are!
! spent by a mother’s side undoubtedly fix,
| the character and decide the destiny of ev
ery heart, and of these years the earlier
; are most important. A Mother's Mission !\
llt is no less than, with unutterable solici-,
tude, to be the minister of eternal life or
‘ death to the heart whose earliest drops were!
I drawn from her own, and which smiled or
j slept in later months upon her happy bo-
som.
All Good to the Christian.
Every positive good belongs to the
Christian. The gifts of God strewed so
thickly around are to be used. The Chris-j
' tian has a higher enjoyment of these things!
indeed than others, because he mingles
thankfulness with them as gifts of God.— I
He has a higher enjoyment of nature as
the work of God. He makes nature the
symbol and song, the expression of higher,
more joyful emotions, than the mere man
iof the. world knows. While others appre
i ciate the poetry of the common sentiment
of life, he rises to that which came from
prophets and holy men, and expresses the
deepest religious emotions of the soul.—.
He has a purer and better enjoyment of so-1
cial life than others have. Then he throws
over all the hues of immortality. To him
the landscape here stands dressed in living
green. The Christian heart is like a lake
in the midst of mountains. Every pleas
ant image of earth, and all the broad ex
panse of heaven, lie mirrored in its sleep
‘ ing depth. The present and the temporal t
; not only are there, but the eternal; and
1 the light from heaven bathes the scene.
TERMS —Three Dollars a-year.
The Resurrection.
The following beautiful thoughts will
amply repay a perusal. Precious to the
Christian at all times, they are doubly so
now:
“ There is not a departed joy, or hope, or
expectation of the Christian, but will be re
stored to him in the resurrection of his
Lord. 1 mourn not so much over the body
or person of my friend who is gone, as I
mourn over the loves and hopes that have
been blasted and withered by the same
touch of death, and buried with him ; but
the resurrection of the Lord teaches me
that there is a day to dawn when there will
be restored to me in heaven all that I have
loved and lost, and not more eagerly will
I clasp to my arms the forms of those who
are dear, than I will lay to my heart these
blessed memories which I thought had gone
perhaps for ever, and which now have come
bounding back to me. I care not what or
how trivial they may be, they shall all
come back. There will not be a treasure
over which the jealous eye of the Lord will
not watch, and which His careful hand will
not restore to the arms and fixed possession
of His followers.
“ Nothing valuable, nothing dear to the
Christian, is too trivial to be treasured by
the Lord. Nothing good perishes; it is
impossible. Out of the world’s wreck, all
that is worth saving will be saved. Every
corner of the creation will be searched, the
sea shall give up the dead that are in it,
and death and the grave shall give up the
dead that are in them. The trivialities of
life ! who does not know, though he may
blush to have it said, that the dearest and
most intimate affections of the heart are
often called forth by objects so slight that
we would not have another know it—the
little things which we have laid away in a
corner of our hearts, and upon which we
doat so fondly Has not a parent’s foun
tain of tears been broken up by the sight
of a little stray shoe, which once impris
oned a tiny foot that is since enshrouded
in the grave ? Who does not confess this
element of our nature—not of human
weakness, but of human power? In the
[great day of the resurrection there will be
mighty act of conquering Death, remem
bered to lay aside His shroud with care,
and folded the napkin and put it away in a
place by itself, will overlook nothing. The
widow’s mite will be returned a thousand
fold into her bosom as a mine of overflow,
ing wealth. The cup of cold water given
to a disciple will flow back a fountain of
everlasting joy. Nothing, 1 care not
whether it be a soft ringlet or the memory
of a child’s smile, that has been cherished
by a saint of the Lord, but will be sacred
ly preserved, while the earth returns to
chaos, and given back to him.
“ Oh, then, what a glorious morn will
the resurrection be ! Methinks 1 see the
glad procession .coming up—a multitude, to
which’the throng I behold to-night is but a
drop in the vast ocean, whom no man can
number ! 1 see them coming up in robes
of white, with crowns of everlasting joy
upon their heads, and palms of victory in
their hands. I hear their shouts of glad
ness as they cry, ‘ Victory ! worthy is the
Lamb that hath redeemed us!’ Fathers
and mothers grasp children long lost. —
f Husbands and wives, separated many cen
j turies, fall again into each other’s arms. I
hear a voice which calls my own name ! I
start as did Mary when Jesus uttered that
word, ‘ Mary ! ’ That voice ! 1 had dream
:ed of it all through my life, ever since my
| boyhood. 1 know it; and the child is clasp
led in the arms of its mother, who cries
■ out, ‘My son !’ and the child looks up and
! whispers ‘ Mother ! ’ in the old familiar
[strain, and restsagain on the bosom that,
i gave life. I behold these reunions; no one
comes alone or empty handed, but all go
up with arms full and laps laden with trea
sures, w hich the grave and the sea had bu
ried, but which now arC all restored for
ever with the coming back of Jesus.”
The of I’raycr.
In his interview with the committee sent
by the convention at Chicago, comprising
“ Christians of all denominations,” to urge
the abolition of slavery, President Lincoln
said : “The rebel soldiers are praying with
a great deal more earnestness, I fear, than
our own troops, and expecting Gcfd to fa
vor their side; for one of our soldiers, who
had been taken prisoner, told Senator Wil
son, a few days since, that he met with
nothing so discouraging as the evident sin
cerity of those he was among in their pray
ers.”
We would that this cause of discourage
ment to our enemies were enhanced a thou
sand fold. We would that all our army
and all our people felt how truly, not mere
valor, hut prayer is our strength. “ The
j Lord reigneth; -let the earth rejoice.”—
j“The Lord reigneth; let the people trem
ble.” Combining the sentiment of these
two passages—awe before Him to whom
vengeance belongeth, with -glad trust in
Him who delighteth to exercise mercy,—
let our prayers ascend day and night, a
ceaseless sacrifice, that an Almighty arm
may succor us in our sore extremity, and
the foe that breathes out threatening and
slaughter be driven with signal discomfit
ure from our borders.
NO. 5.