The Russellville Democrat. [volume] (Russellville, Ark.) 1875-1898, 1888-11-15
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse Upon the Ballot-Box
and Election Franchise.
The Responsibility Resting Upon the Citi-
zen-How the Ballot should be Used
to Strengthen the Hand of
the Government.


text was:
Two cubits and half was the length OF IL,
and cuott and a half the breadth of It, and q
cubit and half the height OF it.-Exodus
x&&ylE, l.
Look at 1.-THE sacred chest OF the an-
clients. 1t was about five feet long, three
feet wide aud three feet high. 1t was
within and out of pure gold On the ton
of it stood two angels facing each othe
with outspread wings. In that sacre
box was the law, and there were in il
great many precious stones With thai
box went the fate OF the nation. Carried
In front of the host tho waters OF the
Jordan parted. Divinely charged, costly,
precious. momentous box. No unholy
hands might lay hold of it. 1t was called
the ark Of the covenant But you will
understand it was a box, the most prec-
ious box Of the ages. Where is it now?
Gone forever. Not crypt of church or
museum of the world has a fragment
OF It,
But is not this Nation Gods chosen
peopleg Have we not passed through the
Red Sea? Have we not been led by pill :
lar OF fire by night: Has tails Nation no
ark OF the covenant? Yes, the ballot
box, the sacred chest OF the Nation, the
ark OF the American covenant.
In it Is tle law, in 1t is the Divine and
the human law, in il is tho fate of the Ma
ton. Carried in front of our host again
and again. Mighty ark of the covenant,
the American Dallot-box! 1t is very
old box
In Athens, long before the art CT print
ing, the people dropped pebbles into it to
give expression to their sentiment. After
that beans were dropped into tia white
bean for the affirmative, q black bean for
the negative. After this, when they
wished to vote man out of citizenship
they would write his name upon a she'll
and drop that into the box.
O'Connell, and Grote, and Golden, and
Macaulay, and Gladstone fought great
battles in h, Introduction of the ballot
boxes in England, and to-day it is one Of
the Businesses of that nation 1t is one
of the corner-stoles OF our Government
1t is older than the Constitution. 1t is
our National safety Tell me what will
be the fate OF the American ballot box,
the ark of the American covenant and
will tell you what will be the fate of this
Nation. Give the people, once a year or
once in four years, an opportunity to ex-
press their political sentiments, and you
practically avoid instruction and revo-
luton.
Either give them the ballot or they will
take the sword. Without the ballot-box
there can be no free republican institu-
tons. Milton, visiting in Italy, noticed
that on the sides of Vesuvius gardeners
and farmers were at work while the vol
cano was in eruption. and he asked them
II they were SAFE. eyes, /" said the farm
ers and the gardeners, SIT is safe; all the
danger is before the eruption; then
comes earthquake aud terror, but just as
soon as the volcano sgins to pour forth
lava we all feel at rest" 1t is the sup
preston of political sentiment, the sup
preston of public opinion, that makes
moral earthquake ana national earth
quake. Let public opinion pour forth,
and that gives satisfac ion and that gives
peace, and that gives permanency TO good
government. Aud yet, though the ballot
box is the sacred chest and the ark of the
American covenant, you know as well as
! know it has its sworn antagonists, and
propose this morning, in Gods name
and as a Christian patriot. to set before
you the names OF som3 of the sworn ene-
mics of this sacred chest. the ark of the
American covenant the ballot-box.
First, | remark ignorance is q mighty
foe. Other things being equal, the more
int lligence q man has the better he is
qualified to exercise tn, right of suffrage.
You have been ten, fifteen, twenty thirty
years studying American institutions;
you have oanvassed all the great ques-
tons about tariff and home rule and all
the educational questions, and every
thing in American politics you are we'll
acquainted with. You consider Yourself
competent to cast a vote in November
and you are competent You will take
your position in the line of electcSs, you
will wait for your turn to come, the judge
of election will announce your name, you
will cast your vote and pass out. Well |
done.
But right behind you there will come a
man who can not spell the name of comp
troler or attorney or mayor. He can not |
write, or if he can write he uses n small |
al" for the personal pronoun. He could |
not tell on which side of the Allegheny
mountains Ohio is. Educated canary |
birds, educated horses, know more than
he. He will cast his VOTE and it will bal |
ance your vote His ignorance is as |
mighty as your intelligence. That is not |
right. All men OF fair mind will acknowl- |
edge that that is not right Until man |
can read the Declaration of dependence |
and the Constitution of tho United States, |
and calculate the interest on the Ameri- |
can debt and know the difference be- |
tween republican form OF government |
and monarchy, or n despotIsom he Is |
unfit to exercise the right of suff rage at |
any ballot box between Key West and |
Alaska.
In 1872 in England there we're $500. 900 |
who ought to have been in |
schools. There were 1883. 00O--in other |
words, about fifty per cent-and of the |
fifty per cent. not more than five per cent. |
got any thing worthy the name OF an |
education. Now take that foreign igno- |
rance and ad 1 it to our American igno- |
rance, and there will be in November |
thousands and thousands Of people who |
are no more qualified to exercise the |
right of suffrage than TO lecture on |
How are these things to be |
corrected? BY laws of compulsory educa-
ton well executed. | go in for law |
which, after giving fair warning for few |
years, shall make ignorance a crime. |
There Is no excuse for ignorance on these |
subjects in this land, where the common |
schools make knowledge as free as the |
fresh air OF Heaven. | would have |
board of examination seated beside the |
officers OF registration, and let them de-
eide whether the men who come up 10 |
vote have any capacity to be monarchS in !
a land where we are all monar chs. One |
of the most awful foes OF the American |
ballot-box to-day is popular ignorance.
Educate the people, give them an OPP
portunity to know and understand what |
they do IL they will not take the educa- |
ton, deny them the vote.
Another powerful enemy of this sacred !
chest the ark OF the American covenant, /
the ballot box, is spurious voting. In |
1880, in Brooklyn, there were a tho usand |
names recorded OF persons who had no
residence here, and IL there were thou
sand attempted fraudulent votes in the |
pest city on the continent what may We |
expect in cities not so fortunatep What |
a grand thing is tho law Of registration.