Christian Slavery - Bad News About Christianity

the Old Testament, and permitted in the New, cannot be a sin” 22 .
Enslaved men, women and children
Only one Christian leader of any note was opposed to slavery, John Wesley. Here are a few of his
observations on slaves and their treatment.
As to the punishments inflicted on them, says Sir Hans Sloan, "They frequently
geld them, or chop off half a foot: After they are whipped till they are raw all over,
some put pepper and salt upon them: Some drop melted wax upon their skin.
Others cut off their ears, and constrain them to broil and eat them. "For Rebellion,"
(that is, asserting their native Liberty, which they have as much right to as the air
they breathe) "they fasten them down to the ground with crooked sticks on every
limb, and then applying fire by degrees, to the feet and hands, they burn them
gradually upward to the head."
(John Wesley: Tracts and Letters on Various Subjects, New York, 1827, vol X,
p496-7)
And again, an account of Christian sadism:
The author of the history of Jamaica,
wrote about the year 1740, in his
account of the sufferings of the
negroes, says, The people of that
island have indeed the severest ways
of punishing; no country exceeds them
in a barbarous treatment of their
slaves, or in the cruel methods by
which they are put to death. After
confirming what is before said he
adds, "They starve them to death, with
a loaf hanging over their mouths. I
have seen these unfortunate wretches
gnaw the flesh off their shoulders, and
expire in all the frightful agonies of one
under the most horrible tortures. He
adds, I incline to touch the hardship
which these poor creatures suffer in
the tenderest manner, from a particular
regard which I have to many of their
masters; but I cannot conceal their sad
circumstances entirely: the most trivial
error is punished with terrible
whipping. I have seen some of them treated in that cruel manner, for no other
reason but to satisfy the brutish pleasure of an overseer, who has their
punishment mostly at his discretion. I have seen their bodies all in a gore of blood,
the skin torn off their backs with the cruel whip, beaten pepper and salt rubbed in
the wounds, and a large slick of sealing-wax dropped leisurely upon them. It is no
wonder, (adds this author) if the horrid pain of such inhuman tortures incline them
to rebel."
(John Wesley, A. M., Thoughts Upon Slavery, London: Re-printed in Philadelphia,
with notes, and sold by Joseph Crookshank, 1778, p 25)