Is Slavery a Good Willed by God?

In the 1600s and early 1700s, there was a movement using scripture to say that it is to their benefit that Africans are put into slave ships. That's where the really the evil, how it makes the world a worse place comes in: Now we are giving slavery a divine mandate. We are putting God's stamp of approval on it so that you are actually on God's side by having slaves. Even guys like George Whitfield, one of the great theologians and preachers of American history, own slaves. And even as he was saying, we should treat them kindly, he did note that, in fact, I have a quote from me, cruelty can have the positive effect