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312 HONDA THE BAMURAt.
During all the time of his "domiciliary confinement,"
Professor Koba had been in correspondence
with Honda, and his letters contained noble sentiments
and ideas about duty and man's relation to
heaven, upon which the young man deeply pondered.
In these letters were many things said about the
Creator, providence, sin, and holiness, but wholly
of a different cast of thought from, what either the
Buddhist priests, Shinto lecturers, or Confucian
teachers taught. Yet never was the name of Christ,
elsewhere so publicly proclaimed in Japan and heralded
as infamous, mentioned in these letters, though
it was often hinted at; for Mr. Koba feared lest
the ubiquitous spies to the government should open
his letters, and thus defeat his purpose, and send both
of them again to prison and to death. When, however,
Honda came back to Fukui, Professor Koba
boldly told him that his
the one outlawed in
teacher was no other than
Japan, Jesus. Christ, whom the
Japanese called Yasu, and that tiie book he loved
most to read was the New Testament of that same
Yasu. Both together then became earnest students
and readers of the Chinese New Testament which
Professor Koba had secured through
the Chinese
captain of a junk at Nagasaki.
" I am in hope," said Professor Koba, one day as
they met secretly together, "that many
I know he has
of our thinking
men will study this book ;
for I hear from Mito
that the enlightened daimio of that province
is looking
into the doctrines of Christianity.
some Christian books, and images and pictures of