The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1863-08-28
The Pulpit Desecrated.

rad delivered political address on the subject
of Negro Slavery and the War, from the pulpit
of the Lutheran Church in this place. In or
der to delude the credulous into the belief that
he was about to preach religious discourse, he
took text from the Bible. The passage of
Scripture upon which he based his harangue,
| occurs in l Chronicles, Ca, 22v. The verse
reads thus: "For there fell down many slain,
because the war was of God And they dwelt
in their steads until the captivity" From this
passage Mr. Conrod exscinded the words-''the
war was of God"-as the basis of his remarks.
1t did not suit his purpose to speak of the cap
tir'ty and bondage to which the very men who
| were victorious in the war against the Hagar-
ties, were subsequently reduced. His object
was to prove that the hand of God is in our
present unhappy war for the purpose of bring
ing about the abolition of Negro Slavery, and
the willy priest desired least of all, that his au-
ditors should get glimpse into the future Of
those men, who, like himself, have forsaken pure
Christianity, abandoned the worship of the only
| true and living God and fallen down before the
| 'god of the people of the land," the ebony idol
imported from the coast of Guinea Hence,
he carefully refrained from any explanation as
to the reference made by the word "captivity,'
which occurs in the verse from which he select
ed his text. Hence, he cautiously avoided tell
,, ing his hearers why the conquerors of the Ha-
garites were themselves enslaved Hence he
prudently stopped short of the context which,
in the third verse after that containing his text
informs us that the half tribe of Manasseh, the
conquerors, ''transgressed against the God of
their fathers, and went whoring after the gods
of the people Of the land, whom God DESTROYED
before them" Il Chron., ch., 25 w The
cunning fellow reasoned in this wise: If touch
upon these points, my audience will at once per-
ceive the parallel between the wicked idolaters
of the half tribe Of Manasseh and myself and
those people who think and act as do 1t will
be said of us that we are guilty of idolatry in
worshipping, on the holy Sabbath, the god of
the people, the everlasting negro" and it will
also be cast into our teeth that God is even now
"destroying before us, our idols, causing their
own worshippers to place them before their front
ranks in battle, as at Port Hudson and Fort
Wagner, to be annihilated by rebel cannon. So
will be discreet and let the history of the half
tribe of Manasseh alone.
Having shown why our pious lecturer took so
great pains to steer clear of the context and
certain phrases in his text itself, we will now
briefly consider the general tenor of his speech
Freedom, said he, was born upon the Mayfow-
er; that is, freedom for the negro AS for those
white men and women who differed in religious
opinion from the Pilgrims and their descendants,
the Mayfower brought chains, the gallows and
all the exquisite refinement of cruelty invented
by those intelligent lovers of freedom who be-
lieved in the Salem witchcraft. And the Indian,
the superior Of the negro in intelligence the
original proprietor of Massachusetts soil, what
to him was that freedom hnr., ...,..-i i.---t'y-
aswer2 Let ths.sririts Of the murdered Pequots
answer, let the unmarked grave of king Philip
tell the mournful story. No! the freedom born
upon the Mayfower must have had birth for
the special benefit of the African, for it exter-
minated the red man and prosecuted with dia-
bolical savageness every white man within its
reach, who dared to differ from the religious
views of those who had it in their peculiar keep
ing This freedom, therefore, was not general
and universal in its nature. The Declaration
of Independence, which Mr.. Conrod.quoted as
declaring call men free and equal" could not
have been founded upon this Mayfower freedom,
because that instrument was framed by men who
held negro slaues and it is to be supposed that
they did not intend to declare their own slaves
free, for they held them in bondage until theil
dying day and their heirs possessed them after
ward. Hence, if the Mayfower freedom wa.
intended for negroes, the freedom asserted by tn,
Declaration of Independence, has no affinity
with it, for that was intended for white men
of Providential interpretations, that will not con
meet, and no clerical logic, though the hammer
of its forge be never so ponderous can wel'
them together
Our priestly orator, also, took scriptur
view of slavery. AS we before stated, he en-
deavored to show that the hand of God is il
our civil war for the abolition of negro slavery
Now, we need make but very few quotation
from the Bible to upset Mr. Conrods whole the
ory upon this subject. The following from lie
viticus, 25 ch., "A, As and 46 vs., shows tina
, God commanded his chosen people to buy an
hold slaves:
; "Both thy bondmen and thy bond maids
which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathe
that are round about you; Of them shall ye bu
: bondmen and bondmaids.