The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1888-11-15
THE BALLOT BOX.
SERMON ny REV. DIR. rALMA GE.
Subject, The Ark of the Amcric can
Covenant


Look at 1.-THE sacred chest Of tho an.
clients. IL was about five feet long, three
feet wide and three feet high. 1t was
within and out of pure gold On the
top OF IL stood 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. Divinely charged cost.
ly, precious, momentous box. No unholy
HANDS might lay hold Of IL. IL was called the
stand 1t was box, the most precious box Of
the ages. Where is il nowl Gone forever.
Not n crypt of church or museum of the
world has fragment of IL.
But is not this nation Gods chosen peoplel
Have We not passed through the Red Seat
Have we not been led with pillar of fire 10y
night Has this nation no ark of the cove.
uanti Yes, the ballot box, the sacred chest
OF the nation, the ark Of the American cove
nant.
In it is the law, in IL is the divine and the
human will, in II is the fato of the nation.
| Carried in front of our host again and again
the waters of national trouble have parted.
Mighty ark OF the covenant, the American
! ballot boxl IL is a very old box.
in Athens long before the art OF printing,
the people dropped pebbles into IL To give ex-
| preston to their sentiments. After that
teams We're dropped into ia white bean for
the affirmative, IA black lean for tho mega
| tive After that, when they wished to voto
n man out of citiz nship they would write his
name upon IA shell and drop that into the box.
OConnell and Grote and Golden aud Ma.
cnulny and Gladstone fought great battles in
the introduction Of the ballot boxes in Eng
| land, aud to-day IL is one of the Businesses of
| that nation. IL is one of the corner stones of
| our government IL is older than the consti.
| tuition. In II is our national safety. Tell mo
! 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 oil this
nation. Give the peope once IA year. or once
! In four years an opportunity to express their
| political sentiments, and you practically
avoid insurrection and revolution.
Either give them the ballot or they will
take the sword. Without the ballot box thero
| can be no FREQ republican institutions Mil
ton visiting in Italy noticed that on the sides
| OF Ncsuvius gardeners and farmers were at
| work while the volcano was in eruption, and
he asked them IL they were safe. "Y, s. - said
che farmers and the gardeners, 'it is safe;
all the danger is before tho eruption: then
| comes earthquake and terror but iu,t a.
soon as the volcano begins 10 pour forth lava
we all feel at rest" 1t 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 permancnCy to good govern.
ment. And yet, though tho ballot Lox is the
sacred chest aud the ark of the American
| covenant, you know as well as | know il has
its sworn antagonists, and | propose this
morning, in Gods name ana as II Christian
| patriot, 10 set before you tho names of some
of the sworn enemies of this sacred chest, tie
ark OF the American covenant the ballot
box.
First, remark, ignorance Is mighty foo.
Other things being equal, the more intelli.
gence n man has the better he is qualified Co
exercise the right of suffrage You have
been ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty years stuiy-
ing American institutions, you have can
Vasscd all the great questions about tariff and
home rule and oil the educational questions
and everything in Americen politics YOU are
well acquainted with. You consider your.
self competent to cast n vote next Tuesday
and you are confident. You will take voilr
position in the line Of electors 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 yoI there will come a
man who cannot spell the name of comp
trollcr, or attorney or mayor He canno,
write or il lac can write hn uses a small ~
for the personal pronoun He could not tel
on which side ot the Allegheny mountain,
Ohio is. Educated canary birds, clucltel
horses know more than he. lie will cast hl,
vote and IL Will balance your vote. His tx
norancc is rs mighty "a your intelligence
That is not right. All men of fair mini vii
acknowledge that that is not right. Until 4
man can read the Declaration of lnlcprnd
ence and the ConstltutiOn of the Unite,
States, and calculate the interest on th,
American debt, and know the difference bo
tween n Republican form of government anC
n monarchy or "a dcSpotSm, he Is unfit to tx
ercse the right of suffrage at any ballot 10,
between Key " est and Alaska
In lSl! in Enlland there were COO, ,O1
children who ought to have been in school
There were only l,333, ,0OO in other wor Is
about 80 per cent, and OF the 30 per cent n ,
more than PER cent. got anything worthy
the name of an e!ucaton. Now, take tha
foreign ignorance aud aid il to our American
ignorance, and there will be in Novembe
thousands and thousands of people who mr.
no more qualified TO exercise the right of SUI
fraSe than to lecture on astronomy. How
are these things to he corrected BY laws o
compulsory education. well executed. ! &,
in for law which.af,er giving fair warnini
for n few years, shall make ignorance
crime. There is no excuse for Ignorance q
these subjects in this land. " here the commo
schools make knowledge as free as the fires
air of heaven. ! would have u board OF eS
animation seated beside the officers of regis
tration. and let them decide whether the me
who come up TO vote have any capacity I
be monarchs in a land where we are all mon
archs. One of the most awful foes of tn
American ballot box to-day IS popular ignor
nnre Educate the people, give them an OF
| poTluHlty 10 KNOW anu understand WIN
they do. III they will not take the educi
tion deny them the vote.
Another powerful enemy Of this sacre
chest, the ark of the American covenant, tn
ballot box, is spurious voting In $50, II
Broollyn, there were a thousand names rc
corded of persons who had no residence here
anu II there were n thousand attempte'
fraudulent votes in the best city on the con
tlnent what may We expect in cities not 8
fortunatei What grand thing Is the law o
registration! Without it elections in thi
country would be a farce. There must be
scrutiny on this subject. The law must hav
keenest twist for the neck Of repeaters. Some
thing more than slight fine and short i'm
prsonment. II is an attempt at the ASSASSIN
alton of the Republic when man attempt
To- put in spurious vote. In olden time
when mon laid unholy hands on the ark o
the covenant they dropped down dead. Wit
ness Uzzah. And when men attempt to pu
nnholy hands on the American ballot box
the ark OF tho American covenant, they dc
serve determination.
Another powerful fee of this sacred ches
Is intimidation.
Corporations sometimes demand that thei
employees vote in this and that way. It l
skilfully done. II is not positively in s.
many words demanded, but the employe un