The right use of the ballot is much more than the lawful exercise of a function of citizenship. It is even greater than the duty one owes to the state and its interest. Greater than all these, it is a duty that one owes to God; its scope is universal salvation, which includes those duties specified above, and a great deal more than that which they are ordinarily understood to mean. To see in the privilege of voting only the mere act of registering in the ballot box another tally for the clerk to count, or a way in which to show a preference for certain men, is a limited and superficial view. It is a view akin to that which the ignorant might take when they see a mathematician write an answer at the foot of a problem in a column of addition. After observing the mathematician set down the answer to the problem, the one uninformed as to the mental process preceding it may think that the important thing was to place the figures at the foot of the column. In like manner, to such a one, the vote may seem to be the putting down of a cross somewhere on the ballot. Such a view leaves God out of the problem entirely, and loses sight of the power and law of Mind.
It is interesting to note how the idea of expressing one's convictions through the ballot has kept growth with the pace of civil liberty and the increasing freedom from ecclesiastical domination. Where church and state have been closely united, the idea of self-government has struggled in barren soil, and borne not much fruit. The doctrine of "divine right" in government is now no longer regarded as applying solely to king or ecclesiastic, but the term is understood to imply a universal heritage with which God has endowed all alike. In just the proportion that freedom existed in the affairs of any state, was the ballot in vogue and free from intimidation and coercion.
The Greek idea of citizenship carried with it a limited exercise of choice on certain matters through the ballot. The Athenian citizen on certain questions allowed himself liberty of conscience, and in a few important matters expressed himself by means of a secret ballot. It is interesting to note, however, that it was the religion of the state which ultimately throttled the rights of conscience. Socrates, in teaching his convictions of the immortality of the soul, gave offense to the pride of priesthood and that which called itself state religion, although he was condemned by the civil law.
