Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1845-11-21
A SERMON BY OLD LORENZO.

AS from the acorn forests spro ut.
Brethren and Fyiends,-This is my text to-
day. | want to tell you something about
faith. Faith is a kind of acorn, 1t dom
grow on the crab trees of nature, but comes
right down from Heaven. You, my hearers, |
are by nature all hog.walnuts-and it is just
as impossible for a real shag-bark to spring
from such a nut, as for a shad to climb an
apple tree. You have not a particle of faith.
not the thousandth part of a grain of mustard
seed, till God gives it to you. | have been
round visiting my church; and ! find you are
all contending stoutly for the faith; that is, for
the faith of our church. 1t ~reioices my heart
to witness your zeal. But, my brethren,
while | admit the importance of faith, | want
to remind you, that "faith without works is
dead, being alone" There is a sad mistake
in the world about this-and | greatly fear
the heresy is contagious, and that our patent
church will suffer by it. Go and examine
the popular churches of the day. They say
they are christians. Whyl o, they have got
the faith. Well, now my friends, they don't
know what a christian is. ! tax it they are
pretty honest. They don't know. Why,
faith is nothing but a christian germ, the seed
that produces christians. Here; | show you
a handful of acorns. What would you
think of me, if | were to tell you each one
of them was an oak tree two feet through!
And what shall | think of you; when you
tell me, you are christian because you have
''the faith" | tremble to think, that some
members of my church are in a mortal error.
| don't believe they are christians. They
have faith enough, they are good sound acOrns,
but they haven't s~prouted yet. | hope the
present cold and frosty state of the church
will crack the shell-that they wont live and
1io in this ct,ta md hova m hn tlaufnd nvnr
again in Heaven. How shamed l should
feel, to see members of my church sprouting
up, little saplings, in Heaven. You know, if
you take an acorn, and bury it up three feet
deep in the solid earth, it neUer aUiW sprout.
1t will stay there, ages on ages; the germina-
ting principle wont die, but it can't sprout,
till it is brought up to the sun and air. fear
this is the condition of some member i'll my
church. They are buried so deep in the rub
bish of church-isms and poli-ticks and other
worldly lumber, that they can't sprout till
somebody digs them up. l find there is an
other sort Of members in the church, a very
numerous class too. / can't really tell wheth-
er they deserve the name of christians or not.
They have barely sprouted, they are neither
perfect acorns nor perfect trees. They think
they are christians. | go and ask them if
they are christians. Why, yes; they say, we
- = tSh hiSAAi nv VI htth
hope. That is, | want to know what evil
dence they have, that they are christians!-
And they go on, and tell over the agony they
experienced in sprouting. Now, my breth-
rem, it is encouraging to think you have
been in this nondescript condition long
enough.
The Great Cultivator will get discouraged
soon. He has to dig down, many and many
a time, to find you. He is all the time look
ing for the blade to spring forth; and were i,
not for his long suffering and Job like pa
thence, he would have left you to rot in the
ground long ago.
Don't go away my hearers, and say | have
denied the faith. Faith comes first. Let me
illustrate. There goes a poor, ragged, hun
cry beggar. Now you never will do any
E thing, to relieve that poor man, unless you
first have faith, first beLiere that you ought to.
But what good would it do to have this faith
if that was the end of it, Will your faith
fill the hungry mans belly, or clothe his ma
kedness? 1t is a christian duty you know, to
give that man a coat, if you have got two Of
them. Then why don't you do it! 1t is be-
cause you have only sprouted. | tell you
brethren, a christian has got something to do.
1t is doing that makes the christian. The
devil has got faith enough to save all the
hdlllhCus IL dlbi o1NO dh1 bOu1s ou
have got to do something too, beside joining
the church and repeating over your got-by.
rote prayers, and whimpering, and fetching
up your great, long, cultural groans in the
meeting house. God demands mercy-''l
will have mercy" says he, 'and not sacrifice,
when you see a poor man, who needs as
s~istance, which it is in your power to bestow
if you were christians you would help him
and unless you do help the needy, you are
no christians. ! dom know what will be
come of you, when you die, if you should
quit the world in this condition. Give me
solid acorn rather than this half and half state
If you don't bestir yourselves, i believe yol
will rot, and go back to nothing; or else bC
| transplanted to purgdtory, to rlpen there. A
gain, you all say you are abolitionists. Ours
you say, is an abolition church. But what
f are you doingl Anything. No. You are
!, all abolition acorns. When | see man BRAY,
: the malice of all the pro-slavery ministers Of
Satan; when he stands ready TO take the par
r Of the slave in opposition to mad bigots, ant
forming hypocrites, and grasping a%varice,
, call him an abolitionist. A true abolitionis
is a full grown christian. | know of no 9th
ers in our ungoJly nation. May you all be
r become such, and secure crowns of thorns Oh
! earth, of gold in Heaven. Amen and amen.-
, The Herald Of Freedom.
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/ The road that leads to wealth too often pass
] es through the narrow defles of meanness