Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-08-21
#tistellaneo,ls &eadimg.
PROTEST Of A PREACHER.

PROTEST Of A PREACHER.
Certain Utterances OF Senator Tillman Are
Dissected and Condemned.
From the Greenville Mountaineer.
The Columbia Register prints the
following letter from a minister of the
gospel, entering protest against the
declaration of Senator Tillman that
preachers opposed to the dispensary
are in league with the devil. This ex-
preston of Tillman was unwarranted
and cannot be justified, but the preach
er in his criticism has made mistake
in not signing his name to the protest,
which would be much more forcible
otherwise
To the Editor of The Register:
Mr.. Tillman in his Tirzah speech
took occasion to jump on the preachers
of South Carolina for their attitude to-
wards the dispensary. He himself ad-
mits in that speech that there has been
stealing and dishonesty in connection
with the dispensary business, and yet
he wants the preachers either to stand
with shut mouths or else publicly up
hold a rascally and rotten concern. 1
suppose we preachers should 90 and
bow down before his lordship, Senator
Tillman, and ask him what we must
preach on the subject of temperance.
Our commission reads: "We ought to
obey God rather than men,"
Mr.. Tillman charges us with being
in league with the devil against the
dispensary. Now Mr.. Tillman is
pretty fellow to make that charge. l
have never heard that Mr.. Tillman
professed to be on the Lords side. The
Lord himself declares, "He that is not
for me is against me-" So that Mr..
Tillman not being confessedly for the
Lord, must be against him. That is
to say, Mr.. Tillman himself must be
serving the devil. Now l submit, is it
not bad taste for Mr.. Tillman to be
speaking disrespectfully and contemp-
tuously of his own master?
But we are not surprised or over
come by this charge. Our master him
self, in the flesh, while engaged in be-
nevolent service, was charged with be.
ing in league with Beelzebub. He told
us 10 expect the same treatment. "The
disciple is not above his master, nor
the servant above his Lord" ''If they
have called the Master Of the house
Beelzebub, how much more shall they
call them of His household"
But who is it in this case that pre-
fers this charge against Christ's SER
wants? 1t is not customary to hear
such charges against preachers in these
days. 1t is reserved for the Hon. B.
R. Tillman, man holding the honor
able and dignifed position of United
States senator, representing the Chris
tian people of South Carolina who re-
ceive their messages of love and life
and comfort from these same preach
ers-it is left I say, for this representa-
tive of a Christian people to revile
their religious ministry. 1t lis Mr.. Till
man, honored by the Christian people,
who now accuses their ministers of
light and life with being in league with
Satan, the enemy of human souls.
And will the Christian people of South
Carolina have no word of protest or
rebuke ?"
Why does Mr.. Tillman make this
wholesale charge? Because the
preachers say it is just as wrong for
the state to run barrooms as it is for
individuals to run them. True, there
are beneficial restrictions thrown
around the sale of whisky under the
dispensary system but these are Incl
dental benefits, and do not touch the
root and heart of the matter. These
restrictions could be attached to bar
rooms as we'll as to dispensaries. The
dispensary sells liquor for profit and
as a beverage. This is exactly what
the barroom does. That is the heart
and root of the business, and makes 1t
that there is no essential difference
between dispensary and barroom.
Because the preachers state this evil
dent truth, and dare to say that they
are opposed to the hellish liquor traf'
fc, whether conducted by state officers
or private individuals, the Hon. B. K.
Tillman charges them with being in
league with the devil.
Let God in heaven and the con-
science of men in South Carolina
Judge whether or not Mr.. Tillman's
scandalous accusation is true and just.
AN ANTI.LIQUoR PREACHER.