The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-08-08
JAPAN LETTER.
FROM REV. EDGAR LEAVITT.
Universalist Mission,

Our schools closed about the middle
of June, the English night-school with
the month. The Japanese Univer-
salist Convention was held the last week
in June. and now is vacation, but still
there is plenty to do and the mission
aries have not had much rest yet. Mr..
Gates little boy has been dangerously
ill. but is now hopefully improving. Miss
Osborn, with Miss Imai, go this week to
inspect the Shizuoka Girls School. We
can report no marked advance, but yet
in details we see improvement in many
respects. Our English evening school
has been the means of interesting num-
Der of young men in Christianity, and a
Christian Union has been formed of
fourteen or fifteen members, and two
young men have united with the church
and several more are now DESTROYS of
uniting.
Prayer Book in Japan.
One thing that we feel will be very
useful and greatly facilitate our work is
the fact that DR.. Leonard's Prayer Book.
with some notifications and additions
to fit it for Japan, has been translated
into Japanese, Prof. Leonard himself
generously contributing the $4,000 ne
cessary for the purpose. 1t will be
printed in August. ready for our fall
work. 1t has been adopted by the Mis-.
sion and by the Convention as the Ser
vice Book Of the Japanese church. Such
book would undoubtedly be of great
use in our American churches in making
the service dignified, orderly and impress
sive but it is even more needed here
where the orderly habits of Christian
service are not as familiar as at home
The Buddhist preaching service is simply
lecture, where people come and go,
stand or sit, talk or move about, listen to
the speaker, smoke or sleep as they
please. A higher ideal prevails among
Christians than this, yet we need to
strive after still higher one.
OhlVersallSb services.
Our central church at Iidamachi will
close Sunday evenings so far as the
preaching service is concerned. the
health of the pastor, Rev. Mr.. Hoshino,
not being very good, but there is plan
on foot, | believe. to fill the gap with a
children's meeting or something of the
kind, so that the church may not be en-
tirely closed. Our other churches will
be open for morning and evening service
throughout the summer. The pastors
will take their vacations at different
times, and so the churches will be kept
open.
1t is hoped to establish one or two
new preaching places in Tokyo in the
fall where the missionaries with Japa-
nese assistants will labor, thus affording
an opportunity to reach more people
than at present and affording to the
theological students and ministers, yet
unordained, an opportunity of working
under the direction of their teachers.
1t seems, as if 10 America, it might be
advisable to establish a number of
preaching places i'll different parts of the
cities where services should be held
under direction of the pastors by thee
logical students, unordained preachers
or by laymen, the pastor being respon-
sible for the quality of the work. Much
good might thus be done, and talent de-
veloped. and new churches and minis
tiers might be the result. while the alb.
solutely necessary expense would be
small as compared with the fruitage.
A Good Custom.
There is one custom here that is uni
versal among Japanese Christians of
every denomination that / would like
much to see adopted at home. Instead
of putting on shoes and overcoats and
getting ready, while the benediction is
being said, to bolt for the door, every
head is reverently bowed and remains
bowed for sometime after the last words
have been spoken; solemn, quiet, pray
erful hush. filling all the place. Perhaps
this may be borrowed from some of the
more formal sects, but it is good thing
nevertheless. and shows proper respect
for the occasion and the place.
Remarkable Fact.
Another thing l do not remember to
have seen in print, which l think will