earts.

Christianity came with a ceremonial more splendid than that of Buddhism,
and an eloquence that captivated the imaginations of the Japanese.
Instead of the long series of miseries of Buddhist transmigration, it
offered admission to the glories of heaven after death, a doctrine sure
to be highly attractive to those who had little to hope for but misery
during life. The story of the life and death of Christ strongly
impressed the minds of the people, as compared with the colder story of
Buddha's career, while a certain similarity between the modes of
worship of the two religions proved of the greatest assistance to the
advocates of the new creed. The native temples were made to serve as
Christian churches; the images of Buddha and his saints were converted
into those of Christ and the apostles; and, aside from the more
attractive doctrines of Christianity, there were points of resemblance
between the organization and ceremonial of the two religions that aided
the missionaries in inducing the people to change from their old to the
new faith.

One of the methods pursued in the propagation of Christianity had never
been adopted by the Buddhists, that of persecution of alien faiths. The
spirit of the Inquisition, then active in Europe, was brought to Japan.
The missionaries instigated their converts to destroy the idols and
desert the old shrines. Gold was used freely as an agent in conversion,
and the Christian daimios compelled their subjects to follow them in
accepting the new faith. In whole districts the people were ordered to
accept Christianity or to exile themselves from their homes. Exile or
death was the fate of many of the bonzes, and fire and the sword lent
effect to preaching in the propagation of the doctrine of Christianity.

To quote a single instance, from Charlevoix's "History of the
Christianizing of Japan," "In 1577 the lord of the island of Amacusa
issued his proclamation, by which his subjects--whether bonzes or
gentlemen, merchants or traders--were required either to turn
Christians, or to leave the country the very next day. They almost all
submitted, and received baptism, so that in a short time there were
more than twenty churches in the kingdom. God wrought miracles to
confirm the faithful in their belief."

Miracles of the kind here indicated and others that might be quoted were
not of the character of those performed by Christ, and such methods of
making proselytes were very likely to r