When he had prayed, the priest read from a roll of the Shinshu scripture which he had taken reverently from a box and a succession of wrappings.  Afterwards he preached from a “text,” continuing, of course, to kneel as we did.  A flickering light fell upon us from a lamp hanging from a beam.  The room was pervaded with incense from an iron censer which the farmer gently swung.  The worshippers told their beads, and in intervals between the priest’s sentences I heard the murmur of fervent prayer.  The priest preached his sermon with his eyes shut, and I could watch him narrowly.  It is not so often that one sees an old man with a sweet face.  But there was sweetness in both the face and voice of this priest.  He spoke slowly and clearly, sometimes pausing for a little between his sentences as if for better inspiration, as a Quaker will sometimes do in speaking at meeting.  His tones were no higher than could be heard clearly in the room.  There was nothing of the exhorter in this man.  His talk did not sound like preaching at all.  It was like kind, friendly talk at the fireside at a solemn time.  “Faith, prayer, morality:  these alone are necessary,” was the burden of the simple address.  “We have faith by divine providence; out of our thanksgiving comes prayer, and we cannot but be good.”  It was plain that the old women loved their priest.  In the front of the congregation were three crones gnarled in hands and face.  When the sermon of an hour or so came to an end they spoke quaveringly of the mercy of Buddha to them, and of their own feebleness to do well.  The old priest gently offered them comfort and counsel.

After the service, in the light of the priest’s paper lantern, I made my way along the road to the temple.  At length I found myself mounting the lichened stone steps to the great closed gates.  The priest drew the long wooden bolt and pushed one gate creakingly back.  We went by a paved pathway into the deeper shadow of the temple.  Then a light glowed from the side of the building, and we were in the priest’s house.  It was like a farmer’s house only more refined in detail.

About half-past four in the morning I was awakened by the booming of the temple bell.  It is the sound which of all delights in the Far East is most memorable.  I got up, and, following the example of my host, had a bath in the open, and dressed.

Then I was lighted along passages into the public part of the temple.  The priest with an acolyte began service at the middle altar.  Afterwards he proceeded to a side altar.  At one stage of the service he chanted a hymn which ran something like this: 

From the virtues and the mercies of divine providence we
    get faith, the worth of which is boundless. 
The ice of petty care and trouble which froze our hearts
    is melted. 
It has become the water of divine illumination, bearing
    us on to peace. 
The more care and trouble, the greater the illumination
    and the reward.