The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1888-11-15
a CHEST OF GOLD.
Dr. Talmage Speaks About the Won
derful Sacred Chest 0fthe Ancienfs.

BRooxLYN, N. \. Nov. 4.-ESpeciai.l-At
the Tabernacle this morning the Rev. r.
Dewitt Talmage, D. D., e%xpounded some pas
,sages Of Scripture about ancient politics. He
gave out the hymn:
"Arm of the Lord, awake, awake,
Put On thy strength, ~thenations shake"
The doctors text was: 1.-TWO cubits and q
hall was the length oft, and q cubit and 9
half the breadth oft, and a cubit and q hall
the height Of it, Exodus 37:1. He said:
Look at 1.-THE sacred chest ofthe a~ncients
1t was about Eve feet long, three feet wide,
and three feet high. It vas within and out
of pure gold. On the top i it stood two
angels facing each other with outspread
wings. In that sacred box was the law, and
there were in it q 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, momentous box. No unholy hands
might lay hold oft. 1t was called the ark
Of the co venant. But you will understand it
was q box, the most precious box of the
ages. Where is it now? Zone forever. Not
q crypt Of church or museum Of the world
has q fragment of it. 49,.
But is not this nation Gods cho sen
people? Have VIZ not passed through the
Red seat Have we not been led with q pillar
Of fire by night? Has this nation no ark of
the ~covenant2 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 tr ouble have parted
Mighty ark Of the coven ant, the American
ballot boxl It is a very old box.
Tell me what will be the fate of the Amer
icad ballot-box, the ark Of the American
covenant, and Twill tell you what will be the
fate of this nation. Give the people once a
week or once in four years an opportunity
to express their political senti ments, and
you practically avoid Instruction and revo-
luton. +
her 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
ut work while the volcano was in eruption,
and he asked them if they we're safe. "Yes,"
said the farmers and the gardeners, DIT ia
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 " 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, n 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 l knowit has it's swornantagonists,
and | propose this morning in Gods name
and as a 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 q mighty foe.
Other things being equal, the more intelli-
gence q mar has the better he is qualified to
exercise the right of suffrage. You have been
10, is, 20, 80 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
cast o vote in November, and you are com
petent. You will take your position in the
line of electors, you will wait for your turn to
come, the judge of election will
PASS pass OUT t" We'll lid done e." 'As' 'oui '0'e au'
But right behind you there will COM q
man who cannot spell the nam of comp
troller, or attorney or mayor. He cannot
write, or if he can write he uses q mail II"
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. All men of fair mind will
acknowledge that it is not right. Until q
man can read the Declaration OF Independ-
ence and the constitution ofthe United States,
and calculate the interest of the American
debt, and know the difference between q Re
publican form ofgovernment and a monarchy
or q 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 1000, 600
children who ought tx nave been in school.
There we're only 1888, 000. in other words
about so per cent?, and of the SO per cent
not more than 5 per cent got worthy
the name of an education. Now, take that
foreign ignorance and add it to our American
Ignorance, and there viii be in November
thousands and thousands of people who are
nc more qualified to exercise the right o
sfrage than to lecture on astronomy. How
are these things to be corrected? By laws
of compulsory education well executed. l go
infer. a law which. after giving fair warning
fora few years, shall makeignorance acrime.
There is no. excuse for ignorance on these sub
jects in this lapd, where the common schools
make knowledge as free as the fresh air of
heaven. / would have a board of exaninar
ton seated beside the officers OF registration,
and let them decide whether the men who
came up to vote have any capacity to be
monarchs in q land where We are all mon
archs. One of the most awful foes OF the
American ballot-box today is popular ignor-
anee. Educate the people, give them nm up
~portunity to know and understand what
they do. If they will not take the education,
deny them the vote.
Another powerful enemy of this sacred
chest kle ark Of the American covenant, the
ballot-box, is spurious voting. In 1880 in
Brooklyn, there were q thousand names re-
corded of persons who had no residence here,
and if there were q thousand attempted
fraudulent votes in the best city on the con-
tinent, what may we, expect in cities not SO
Fortunate? What a grand thing 10 the law
Of registration Without 1t elections in this
country would be q farce. There must be q
scrutiny on this subject. The law must have
keenest twists for the neck OF repeaters.
Something more than slight fine and short
Imprisonment. 1t is an attempt at the as
%sassination of the republic, when,a maj alb
tempts to put in q spurious vote. In olden
times when men hid unholy hands on the
ark Of the covenantth they dropped down dead.
Witness Uzzah. And when men attempt to
mt unholy hands on the american ballot
box. the ark Of American covenant, they de-
serve determination.
Another powerful foe of this sacred chest
is intimidation.
Corporations sometimes demand that their
emnloyes vote in this and that way. It is
s~kiilnily done. It. is not positively in SO
da,sfands he will be frozen out Of the estab-
i;shment unless he votes as the firm does. So
vnn can 90 into villages where there are es-
fahlishments with hundreds and thousands
ST employes, and having found out the poll