Introduction of Christianity, 173 
midst, it is little wonder that the people of Tokio manifest 
a very earnest disposition to hear the truth. It is stated 
that one day in February, 1881, an assembly of four thou- 
sand persons met in that city to discuss Christianity, re- 
maining in the open air for this purpose. So strong, too, 
is the fear of this new religion, that companies of natives 
have banded themselves together by a promise never to 
embrace the faith of the foreigners ; while many native 
journals are using their influence to prevent the spread of 
Christianity. One curious effort of the press, is that of 
issuing a magazine, at frequent intervals, called the Two- 
Religion Magazine, This magazine advises that the two 
national religions of Buddhism and Shintoism be united, in 
order to overpower "the Jesus religion." The editor of 
this paper represents Christianity to be the worst of all the 
foreign things introduced into Japan, and laments, that un- 
less the friends of the old system rally at once to the rescue, 
it will be too late, for "the Jesus religion is flooding the 
land." The editor urges the priests to lay aside every other 
duty in order to attend to the most pressing one of fighting 
the new faith. He shows up what he considers to be the 
lack of the Ten Commandments, which are recognised as 
being the rule of the Christian's duty, and says that, although 
they teach a man's duty to God and to his neighbour, they 
lack the duty of what man must be in himself, while Bud- 
dhism supplies that. It also recommends the erection of 
hospitals and infirmaries for the good of the people, assert- 
ing that it is by these means the Christians gain so much 
hold over people's minds. It also asserts that foreigners 
are so desirous of spreading Christianity in Japan, and 
other countries, that they give one-fifth of their money to 
the missionary societies, for the purpose of proselytism. 
This latter piece of information will be news, doubtless, to 
