New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-11-14
ACHEST OF GOLD.
DR.. Ta1mage Speaks About the Won
derful Sacred Chest of the Ancients.

BROOKLYN, N. Y. Nov. 4.-[Special] AT
che Tabernacle this morning the Rev. T.
sages of Scripture about ancient politics. He
gave out the hymn:
"Arm of the Lord, awake awake,
Put on thy siren 9Th, thenations shake"
The doctors text was: 1.-TWO cubits and a
half was the length oft, and cubit and a
half the breadth of it, and a cubit and half
the height of it, Elk odus 37:1 He said:
Look at 1.-THE sacred chest the ancients
1t was about five feet long, three feet wide,
and three feet high. TWAS within and out
ofpure gold. On the top of it stood two
angels facing each other with outspread
wings. In that sacred box was the law, and
there We're in it 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, costly
precious, m omentous box. No unholy hands
M light lay hold off it. 1t was called the ark
of the co venant. But youswill understand it
was a box, the most precious 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
Red sea? Have we not been led with a pillar
of fire by night? Has this 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 the law, in it is the divine and the
human will, in it is the fate of the nation.
Carried in front of her host again and again
the waters of national TT ouble have parted.
Mighty ark Of the coYen ant, the American
ballot box! 1t is very old box.
Tell me what will be the fate of the Amer
lean 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
week or once in four years an opportunity
60 express their political sentim ents, 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 institutions.
Milton visiting in Italy noticed that on the
sides of Vesuyius gardeners and farmers were
at work while the volcano was in eruption,
and he asked them if they were safe. Eyes,"
said the farmers and the gardeners, sit lis
safe; all the danger is before the eruption;
then comes earthquake and terror, but just
as soon as the volcano begins to pour forth
lava we all feel arrest" 1t is the suppression
OF political sentiment, the suppression of
public opinion, that makes moral EARTH
quake and national earthquake Let public
opinion pour forth. and that gives satisfac-
ton, and that gives peace, and that gives
permanency to good government. And yet,
though the ballot, box is the sacred chest and
the ark OF the American covenant, you know
as well as knowit has its swornantagonists,
and propose this morning in Gods name
and as Christian patriot to set before you
the names of some of the sworn enemies of
this sacred chest, the ark Of the American
covenant, the ballot-box.
First, [ remark, ignorance is a mighty foe.
Other things being equal, the more intelli-
gence.a man has the better he is qualified to
exercise the right of suffrage. You have been
10, l5, 70, 30 years studying American insti-
buttons, you have canvassed all the great
questions about tariff and home rule and all
the educational questions, and everything in
American politics you are well acquainted
with. You consider yourself competent to
petent. 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 name, you will 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 or mayor. He cannot
write, or if he can write he uses small 81"
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 balance your vote. His ig-
norance is as mighty as your intelligence.
That is not right. Allmen of fair mind, will
acknowledge that it is not right Until a
man can read the Declaration of Independ-
ence and the constitution of the United States,
and calculate the interest of the American
debt, and knowithe difference between Re-
publican form ofgovernment and monarchy
or a despotism, he is unfit to exercise the
right Of suffrage at any ballot-box between
Key West and Alaska.
In 1872, in England, there were 1900, 900
children who ought to have been in school.
There were only 1 1888 900, in other words
about SO per cent, and of the SO per cent
not more than 5 per cent got any thing worthy
the name OF an education. Now, take that
foreign ignorance and add it to our American
ignorance, and there will be in November
thousands and thousands of people who are
no more qualified to exercise the right of
sffrage than to lecture on astronomy How
are these things to be corrected? By laws
ofcompulsory education well executed / go
in for a law which. after giving fair warning
for a few years, shall makeignorance acrime.
There is no excuse for ignorance on these sub
jects in this land where the common schools
make knowledge as free as the fresh air of
heaven. would have board of examina-
ton seated beside the officers OF registration,
and let them decide whether the men who
came up to vote have any capacity to be
in a land where we are all mon
archs. One of the most awful foes of the
American ballot-box today is popular ignor-
ance. Educate the people, give them an OPP
portunity to know and understand what
they do. If they willnot take the educat 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 thousand names re-
corded of persons who had no residence here,
and if there were a Thousand attempted
votes in the best city on the con-
tinent, what may we expect in cities not so
fortunate? What grand thing is the law
of registration? Without 1t elections in thin
country would be farce There must be a
scrutiny on this subject. The law must have
keenest twists for the neck of repeaters.
Something more than slight fine and short
1t is an attempt at the as