But this is no abstruse question as "cotton Divines" would persuade us. Slaveholding is a wicked business and must be treated as such. It is impossible to treat it as such while fellowship is extended to slaveholders. The christian is bound to refuse that fellowship. If any branch of the church officially or practically sanctions slavery and endorses the piety of slaveholders, then, in order to be consistent and safe, a christian must come out of that church, because in it, he will be a partaker of its sins and a sufferer of its plagues. CHAPTER XIV. Political Duties of Christians. THE EXTIRPATION OF SLAVERY FROM THE WORLD. Civil government is necessary to the preservation, prosperity and safety of society. In some important sense, "the powers that be, are ordained of God." It does not appear that the Creator has established any specific _form_ of government, but the genius of christianity is evidently democratic. The leading _objects_ of government are defined to be "the punishment of evil doers and the praise of them that do well." When a government fails to protect and encourage the good and to punish evil doers,--when it becomes a mighty engine of oppression, the object of its institution is frustrated. In the United States the voters are responsible for the character of the government. The people are the sovereign rulers. The ballot box controls legislation. If our country is badly governed it is the people's fault. The free white people of America are responsible for the existence of American slavery. They could at the ballot box break every yoke. They have the power to release more than three millions of slaves and thereby make heaven and earth rejoice! A weighty responsibility, therefore, rests upon voters in relation to slavery. If it continue, it will be because they shall will it, and express that will at the ballot box. He who votes for a representative that is pledged to sustain slavery, becomes responsible for that representative's acts on the slavery question. The responsibility cannot be shifted or dodged. Representatives consult the will of their constituents and act as they wish them to act. They are only the people's agents, the echo of the people's voice.