I 
190 Japan and the Japanese. 
tation, which, m its method, was quite novel. Five richly 
robed priests sat on one side of the hall, on mats, as the 
questioners; five more sat on the other side to^reply. Each 
person confined himself to the person sitting opposite ; they 
laboured rather heavily, both sides having to receive constant 
help from the chief priest, who, evidently, was a man of 
considerable power. The whole performance struck me as 
one ill-calculated to make the scholars able workers when 
contrasted with our schools ; but it is a great step in advance, 
and so must be appreciated. The morals of the students, 
from what the Christians told me, must be quite low. 
Another strange mark of progress is the fact that some 
prominent Buddhist priests are openly teaching and preach- 
ing that it is nonsense to worship idols, and that only the 
lowest classes, those of densest ignorance, do such a foolish 
thing. The two priests who have so taught are young men, 
who were educated in Europe on purpose to learn Western 
science for the sake of strengthening Buddhism ; and this is 
the way they do it ! May all their priests speedily acquire 
the same enlightenment." 
Rev. Dr. Murray Mitchell says : " Christianity steadily 
advances, and I trust there will be no serious reaction in 
civil government. I was never more moved in my life than 
when I addressed fully two thousand Japanese, in a building 
connected with one of their great temples, in Tokio. 
Even the most distinctively Christian word, was respectfully 
listened to." 
The Congregational Training School at Kioto, numbers 
about ninety students, of whom about three-fourths are 
professing Christians. The English course extends to five 
years, and embraces the ordinary sciences, and subjects 
taught in English colleges and training institutes. It gives 
a regular theological course of two years. In order, how- 
