History and Religion. 
121 
tian religion, or bear this scandalous name, shall be im- 
prisoned ; that whosoever shall presume to bring a letter 
from abroad, or to return, after he has been banished, shall 
die, with all his family." It is stated by an authority, that 
from the date of the last persecution, " the name of Christ 
became an object of shame and terror throughout Japan." 
Another historian says, " For centuries, the mention of that 
name would bate the breath, blanch the cheek with fear, as 
with an earthquake shock. It was the synonym of sorcery, 
sedition, and all that was hostile to the peace of society. 
All over the empire, in every city, town, village, and hamlet, 
by the roadside, ferry, or mountain-pass, at every entrance 
to the capital, stood the public notice-boards, on which, 
with prohibitions against the crimes that disturb the rela- 
tions of society and government, was one tablet, written 
with a deeper brand of guilt, with a more hideous memory 
of blood, with a more awful terror of torture, than when the 
like superscription was affixed at the top of a cross that 
stood between two thieves on a little hill outside of Jerusa- 
lem. Its daily and familiar sight startled ever and anon the 
peasant to clasp hands and utter a familiar prayer, the priest 
to add fresh venom to his maledictions, the magistrate to 
shake his head, and the mother to find a ready word to hush 
the crying of her fretful child. Nothing remained of the re- 
ligion of Jesus, save an awful scar on the national memory." 
It cannot be wondered at that the Christian faith is 
looked at with suspicion and fear as yet, in Japan. So 
strong is the fear of it in some quarters, that societies have 
been organized in which the members have bound them- 
selves by oaths never to become Christians. It is well to 
bear in mind that Protestant Christian missionaries are as 
yet only tolerated^ and are only permitted to reside in 
certain towns' mentioned in the treaties. They, however, 
