http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2015/11/16/language/sex-marriages-japans-done-kind

Same-sex marriages? Japan’s been there, done that, kind of

by Kaori Shoji

Special To The Japan Times
Nov 16, 2015


Japan may come off as a repressive, depressing society where people live sorry, unhappy lives well into their 90s. OK, we might seem that way to the outsider, but in actual fact Japan has consistently been liberal and permissive in certain areas.

Take homosexuality. Shibuya-ku (渋谷区, Shibuya Ward) and Setagaya-ku (世田谷区, Setagaya Ward) have made it possible for same-sex partners to enjoy the same kazoku (家族, family) benefits as conventional married couples within their wards, but according to my gay friend Kohei: “We’ve always enjoyed plenty of freedom and sympathy. It’s single mothers, working women and abused children that need protection.”

Kohei has a point. He and his boyfriend have lived in the equivalent of matrimonial bliss for the past decade, with the full support of their large circle of friends. They have more or less cut off ties with their aging parents, who expressed ikari (怒り, anger) and fukai shitsubō (深い失望, deep disappointment) at their union, but Kohei says this has exonerated them both from the hassles of kaigo (介護, helping and caring) for parents later on.

“Gei da to wazurawashii koto kara kaihō sareru” (ゲイだと煩わしいことから 解放される, “If you’re gay, you become liberated from burdensome stuff”), says Kohei. “Nihon de ikiteiku tame ni wa gei ni naru no ga ichiban” (日本で生きていく ためにはゲイになるのが一番, “To keep on living in Japan, it’s best to be gay”).

Kohei says that pretty soon, Japanese society will be divvied up into aging straight people and aging gay people, and that his camp will be happier, wealthier, less stressed and more likely to make positive contributions to society.

“Nihon no shakai wa zutto dōseiaisha o hogo shitekita” (日本の社会はずっと同性愛者を保護してきた, “Japanese society has always protected gay people”), says Kohei. “Ima-sara kekkon o mitomerumade mo nai” (今さら結婚を認めるまでもない, “It’s a bit late in the day to acknowledge marriage”).

History proves him right. Homosexuality is part and parcel of bushidō (武士道, the way of the samurai), and ever since the samurai class established their own bakufu (幕府, shogunate) in 1192, those in authority have separated the women from the men, deeming that female members of a household will weaken and corrupt a man’s resolve. Certainly, offspring were necessary for the bushi (武士, samurai) and his clan to carry on, but otherwise, onnakodomo (女子供, women and children) were often a useless commodity when procreation wasn’t on the agenda.

Japan’s most respected warlord, Oda Nobunaga (織田信長), was apparently a handsome bisexual who preferred the company of men. In his series “Kunitori Monogatari” (国取り物語, “The Story of Taking the Country”), historian and novelist Shiba Ryotaro recounts how Nobunaga named his female children after household items like yakan (やかん, kettle). He called his favorite daughter Gotoku (五徳, kettle stand) because he deemed her the most useful.

Nobunaga was a great one for packing his children off to neighboring lords as hostages, according to Shiba, who based his novels on historical accounts. When relations between him and the lords went sour, the children were murdered and their heads impaled on the end of sticks — not that Nobunaga cared much, since it gave him the excuse to retaliate.

This warlord kept over a dozen concubines and habitually raped female servants, but personally, he preferred comely young boys. These he trained from childhood to wait on him hand and foot, and allowed them to share his sleeping chambers.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, whose castle remains Tokyo’s most famed tourist attraction, unified Japan in 1603 when he was in his 60s. Ieyasu is widely acknowledged to have built the foundations of the sarariiman shakai (サラリーマン社会, salaryman society) that defines modern Japanese life. Under Ieyasu, the bushi were separated from wives and children in the guise of shigoto (仕事, work, i.e., serving one’s master) and only saw them about once a month.

The higher a bushi‘s rank, the less time he spent at home, and the regional daimyo (大名, clan lords) were forced to leave their families in the capital city of Edo (江戸 , modern-day Tokyo) as a kind of collateral while they stayed out in their territorial castles. They were allowed to come to Edo every two years or so, for the sankin kōtai (参勤交代), which was an elaborate and expensive parade that took weeks. It’s no wonder, then, that the bushi — whatever his rank — kept boy lovers for emotional solace and sexual happiness. Any relations with women, whether they were formal wives or sokushitsu (側室, concubines), precluded the gimu (義務, obligation) of kozukuri (子作り, childbearing) and paying homage to the Tokugawa Bakufu.

With such a history prodding at their backs, it’s no wonder Japanese men and women find it difficult to live together in love and harmony. “Kekkon ga shiawase nano wa saisho no ichinen dake” (結婚が幸せなのは最初の一年だけ, “Marriage is happy just for the first year”), says my friend Kiyomi, who is a batsuichi (バツ イチ, once-divorced) and now loves attending gōkon (合コン, matchmaking parties) without actively seeking a partner. Kiyomi says the hassles of a katei (家庭, home life) in Japan far outweigh the benefits of having a husband and kids, and she much prefers to just play the field.

Kiyomi is also considering taking a female partner once she hits 50. Since “Otoko wa ate ni naranai” (男はあてに ならない, “Men are so unreliable”), she feels that same-sex cohabitation might be the way to go. Japanese society may have more options that you think.

From Townsend Harris: First American Envoy in Japan by William Griffis (1895)

The first settlement of New England was a missionary enterprise. The "Pilgrims” had escaped from persecution by retiring to Holland. They left Holland and came to this continent, for the sake of preserving their rights as Englishmen by settling under English jurisdiction; of preserving their descendants from the contagion of false doctrines and corrupt examples; and above all, of extending the Redeemer's Kingdom in lands where Christ had not been named. Such is their own account of their own motives. The royal charter of the Plymouth Company mentions the depopulation of the country by pestilence and war, and its freedom from the claims of any Christian power; and then goes on to say:


And in this, the charter professes to favor the “worthy disposition" of the petitioners to whom it was granted. It was natural, therefore, for John Robinson, the pastor of that part of the church which remained at Leyden, to exclaim, in his letter to the governor of the colony, "O that you had converted some, before you killed any." But efforts for the conversion of the natives were not delayed. As early as December, 1621, Elder Robert Cushman informed his friends in England that many of the Indians, especially of their youth, were found to be of a very tractable disposition, both to religion and humanity; that if the colonists had means, they would bring up hundreds of their children, both to labor and learning; and that young men in England, who desired "to further the gospel among those poor heathen," would do well to come over an spend their estates, their time and their labors in that good work. It was indeed impossible, during a few of the first years of their contest with hardships and privations, to make such public and systematic efforts for the conversion of the Indians as were desirable; but individuals, both ministers and laymen, appear to have seized such opportunities as they could command, to make known and recommend the gospel to their heathen neighbors; and in this way, much was done towards diffusing a knowledge of Christianity, and producing an impression in its favor. A few of the natives even gave satisfactory evidence, living and dying, of real conversion to God. In 1636, the government of the Plymouth colony enacted laws to provide for the preaching of the gospel among the Indians, and with the concurrence of the principal chiefs, for constituting courts to punish misdemeanors; measures which would not have been adopted, had not the influence of Christianity been already very considerable.

The Massachusetts colony was established with similar designs. Its charter declares that "to win and incite the natives of that country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Saviour of mankind and the Christian faith, in our royal intention and the adventurers' free profession is the principal end of the plantation." The seal of the colony had as its device, the figure of an Indian, with a label at his mouth, on which was inscribed the "Macedonian cry," "Come over and help us." And here also, as at Plymouth from the beginning of the settlement, occasional labors diffused some knowledge of Christianity, and were followed by some instances of conversion.

When the colonies had been successfully commenced, multitudes joined them for the sake of enjoying religious liberty: so that this was the leading object with a large majority, probably, of those who came over during the first twenty or thirty years, and is so spoken of in some of the public documents of that period; though the missionary designs of the colonies were never disavowed, and seldom forgotten. The appeals to sympathy made by various sects, professing to be deprived of some part of the religious liberty for which our fathers braved the ocean and the wilderness; the important influence which the settlement of New England has exerted on the cause of religious and of civil liberty throughout the world; the intense concentration of feeling concerning liberty produced by the struggle for independence; the fact that worldly-minded statesmen and orators love to write and speak of the spirit of liberty more than of the spirit of Christ; all these and many other causes have led later writers to represent the desire of religious liberty as the principal motive which led to the first settlement of New England, and to forget that which, at the first, was really predominant in the minds of the Pilgrims. But justice to the memory of those Pilgrims, and to the cause of missions, requires that the truth should be restored to its place.

.....

American missions to the heathen, hitherto, had all been among the Indians of this continent. The promotion of true Christian piety had always been made the leading object; and as subservient to this, efforts to introduce learning, agriculture and the useful arts had in almost all instances accompanied the preaching of the gospel. The result has shown that the American Indians, compared with other heathen, have been remarkable for both readiness and ability to perceive and admit the value both of Christianity and of civilization. Among no other heathen in modern times has the gospel had such early and decided success. No other savages have so readily thrown off their barbarism and become civilized men. The great obstacle to their preservation as civilized communities is also manifest. It is—it always has been—their frequent avulsion from their native soil. The Stockbridge tribe, for instance, has been torn up by the roots and transplanted about once in twenty years, on an average, since Sergeant begun his labors among them in 1734. And yet they are a civilized and Christian community. They cling to civilization and Christianity, as scarce any other people would do under an equal pressure of adverse circumstances. The doctrine that Indians cannot be civilized, is the mistake of men who are ignorant of their history, or the slander of men who covet their lands. It is plain, too, that the gospel, introduced by missions and introducing civilization, must save them from extinction, or they will not be saved. Of all the tribes which once inhabited the older parts of the United States, scarce a fragment can now be found, but such as Christian missions have preserved.

It is certain, too, that the present age takes too much honor to itself. Missions to the heathen are not its invention; nor are the men of this age the first, even in modern times, who have felt the spirit of missions, or deliberately contemplated the conversion of the whole world to God, as a work in which they were to bear a part. From 1646 to 1675, New England did more in proportion to her ability for the conversion of the heathen, than she has done from 1810 to 1839. The spirit of missions was as general then as now; contributors were as liberal in proportion to their means, and missionaries exposed themselves as readily to equal hardships and dangers. Nor has this spirit been lost since that day and revived by us. From that day to the present, there has been an uninterrupted succession of sacrifices and sufferings and dangers, encountered for the salvation of the heathen; an uninterrupted course of expenditure of wealth and life for the conversion of the world to God. The shaking of the nations has at times deranged the machinery for a season, but has never stopped its motion.

Book of Matthew in Chinese, Morrison and Milne 1823

http://www.christianheadlines.com/news/missionaries-hope-to-revolutionize-chinese-church-with-old-translation-of-bible.html

Missionaries Hope to Revolutionize Chinese Church with Old Translation of Bible

June Cheng | WORLD News Service | Monday, June 08, 2015

In 1874, a group of Chinese and Western language scholars commissioned by the American Bible Society completed the first translation of the Bible into colloquial Chinese, allowing everyday Chinese people to read and understand the Word of God. Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky, a Jewish convert and Episcopal bishop of Shanghai, worked for 11 years to transform the elegance of the Old Testament Hebrew into Chinese; and for the next 40 years, the text became the standard Bible for the Chinese.
 
Yet today, most Chinese Christians have never read this Jingwei Version Bible or even know of its existence, as few copies survived the missionary martyrdoms and Bible burnings in the early 20th century and the Cultural Revolution in the ’70s. In its place, the 1919 Chinese Union Version gained popularity and is now the only Bible version the Chinese government allows, rolling hot off the presses of the government-controlled Amity Press in Nanjing, China.
 
The Union Bible, used by the tens of millions of Christians in China, is a literal translation of the English Revised text, and also relies heavily on the earlier Jingwei Bible with about 80 percent of the text remaining the same.
 
While some take issue that the Union Bible is not translated from the original Greek and Hebrew, a bigger problem is that the government has control over revisions and corrections in new editions of the Bible.
 
For the past few years, Jared Brown (name changed for security purposes) and a fellow American missionary have scoured libraries, museums, even antique bookstores around Asia and the United States for portions of copies of the Jingwei Bible. With help from experts on Schereschewsky, they found microfilms of the text, footnotes by the translators, and later revisions, which Brown pieced together to recreate the original text of the Jingwei Bible. In January, he printed 5,500 copies, keeping the original language but changing the characters from traditional to simplified form for use inside China.
 
Brown’s interest in the Jingwei stems from his views of textual criticism—the Jingwei is based on the Majority Text, meaning it takes into consideration all available biblical manuscripts, while the Union Bible places more weight on certain biblical manuscripts that are believed to be more reliable. Bible scholars have long disagreed on which method is more accurate, yet Brown believes the Jingwei Bible should interest those on either side of the debate for its historicity as the first Mandarin Bible translation, its scholarship in translation, and its independence from government interference.
 
“The main thing that the Union Bible was trying to push was ‘Let’s try to be more literal, let’s see if we can get more of the English mindset,’” Brown said. “There’s no doubt, the one that we got right here is much more Chinese.”
 
The Jingwei has a more Chinese rhythm in its verses, and without the pressure of conforming to English phrases, it uses Chinese four-character idioms called chengyu to express the original sentiment. While the Jingwei uses older words (think the “thees” and “thous” of KJV), local pastors find the translation more beautiful and clear. For instance Joshua 1:9 says “be strong and courageous,” which the Union tries to translate directly from the English to a phrase that means something closer to “strengthen willpower.” The Jingwei uses a chengyu that has the exact same meaning as the original.
 
The Communist government also makes changes to the Union translation at its discretion. For instance, certain biblical terms used by Hong Xiuquan, the leader of the 1850 Taiping Rebellion who claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus, were taken out from the Union Bible. The government feared Christians reading terms like “chosen people” would follow in Hong’s footsteps in starting an uprising that killed about 25 million people. Brown has also found editions of the Union Bible that take out references to baptisms: “The fact that the government is in charge of all revision and all corrections and all printing—that’s a huge problem because it was never given to the government. The Lord makes it really clear as far as who is responsible.”
 
One of the biggest issues Chinese Christians may have in accepting the Jingwei is that it uses the term Tianzhu for God, a name typically used by Catholics. Protestants have long argued about the best name for God, some using Shangdi while others use Shen. Shangdi is the name of a supreme god in China’s traditional religion, and some missionaries used it to imply that China had an idea of a monotheistic god but forgot who he was. Others dislike the term because it made God just one of many of China’s gods. On the other hand Shen was a broader term for god (with a little g). The translators of the Jingwei opted for Tianzhu, which means “heaven and earth’s keeper.” While Christians who hear the term may think of Catholicism, Brown pointed out that in every other culture Catholics and Protestants used the same name for God without any problems.
 
Beijing pastor Jeremy Jin first heard of the Jingwei two years ago through Brown, and in reading the Bible found that although it took time to adjust—he had spent years preaching and memorizing verses from the Union Bible—the literary style flowed better and the meaning was clearer. In March, Jin started using the Jingwei at his 20-person house church, one of 10 pastors now using it in their churches.
 
The printing of any version of the Bible outside of government control is illegal in China, so Brown is spreading the word through other missionaries and local church pastors. By summertime, he hopes to create a Jingwei Bible app, which would make it impossible for the government to stop the spread of the Bible.
 
The importance of the Jingwei Bible for Chinese Christians is less about the translation itself than about having a Bible they can trust, Brown said. “They don’t have an understanding that the Bible is reliable. And I think—whatever Bible it is—if you have the understanding the Bible is reliable, it would revolutionize the church in China.”

Book of Luke in Chinese, Morrison 1823

C.H. Spurgeon said, "There is always such a savor of the Lord Jesus Christ in Dr. Hawker that you cannot read him without profit."

Dr. Joel Beeke has said, "This volume by Dr. Robert Hawker (1753-1827) is a great devotional classic which received its unique name because it was originally published in small 'penny' portions so as to be affordable to the poor. Running through numerous editions in the nineteenth century, these devotionals have served as spiritual food and drink for thousands. Hawker excells in Christ-centered, practical divinity. He has been taught by the Spirit how to find Christ in the Scriptures, as well as how to present Him amiably to hungry sinners in search of daily communion with a personal Redeemer. For the genuine Christian, here is daily devotional writing at its best - warmly Christ-centered, eminently practical, personally searching."

"Great warmth of affection, a lively energy of expression, a graceful flow of language, and an a fluent store of scriptural sentiments. There is a lovely simplicity in his sublimest thoughts, and in his humblest themes a becoming dignity." - John Williams (biographer of Hawker)

I heard a good remark from an intelligent friend of mine the other day. A person was finding fault with "Dr. Hawker's Morning and Evening Portions" because they were not calculated to convert sinners. He said to the gentleman, "Did you ever read; 'Grote's History of Greece?'" "Yes." "Well, that is a shocking book, is it not? for it is not calculated to convert sinners." "Yes, but," said the other, "'Grote's History of Greece' was never meant to convert sinners." "No," said my friend, "and if you had read the preface to 'Dr. Hawker's Morning and Evening Portion,' you would see that it was never meant to convert sinners, but to feed God's people, and if it answers its end the man has been wise, though he has not aimed at some other end." -- from a sermon entitled Preach the Gospel by C. H. Spurgeon, 1855

"Blessed are the peacemakers on earth."
----------
"Now, God be praised, that to the believing souls,
Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair!"
----------
"God defend the right!"
----------
"So part we sadly in this troublous world,
To meet with joy in sweet Jerusalem."
----------
"O, I have passed a miserable night,
So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams,
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
I would not spend another such a night,
Though 'twere to but a world of happy days."
----------
"Before I be convict by course of law,
To threaten me with death is most unlawful.
I charge you, as you hope for any goodness,
By Christ's dear blood shed for our grievous sins
That you depart and lay no hands on me."
----------
"Many a time hath banished Norfolk fought
For Jesus Christ in glorious Christian field,
Streaming the ensign of the Christian Cross,
And there at Venice, gave His body to that pleasant country's earth,
And his pure soul unto his captain Christ,
Under whose colors he had fought so long."
----------
"So Judas did to Christ: but He, in twelve,
Found truth in all but one; I, in twelve thousand, none.
God save the king! Will no man say, amen?"
----------
"Some of you with Pilate wash your hands,
Showing an outward pity."
----------
"God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man."
----------
"Mark you this, Bassanio:
The devil can cite Scripture for his own purpose.
An evil soul, producing holy witness,
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart."
----------
"The quality of mercy is not strained,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed;
It blessed him that gives and him that takes:

Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings,

But mercy is above this sceptered sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself,
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.

Therefore... Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy."
----------
"Therefore friends,
As far as to the sepulchre of Christ,
Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross
We are impressed and engaged to fight....
To chase these pagans in those holy fields.
Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet,
Which fourteen hundred years ago were nail'd
For our advantage on the bitter cross."
----------
"We are in God's hand."
----------
"O God of battles! steel my soldiers' hearts;
Possess them not with fear; take from them now
The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers
Pluck their hearts from them."
----------
"Some say - that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated
The bird of dawning singeth all night long."
----------
"I have heard of your paintings too, well enough;
God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another."
----------
"Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come."
----------
"A politician...one that would circumvent God."
----------
"Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"
----------
"You are one of those that will not serve God if the devil bid you."
----------
"Well, God's above all;
and there be souls must be saved,
and there be souls must not be saved."
----------
"O God! that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains;
that we should, with joy, pleasance, revel, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts."
----------
"Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies."
----------
"God's goodness hath been great to thee;
Let never day nor night unhallowed pass,
But still remember what the Lord hath done."

Only 52 years old at his death, William Shakespeare wrote in his Will:


Carved on Shakespeare's tomb in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon, England, is:


Woodrow Wilson stated at the Tercentenary Celebration of the Translation of the Bible into the English Language, May 7, 1911:


U.S. District Court decision Crockett v. Sorenson (W.D. Va. 1983) stated:

Now, then, as to your doctrine. You may tell whether you are the Lord's beloved partly by that. Some think it matters not what a man believes. Excuse me: truth is alway precious, and the least atom of truth is worth searching out.

Now-a-days the sects do not clash so much as they did. Perhaps that is good; but there is one evil about it. People do not read the Bibles so much as they did. They think we are all right. Now, I believe we may be all right in the main, but we cannot be all right where we contradict one another; and it becomes every man to search the Bible to see which is right. I am not afraid to submit my Calvinism, or my doctrine of believer's baptism, to the searching of the Bible.

A learned lord, an infidel, once said to Whitfield, "Sir I am an infidel, I do not believe the Bible, but if the Bible be true, you are right, and your Arminian opponents are wrong. If the Bible be the Word of God, the doctrines of grace are true;" adding that if any man would grant him the Bible to be the truth, he would challenge him to disprove Calvinism. The doctrines of original sin, election, effectual calling, final perseverance, and all those great truths which are called Calvinism—though Calvin was not the author of them, but simply an able writer and preacher upon the subject—are, I believe, the essential doctrines of the Gospel that is in Jesus Christ.

Now, I do not ask you whether you believe all this—it is possible you may not; but I believe you will before you enter heaven. I am persuaded, that as God may have washed your hearts, he will wash your brains before you enter heaven. He will make you right in your doctrines.

But I must enquire whether you read your Bibles. I am not finding fault with you this morning for differing from me, I may be wrong; but I want to know whether you search the Scriptures to find what is truth. And, if you are not a reader of the Bible, if you take doctrines second-hand, if you go to chapel, and say, "I do not like that:' what matters your not liking it, provided it is in the Bible? Is it Biblical truth, or is it not? If it is God's truth, let us have it exalted. It may not suit you; but let me remind you, that the truth that is in Jesus never was palatable to carnal men, and I believe never will be. The reason you love it not, is because it cuts too much at your pride; it lets you down too low. Search yourselves, then, in doctrine.

"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."—2 Corinthians 3:17.

LIBERTY is the birthright of every man. He may be born a pauper; he may be a foundling; his parentage may be altogether unknown; but liberty is his inalienable birthright. Black may be his skin; he may live uneducated and untaught; he may be poor as poverty itself; he may never have a foot of land to call his own; he may scarce have a particle of clothing, save a few rags to cover him; but, poor as he is, nature has fashioned him for freedom—he has a right to be free, and if he has not liberty, it is his birthright, and he ought not to be content until he wins it.

Liberty is the heirloom of all the sons and daughters of Adam. But where do you find liberty unaccompanied by religion? True it is that all men have a right to liberty, but it is equally true that you do not meet it in any country save where you find the Spirit of the Lord. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Thank God, this is a free country. This is a land where I can breathe the air and say it is untainted by the groan of a single slave; my lungs receive it, and I know there has never been mingled with its vapours the tear of a single slave woman shed over her child which has been sold from her. This land is the home of liberty. But why is it so? I take it, it is not so much because of our institutions as because the Spirit of the Lord is here —the spirit of true and hearty religion.

There was a time, remember, when England was no more free than any other country, when men could not speak their sentiments freely, when kings were despots, when Parliaments were but a name. Who won our liberties for us? Who have loosed our chains? Under the hand of God, I say, the men of religion—men like the great and glorious Cromwell, who would have liberty of conscience, or die—men who, if they could not reach kings' hearts, because they were unsearchable in cunning, would strike kings low, rather than they would be slaves. We owe our liberty to men of religion, to men of the stern Puritanical school—men who scorned to play the craven and yield their principles at the command of man. And if we ever are to maintain our liberty (as God grant we may) it shall be kept in England by religious liberty—by religion. This Bible is the Magna Charta of old Britain. Its truths, its doctrines have snapped our fetters, and they never can be riveted on again, whilst men, with God's Spirit in their hearts, go forth to speak its truths.

In no other land, save where the Bible is unclasped—in no other realm, save where the gospel is preached, can you find liberty. Roam through other countries, and you speak with bated breath; you are afraid; you feel you are under an iron hand; the sword is above you; you are not free. Why? Because you are under the tyranny engendered by a false religion: you have not free Protestantism there; and it is not till Protestantism comes that there can be freedom. It is where the Spirit of the Lord is that there is liberty, and nowhere else. Men talk about being free: they describe model governments, Platonic republics, or Owenite paradises; but they are dreamy theorists; for there can be no freedom in the world, save, "where the spirit of the Lord is."

I have commenced with this idea, because I think worldly men ought to be told that if religion does not save them, yet it has done much for them—that the influence of religion has won them their liberties.

But the liberty of the text is no such freedom as this: it is an infinitely greater and better one. Great as civil or religious liberty may be, the liberty of my text transcendently exceeds. There is a liberty, dear friends, which Christian men alone enjoy.

Before I enter upon our text, let me very briefly tell you what I believe preaching Christ and him crucified is. My friends, I do not believe it is preaching Christ and him crucified, to give people a batch of philosophy every Sunday morning and evening, and neglect the truths of this Holy Book. I do not believe it is preaching Christ and him crucified, to leave out the main cardinal doctrines of the Word of God, and preach a religion which is all a mist and a haze, without any definite truths whatever.

I take it that man does not preach Christ and him crucified, who can get through a sermon without mentioning Christ's name once; nor does that man preach Christ and him crucified, who leaves out the Holy Spirit's work, who never says a word about the Holy Ghost, so that indeed the hearers might say, "We do not so much as know whether there be a Holy Ghost." And I have my own private opinion, that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and him crucified, unless you preach what now-a-days is called Calvinism. I have my own ideas, and those I always state boldly. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism. Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.

I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith without works; not unless we preach the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor, I think, can we preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the peculiar redemption which Christ made for his elect and chosen people; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation, after having believed. Such a gospel I abhor. The gospel of the Bible is not such a gospel as that. We preach Christ and him crucified in a different fashion, and to all gainsayers we reply, "We have not so learned Christ."

(J.C. Ryle, "Holiness, Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots" 1879)

It would be well if Christians studied the four Gospels more than they do. No doubt, all Scripture is profitable. It is not wise to exalt one part of the Bible at the expense of another. But I think it would be good for some who are very familiar with the Epistles--if they knew a little more about the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Now, why do I say this? I say it because I want Christians to know more about Christ. It is good to be acquainted with all the doctrines and principles of Christianity. It is better to be acquainted with Christ Himself. It is well to be familiar with faith and grace and justification and sanctification. They are all matters "pertaining to the King." But it is far better to be familiar with Jesus Himself, to see the King's own face, and to behold His beauty! This is one secret of eminent holiness! He who would be conformed to Christ's image, and become a Christ-like man--must be constantly studying Christ Himself!

Now the Gospels were written to make us acquainted with Christ. The Holy Spirit has told us the story of His life and death, His sayings and His doings--four times over. Four different inspired hands have drawn the picture of the Savior.
  His ways,
  His manners,
  His feelings,
  His wisdom,
  His grace,
  His patience,
  His love,
  His power--
are all graciously unfolded to us by four different witnesses.

Ought not the sheep to be familiar with the Shepherd?

Ought not the patient to be familiar with the Physician?

Ought not the bride to be familiar with the Bridegroom?

Ought not the sinner to be familiar with the Savior?

Beyond doubt it ought to be so. The Gospels were written to make men familiar with Christ, and therefore I wish men to study the Gospels.

On whom must we build our souls, if we would be accepted by God? We must build on the Rock, Christ.

From whom must we draw that grace of the Spirit which we daily need in order to be fruitful? We must draw from the Vine, Christ.

To whom must we look for sympathy when earthly friends fail us or die? We must look to our elder Brother, Christ.

By whom must our prayers be presented, if they are to be heard on high? They must be presented by our Advocate, Christ.

With whom do we hope to spend the eternity of glory? With the King of kings, Christ.

Surely, we cannot know this Christ too well! Surely there is not a word, nor a deed, nor a day, nor a step, nor a thought in the record of His life, which ought not to be precious to us. We should labor to be familiar with every line that is written about Jesus!

Tepo of Rarotonga

In reference also to Rarotonga, I cannot forbear drawing a contrast between the state of the inhabitants, when I first visited them, in 1823, and that in which I left them, in 1834. In 1823, I found them all heathens; in 1834, they were all professing Christians. At the former period, I found them with idols and maraes [sacred places]; these, in 1834, were destroyed, and, in their stead, there were three spacious and substantial places of Christian worship, in which congregations, amounting to six thousand persons, assembled every Sabbath day. I found them without a written language; and left them reading in their own tongue the "wonderful works of God." I found them without a knowledge of the Sabbath; and when I left them no manner of work was done during that sacred day. When I found them, in 1823, they were ignorant of the nature of Christian worship; and when I left them, in 1834, I am not aware that there was a house in the island where family prayer was not observed every morning, and every evening. I speak not this boastingly; for our satisfaction arises not from receiving such honours, but in casting them at the Saviour's feet; "for his arm hath gotten him the victory," and "HE SHALL BEAR THE GLORY."

What has been said of Rarotonga is equally applicable to the whole Hervey Island group; for, with the exception of a few at Mangaia, I believe there does not remain a single idolater, or vestige of idolatry, in any one of the islands. I do not assert, I would not intimate, that all the people are real Christians; but I merely state the delightful fact, that the inhabitants of this entire group have, in the short space of ten years, abandoned a dark, debasing, and sanguinary idolatry, with all its horrid rites; and it does appear to me that, if nothing more had been effected, this alone would compensate for all the privations, and labours, and expense by which it has been effected.

I am convinced that the first step towards the promotion of a nation's temporal and social elevation, is to plant amongst them the tree of life, when civilization and commerce will entwine their tendrils around its trunk, and derive support from its strength. Until the people are brought under the influence of religion, they have no desire for the arts and usages of civilized life; but that invariably creates it.

The Missionaries were at Tahiti many years, during which they built and furnished a house in European style. The natives saw this, but not an individual imitated their example. As soon, however, as they were brought under the influence of Christianity, the chiefs, and even the common people, began to build neat plastered cottages, and to manufacture bedsteads, seats, and other articles of furniture.

The females had long observed the dress of the Missionaries' wives, but while heathen they greatly preferred their own, and there was not a single attempt at imitation. No sooner, however, were they brought under the influence of religion, than all of them, even to the lowest, aspired to the possession of a gown, a bonnet, and a shawl, that they might appear like Christian women.

I could proceed to enumerate many other changes of the same kind, but these will be sufficient to establish my assertion. While the natives are under the influence of their superstitions, they evince an inanity and torpor, from which no stimulus has proved powerful enough to arouse them but the new ideas and the new principles imparted by Christianity. And if it be not already proved, the experience of a few more years will demonstrate the fact, that the Missionary enterprise is incomparably the most effective machinery that has ever been brought to operate upon the social, the civil, and the commercial, as well as the moral, and spiritual interests of mankind.

Now, I have to close up with THE WORLD'S FUTURE. "We shall reign on the earth." I have not much time for this, and I dare say it is expected that I shall tell you about the millennium and the personal reign of Christ. I shall not at all, because I don't know anything about it.

I have heard a great many people talk of it; and, if anybody shows me a book on the millennium, I say, "I cannot read it just yet." A good man has lately written a book on it, and a gentleman recommended it to me so strongly, that I could not but buy it out of courtesy; but I elevated it to the aristocratic region of library, in the higher ranks, and there it rests in quiet repose. I do not think myself capable of threading the labyrinths of the subject, and I do not believe the very respectable author can do it. It is a subject so dark, and I have read so many different views upon it, that it is all a phantasmagoria with me.

I believe all the Bible says of a glorious future, but I cannot pretend to be a maker of charts for all time. Only this I gather as a positive fact, that the saints will one day reign on the earth. This truth appears to me clear enough, whatever may be the different views on the millennium. Now, the saints do not reign visibly; they are despised. They were driven, in old times, into dens and caves of the earth: but the time is coming when kings will be saints, and princes the called ones of God—when queens shall be the nursing mothers, and kings the nursing fathers of Christ's church. The hour is coming when the saint, instead of being dishonored, shall be honored; and monarchs, once the foes of truth, shall become its friends. The saints shall reign. They shall have the majority; the kingdom of Christ shall have the upper hand; it shall not be cast down—this shall not be Satan's world any longer—it shall again sing with all its sister stars, the never ceasing song of praise.

Oh! I believe there is a day coming when Sabbath bells shall sprinkle music over the plains of Africa—when the deep thick jungle of India shall see the saints of God going up to the sanctuary; and, I am assured that the teeming multitudes of China shall gather together in temples built for prayer, and, as you and I have done, shall sing, to the ever glorious Jehovah,


Happy day! happy day! May it speedily come!

When once the arguments on any question are exhausted, the continuance of the controversy uniformly degenerates into wrangling and personal altercation. To such conduct I am resolved to be no party. From first to last, the present employment has been very unpleasant. The publications of the Millenarians contain very little to interest or edify. They have darkened many a precious doctrine of Christianity, and mistified many a plain text of Scripture: but it is not easy to specify any religious truth which they have simplified, or any passage of revelation which they have illustrated.

Several months have been consumed in examining their writings: but never was any portion of my time so unprofitably spent: and to my dying day I fear I shall have cause to regret that so many hours have been so sadly wasted. With this volume I intend to take leave of the subject: and it will be no ordinary consideration which will induce me to return to such a disagreeable and useless task.

The works upon REVELATION are so extremely numerous (Darling's list contains 52 columns), and the views entertained are so many, so different, and so speculative, that after completing our List we resolved not to occupy our space with it, but merely to mention a few works of repute. As for the lucubrations upon parts of the book, they lie at the booksellers' "thick as leaves in Vallambrosa." Numbers of these prophecyings have been disproved by the lapse of time, and others will in due season share their fate.
.....
We give no opinion, for we are too much puzzled with these Apocalyptic books, and are glad to write

Swanson - The Millennial Position of Spurgeon (1996)
Spurgeon and Eschatology - Did He Have a Millennial Position?

I want to make a man feel his sins before I dare tell him anything about Christ. I want to probe into his soul and make him feel that he is lost before I tell him anything about the purchased blessing. It is the ruin of many to tell them, "Now just believe on Christ, and that is all you have to do." If, instead of dying, they get better, they rise up white-washed hypocrites—that is all.

I have heard of a city missionary who kept a record of two thousand persons who were supposed to be on their death-bed, but recovered, and whom he should have put down as converted persons had they died; and how many do you think lived a Christian life afterwards out of the two thousand? Not two. Positively he could only find one who was found to live afterwards in the fear of God.

Is it not horrible that when men and women come to die, they should cry, "Comfort, comfort?" and that hence their friends conclude that they are children of God, while, after all, they have no right to consolation, but are intruders upon the enclosed grounds of the blessed God.

O God, may these people ever be kept from having comfort when they have no right to it! Have you the other blessings? Have you had the conviction of sin? Have you ever felt your guilt before God? Have your souls been humbled at Jesus' feet? And have you been made to look to Calvary alone for your refuge? If not, you have no right to consolation. Do not take an atom of it. The Spirit is a convincer before he is a Comforter; and you must have the other operations of the Holy Spirit, before you can derive anything from this.

On FEBRUARY 21, 1848, 'Old Man Eloquent' John Quincy Adams suffered a stroke at his desk in the House chamber.

He had just given an impassioned speech against the Democrat plan to expand slavery into the Western territories acquired after the Mexican-American War.

He died 2 days later without regaining consciousness.

A bronze marker on the U.S. House floor indicates where Adams' desk once stood.

John Quincy Adams was the only U.S President to serve in Congress after having been President, being elected a U.S Representative from Massachusetts, 1830-48.

Nicknamed 'The Hell-Hound of Slavery' for relentlessly speaking out against slavery, John Quincy Adams single-handedly led the fight to lift the Gag Rule which prohibited discussion of slavery on the House floor.

In 1841, John Quincy Adams defended 53 Africans accused of mutiny aboard the slave ship Amistad. He won their case before the Supreme Court, giving them back their freedom, stating:

"The moment you come to the Declaration of Independence, that every man has a right to life and liberty, an inalienable right, this case is decided. I ask nothing more in behalf of these unfortunate men than this Declaration."

African slaves brought to America were purchased at Muslim slave markets, where over Islam's centuries of history an estimate 180 million were enslaved.

The annotated John Quincy Adams-A Bibliography, compiled by Lynn H. Parsons (Westport, CT, 1993, p. 41, entry#194), contains "Unsigned essays dealing with the Russo-Turkish War and on Greece," (The American Annual Register for 1827-28-29 (NY: 1830):

"The natural hatred of the Mussulmen towards the infidels is in just accordance with the precepts of the Koran...

The fundamental doctrine of the Christian religion is the extirpation of hatred from the human heart. It forbids the exercise of it, even towards enemies...

In the 7th century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab...spread desolation and delusion over an extensive portion of the earth...

He declared undistinguishing and exterminating war as a part of his religion...The essence of his doctrine was violence and lust, to exalt the brutal over the spiritual part of human nature."

During his career, John Quincy Adams also served as:

U.S. Minister to Russia; U.S. Minister to Prussia; U.S. Minister to the Netherlands; U.S. Minister to Great Britain, where he negotiated the end of the War of 1812; and U.S. Secretary of State, where he negotiated obtaining Florida from Spain.

On September 26, 1810, John Quincy Adams wrote in his diary:

"I have made it a practice for several years to read the Bible through in the course of every year. I usually devote to this reading the first hour after I rise every morning...

I have this morning commenced it anew...this time with Ostervald's French translation."

In September of 1811, John Quincy Adams wrote to his son from St. Petersburg, Russia:

"My dear Son...You mentioned that you read to your aunt a chapter in the Bible or a section of Doddridge's Annotations every evening. This information gave me real pleasure; for so great is my veneration for the Bible...

It is of all books in the world, that which contributes most to make men good, wise, and happy... My custom is, to read four to five chapters every morning immediately after rising from my bed...

It is essential, my son...that you should form and adopt certain rules...of your own conduct... It is in the Bible, you must learn them...

'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thy self.' On these two commandments, Jesus Christ expressly says, 'hang all the law and the prophets'."

John Quincy Adams' correspondence to his son is compiled in Letters of John Quincy Adams to his son, on the Bible and its Teachings, which contains his statement:

"No book in the world deserves to be so unceasingly studied, and so profoundly meditated upon as the Bible."

On March 13, 1812, John Quincy Adams noted:

"This morning I finished the perusal of the German Bible."

After negotiating the Treaty of Ghent, John Quincy Adams wrote from London, December 24, 1814:

"You ask me what Bible I take as the standard of my faith - the Hebrew, the Samaritan, the old English translation, or what? I answer, the Bible containing the Sermon on the Mount...

The New Testament I have repeatedly read in the original Greek, in the Latin, in the Geneva Protestant, in Sacy's Catholic French translations, in Luther's German translation, in the common English Protestant, and in the Douay Catholic translations.

I take any one of them for my standard of faith."

On December 31, 1825, John Quincy Adams wrote in his diary:

"I rise usually between five and six...I walk by the light of the moon or stars, or none, about four miles, usually returning home...I then make my fire, and read three chapters of the Bible."

Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote concerning John Quincy Adams:

"No man could read the Bible with such powerful effect, even with the cracked and winded voice of old age."

John Quincy Adams wrote:

"I speak as a man of the world to men of the world; and I say to you, Search the Scriptures! The Bible is the book of all others...not to be read once or twice or thrice through, and then laid aside, but to be read in small portions of one or two chapters every day."

At the age of 77, John Quincy Adams was vice-president of the American Bible Society, where he stated, February 27, 1844:

"I deem myself fortunate in having the opportunity, at a stage of a long life drawing rapidly to its close, to bear at...the capital of our National Union...my solemn testimonial of reverence and gratitude to that book of books, the Holy Bible

The Bible carries with it the history of the creation, the fall and redemption of man, and discloses to him, in the infant born at Bethlehem, the Legislator and Saviour of the world."

John Quincy Adams stated in his Presidential Inaugural Address, March 4, 1825:

"'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh in vain,' with fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future destinies of my country."

    Know ye, Our subjects:

    Our Imperial Ancestors have founded Our Empire on a basis broad and everlasting and have deeply and firmly implanted virtue; Our subjects ever united in loyalty and filial piety have from generation to generation illustrated the beauty thereof. This is the glory of the fundamental character of Our Empire, and herein also lies the source of Our education.

    Ye, Our subjects, be filial to your parents, affectionate to your brothers and sisters; as husbands and wives be harmonious, as friends true; bear yourselves in modesty and moderation; extend your benevolence to all; pursue learning and cultivate arts, and thereby develop intellectual faculties and perfect moral powers; furthermore advance public good and promote common interests; always respect the Constitution and observe the laws; should emergency arise, offer yourselves courageously to the State; and thus guard and maintain the prosperity of Our Imperial Throne coeval with heaven and earth.

    So shall ye not only be Our good and faithful subjects, but render illustrious the best traditions of your forefathers. The Way here set forth is indeed the teaching bequeathed by Our Imperial Ancestors, to be observed alike by Their Descendants and the subjects, infallible for all ages and true in all places.It is Our wish to lay it to heart in all reverence, in common with you, Our subjects, that we may thus attain to the same virtue.

    The 30th day of the 10th month of the 23rd year of Meiji.
    (October 30, 1890)

I, the Emperor, think that my ancestors and their religion founded my nation a very long time ago. With its development a profound and steady morality was established. The fact that my subjects show their loyalty to me and show filial love to their parents in their millions of hearts all in unison, thus accumulating virtue generation after generation is indeed the pride of my nation, and is a profound idea and the basis of our education.

You, my subjects form full personalities by showing filial love to your parents, by making good terms with your brothers and sisters, by being intimate with your friends, by making couples who love each other, by trusting your friends, by reflecting upon yourselves, by conveying a spirit of philanthropy to other people and by studying to acquire knowledge and wisdom.

Thus, please obey always the constitution and other laws of my nation in your profession in order to spread the common good in my nation. If an emergency may happen, please do your best for Our nation in order to support the eternal fate and future of my nation. In this way, you are my good and faithful subjects, and you come to appreciate good social customs inherited from your ancestors. The way of doing this is a good lesson inherited from my ancestors and religion which you subjects should observe well together with your offspring.

These ideas hold true for both the present and the past, and may be propagated in this nation as well as in the other countries. I would like to understand all of this with you, Our subjects, and hope sincerely that all the mentioned virtues will be carried out in harmony by all of you subjects.