Again, the nationalistic feeling prompts many, both in the church and out of it, to chafe at the presence of foreign religious teachers in their midst. The very presence of these teachers is looked upon as an implication that the Japanese are not competent to instruct themselves in religious matters, and this is much resented. As a prominent Japanese put it not long ago, "What could be more inconsistent or improper than for great Japan, that has so recently humbled China and forced the admiration of the world for her skill in arms, as well as for her educational, commercial, and industrial development, to be instructed in religious matters by foreigners?" Operating in these ways, Japanese patriotism ill adapts the people for a reception of Christianity. Another feature of the native character which is not favorable is its lack of seriousness and stability. Religion is a serious, solemn matter, but the Japanese are not a serious-minded people. Their beliefs have always sat lightly upon them, to be taken off and put on at will. Where these {315} characteristics are largely wanting the progress of Christianity will probably be slow. At present the Japanese are too materialistic properly to appreciate a religion so spiritual as ours. In religion, as in all other things, they desire to receive some present material benefit; and when the rewards of Christianity are found to be chiefly spiritual, and most of them not realized in the present life, a deaf ear is turned. This is an era of great material prosperity in Japan, and the minds of the people are fully occupied with commercial and industrial questions, to the exclusion of moral and religious ones. The most common attitude of the Japanese public toward Christianity to-day is one of absolute indifference. The people think that if the government permits this religion it cannot be so very bad; it is making little progress anyway, and they need give it no notice whatever. If others care to go and hear about it, all right, but as for themselves, they have no relations with it. The usual experience now when a new chapel is opened and preaching begun is that for a few times large numbers of people will come out of curiosity; then after a little they stop, and no further regard is paid to the chapel or the preaching. The conflict of religions, the inconsistencies and shortcomings of the old faiths, the advancing knowledge, have combined to bring about a state {316} of indifference, wide-spread and hard to overcome. It is in many respects more hurtful than a position of open antagonism. The natural tendency of the Japanese mind to be skeptical in regard to all supernatural questions has been fostered by education to such an extent that educated Japan is to-day largely a nation of atheists, or at least of agnostics. The proud pharisaic spirit is abroad, indisposing the race to accept Christ.