II 
148 Japan and the Japanese, 
one to every Japanese woman who understands the art of 
weaving (and most of them do), for they use it, mixed with 
their own products, to manufacture cloth for the daily needs 
of themselves and their families. A large trade is carried 
on by the export and sale of Japanese curiosities, or 
curios," which articles find ready markets in England, 
France, and America, as fancy, and artistic goods. 
But amid all this new civilization, education, trade, and 
commerce, it is saddening to reflect that heathenism and 
scepticism are both arrayed in opposition to the Gospel of 
Christ. Scientists and philosophers, who labour in our 
midst to overthrow the simple faith of believers in Christ, 
little think of the mischief such teachings are working in 
Japan. The educated youth of that land, being instructed 
in English, are more or less acquainted with the works 
and theories of Huxley, Tyndal, Darwin, Spencer, and Mill, 
— all great thinkers and original speculatists, but not fitted 
to lead a heathen nation from its idol-darkness into Christian 
light. Some of their college tutors tell the young Japanese, 
that Christianity is now rejected by most educated people 
in Europe, and America \ and that positivism and philosophic 
doubt have taken the place ot the old time-worn creed. 
The effect of such teachings may be imagined. Alongside 
of the new civilization, manners, and education, are growing 
up a certain flippant smartness, an atheistic scorn, and a 
conceited spirit of doubt, which rejects alike Buddhism, 
Shintoism, and Christianity, as exploded systems, hoary 
with years, and fit only for old women, children, and ignor- 
ant peasants. Such notions form some of the worst obstacles 
to the success of missionary enterprise. 
