Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1888-12-01
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
The BROOKLYN DIYINE'S SUNDAY
SERMON.

Look at 1.-THE sacred chest Of the an
clients. 1t was about five feet long, three
feet wide and three feet high. 1t was
within and out Of pure goId. On the
top OF it stool two angels facing each
other with outspread wings. In that !
sacred box was the. law, and there
were in 1t a great many precious stones
With that box went the fate OF the nation.
Carried in front Of the host, the waters OF
the Jordan parted. UivInely charged, cost
", precious, momentous box. No unhOly
hands might lay hod of it. 1t was called the
ark OF the covenant. But you Will under
stand It was a box, the mest precious box OF
the ages. Where Is 1t now Zone forever.
Not a crypt of church OF museum OF the
world has q fragment of it.
But is not this nation Gods chosen people! !
Have we not passed through the Red Sea-
Have we not been le with a pillar OF fire by
night Has this nation no ark OF the cove
nantl Yes, the ballot iOx, the sacred chest
Of the nation, the ark OF the Amer can cove
nant.
In It is the law. in it is the divine and the
human will, in it is the fate Of the nation.
Carried in front Of our host again and agan
Tia waters OF national trouble have parted.
Mighty ark Of the covenant, the American
ballot box. 1t is a very Old box.
In Athens, long before the art o. printing,
the people dropped pebbles INTO it 20 give ex-
preston 70 their sentiments. After that
beans were dropped into ia white bean for
gTO 0thi nav ~ Il pftth htdt 80 b'' fAco"
tive. After that, when they wished to vote
q man out of citiZ nship they would write his
name upon n shell and drop that INTO the box.
OConnell and Grote and Golden aud Ma
caulay and Gladstone fought great battles in
tho Introduction of the ballot boxes IN Eng
land, and to-day it is one Of the Businesses OF
that nation. 1t is one Of the corner stones Of
our government. 1t is older than the consti-
tuition. In 1t is our national safety. Tell me
what will be the fate Of the American ballot
knv the ark IF fte \ M, ricon covenant and
] will tell you what Will be the fate OF this
nation. Give the Ieop 9 once Il year. or once
In four years, an opportunity to express their
political entiments and you practically
avoid instruction and revolution.
Either give them tie ballot or they will
take the sword. Without the ballot box there
can be no fres republican institutions. Mil
ton visiting in Italy noticed that on the sides
OF Vesuvius gardeners and farmers were at
work while the volcano was III eruption, and
he asked them if they were safe. "Y, s. said
the farmers and the gardeners, 1T is safe;
all the danger IS before tn. eruption: then
comes earthquake and terror, but Just as
soon rs the volcano begins to pour forth lava
We all feel at rest it is the suppression OF
political sentiment, the suppression Of
public opinion, that makes moral earth
quake and national earthquake. Let pub
lie opinion pour forth, and that gives
satisfaction, and that gives peace, and
that gives permanency to good govern
ment. And yet, though the ballot box is the
sacred chest. and tie ark of the American
covenant, you know as well rs know it has
Its sworn antagonists, and | propose this
morning, in Gods name ami as a Christian
patriot, to set before you the nan es of some
OF the sworn enemies OF tins sacred chest, the
ark OF the American covenant, the ballot
box.
First, l remark, ignorance is u mighty foe.
Other things being equal, the more ~intelli-
Gence a man has the better he is qualified to
AYRTclHp the rlDHt nf SntfrDUp on hovo
been ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty years study
ing American Institutions, you have can
vassed all the great quest ions about tariff and
home rule and all the educational questions,
and everything in American politics YOU are
we'll acquainted with. You consider your
0olf competent to cast q vote next Tuesday.
and you are confident. You will take your
position in the line of electors, you will wait
for your turn to come, the Judge Of election
will announce your ,namr, You viii cast your
vote and pass out. Well done.
But right behind you there will come a
man who cannot spell the name of comp
troller, or attorney OF mayor. He cannot
write. or If he can write he uses a small ''r'
Tor the personal pronoun. He could not tell
On which side of the Allegheny mountains
Ohio ia Educated canary birds, educated
horses know more than he. He v i'll cast his
vote and it will balance your vote. His ig-
nOrance is as mighty as your intelligence.
That Il not right All men of fair mind will
acknowledge that that is not right Until a
man can read the Declaration of Independ-
enco and the constitution of the United
States, and calculate the interest on the
American debt, and know the difference be
tween a Republican form Of government and
monarchy or a despotism, he is unfit to ex
ercise the right of suffrage at any ballot DO
between Key West and Alaska.
In 1872 in England there were $500, OO(
children who ought to have been in school
There were only 1,%3, 600. in other words
about 80 per cent, and Of the 50 per cent. no.
moro than D per cent. got anything worthy
the name of an education. Now. take tina
foreign ignorance and add it to our American
ignorance, and there Will be in November
Thousands and thousands of people who ar,
NO more qualified to exercise the right of suf
frAGo than to lecture on astronomy. How
a5e these things to be corrected! BY laws o
compulsory education. well executed. ! e,
In for . law which, after giving fair warning
Tor a few years, shall make ignorance
crime. There is no excuse for Ignorance oil
these subjects in this land where the common
schools make knowledge as free rs the fresl
air OF heaven. would have aboard OF ex
{amination seated beside the o!fic, rs of regis
i~tration, and let them decide whether the mel
who come up 10 vote have any capacity t
be mOnarchs in a land where we ARE all mon
archs. Cine of the most awful foes Of tn
American ballot box to-day S popular ignor
ance. Educate the people. give them an op
portunity to know and understand wha
they do. If they will not take the educa
tion. deny them the vote.
Another powerful enemy of this sacreC
chest, the ark of the American covenant, tn,
ballot box, is spur GUS voting. In 1870, ii
Brooklyn, there were a thousand names re
corded of persons who hal no resi- icnce here
and il there were a thousand attempts
fraudulent votes III the best city IN the con
0nent, what may we expect III cities not s.
fortunate! What a grand thing is the law o
registration, Without it elections in thi
country would be a farce. There must he
scrutiny on this subject. Tn lax mus hav,
keenest twist for the neck Of repeaters. Some
thing more than sight fine ana short i'm
prlsonment. 1t Is m attempt at the asSassln
alton OF the Republic when a man attempt
70 put in a spurious vote. In ,ld-n time
when men laid unholy hands on the ark o
the covenant they dropped down dead. Wit
pc6s ULzah. And when men attempt to pu
unholy hands on the American ballot box
the ark Of the American covenant, they de
ocrve determination.
Another powerful fee Of this sacrei ches
b intimidation.
Corporations sometimes demand that thei
employees vote IN this an that way. 1t Il
sRllfuily done. 1t Is not positively in $
many words demanded. hut the nploye un
0crstands he will be frozen out of the estab
lishment unless he votes as the firm do. 81