The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1888-11-15
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse Upon the Ballot-Box
and Election franchise.
The Responsibility Resting Upon the Cl.l-
zen-How tho Ballot should be Used
to Strengthen the Hand of
the Governments.

bitCtlOu AT tub bTOohlyu laOaTs
nacle, took for his subject Tho Ballot
Box aud the Election Franchise" Hi.
text was:
Two cubits and a half was tNe length Of IL,
and a cuoit and a half the breadth OF it. and a
oubit and a half the height OF it.-Exodus
xvii, I.
Look at it--the sacred chest OF the an
clients. II was about Ave feet long, three
feet wide and three feet high. 1t was
within and out OF pure 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. DivinelS charged, costly,
precious. mosenteu5 box No unholy
hands might lay hold of it 1t was called
the ark of the covenant But you will
understand it was box, the most prec.
ious boz Of the ages. Where is it nowS
Gone forever. Not q crypt of church or
museum OF the world has a fragment
of it.
But is not this Nation Gods chosen
people? Have we not passed through the
Red Sea! Have we not been led by pill
lar 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 law, in it is the fate of the Ma
ton. Carried in front of our host again
and again. Mighty ark of the covenant
the American ballot-boxi 1t is q very
old box.
In Athens, long before the art Of print.
ing, the people dropped pebbles into it to
give expression to their sentiment After
that beans wero dropped into it-a white
bean for the Affirmative, a black bean for
the negative, After this, when they
wished to vote a man out Of citizenship,
they wodld write his name upon a shell
and Drop that into the box.
O'Connell, and Grote, and Golden, and
Macaulay, and Gladstone fought great
battles in he 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-stoues OF our Government.
1t is older Than tho 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 tae fate of this
Nation. Give the people, once year or
once in four years, an opportunity to ex-
press their political sentiments, and you
practically avoid insurrection 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 or Vesuvius gardeners
and farmers we're at work while the VOL
cano was IN eruption, and he asked them
If they were safe. eyes" said the farm
ere and the gardeners. cit is 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 at rest" 1t is the sups
preston Of political sentiment, the sup
preston of public opinion, that makes
moral earthquake ard national earth
quake Let public opinion pour forth,
and that gives satisfaction, and that gives
peace, aud 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 az we'll as
l know 1t has its sworn antagonists, and
propose this morning, in Gods name
and as Christian patriot to set before
you the names Of some Of the sworn eneA
mics 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
intelligence man has the better he is
qualifeato exercise the right of suffr age.
You have been ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty
ye2J>5 studying American institutions.
you have canvassed all the great ques-
tons about tariff and homo rule and all
the educational questions, and every
thing in American politics you are we'll
acquainted with You consider yourself
competent to cast vote in November,
and you are competent. 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 Their will come a
man who can not spell the lame Of comp
troler or attorney or mayor. He can not
write, or If he can write he uses a small
Il" for the personal pronouu. 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 hide endence
and the Constitution of the United States,
and calculate the interest on the Ameri-
can debt and know the difference be-
tween republican form OF government
and monarchy, or a despotlsom. he is
unfit to exercise the right Of suff rage at
any ballot-box between Key West and
Alaska.
In 1872 in England there were 1900 900
children who ought to have been in
schools. There were 1888, 000-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 iguo-
rance and add 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
astronomy. How are these things to be
corrected? BY laws of compulsory educa-
ton we'll executed. I go in for law
which, after giving fair warming 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 a
board Of examination seated beside the
officers OF registration, and let them de-
eide whether the men who come up to
vote have any capacity to be monarchs in
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