Demon possession and allied themes; being an inductive study of phenomena of our own times

Demon Possession

and Allied Themes

(Annotated)
By John L. Nevius
Introduction by F. F. Ellingwood
Editors

Henry W. Rankin

Robert C. Newman
Interdisciplinary Biblical

Research Institute

www.ibri.org

CONTENTS

Introductory Note, by Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D.D.
Author's Preface.
Note of Explanation, by Henry W. Rankin
Editorial Note, by Robert C. Newman
I. First Impressions and Experiences.
II. Experiences in Central Shantung.
III. Further Experiences in Central Shantung.
IV. Circular Letter and Responses.
V. Responses to Circular Continued.
VI. More Responses to Circular.
VII. Other Communications from Various Sources in China.
VIII. Demon Possession in India, Japan, and Other Lands.
IX. Demon Possession in Christian Countries.
X. Character of the Evidence Presented and Facts Established by It.
XI. Explanations: Evolution and Other Theories.
XII. The Pathological Theory.
XIII. The Psychological Theory.
XIV. The Biblical Theory.
XV. Teachings of the Sacred Scriptures Continued.
XVI. Historical Sketch of Demonism.
XVII. Spiritualism.
XVIII. The Facts and Literature of the Occult.
APPENDIX I: More Chinese Instances.
APPENDIX II: Other Testimonies.
INDEXES:

Bibliographical

Biblical

Pathological

General

SUPPLEMENT.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

By Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D. D.
For several years I have been aware that Rev. Dr. John L. Nevius of Chefoo [Yantai], China, was giving careful attention to certain strange psychical phenomena which were presented from time to time in the interior districts of the Shantung [Shandong] Province. I became more interested in the progress of his inquiries from the fact that upon an acquaintance continued for more than a quarter of a century I regarded him as a man peculiarly fitted to examine so intricate and difficult a subject.
His philosophic insight, his judicial fairness of mind, his caution and his conscientious thoroughness, appeared to me admirable qualifications for such a study. Moreover his thorough mastery of the Chinese language spoken and written, his intimate sympathy with the people, and his correspondingly truer interpretation of their innermost thought and life, have rendered him still more capable of ascertaining the real facts in the case, and of forming accurate judgments upon them.
Antecedently to any knowledge of the New Testament, the people of North China believed fully in the possession of the minds and bodies of men by evil spirits. This belief is a part of that animism, or spirit worship, which has existed in China—as in many other countries—from the very beginning of history or tradition. It has always been understood that the personality of the evil spirit usurped, or for the time being supplanted, that of the unwilling victim and acted through his organs and faculties. Physical suffering and sometimes violent paroxysms attended the presence and active influence of the spirit, and not only the particular demoniac, but all his household were filled with more or less anxiety and distress.
When therefore Christianity was introduced into China, and the narratives of demoniacal possession given in the New Testament were read, the correspondence that was at once recognized by the native Christians seemed complete.
In relation to this particular form of New Testament miracles there has never been any difficulty on the part of Chinese Christians, if indeed among the heathen portion of the community. And what is very striking in the accounts given by Dr. Nevius, is their uniform confidence shown in the power of Jesus, or even of an appeal to His name, to expel the spirits and set the victims free. According to the testimony of many witnesses no earnest Christian believer has ever continued to be afflicted. This seems to be a generally accepted fact, by the heathen who have known the circumstances, as well as by believers.
It will be observed that nearly all the incidents related are given on the testimony not of missionaries, but of native Christians—mostly native pastors. The cases have been carefully investigated, however, by several different missionaries, who have shared in the interest taken by Dr. Nevius, and no one of them appears to have any doubt of the veracity of the witnesses.
Some of the facts also have passed under their own immediate observation.
Missionaries in China have all proceeded with great caution in this matter. Dr. Nevius and others have avoided any measures which might lead the people to suppose that they claim the power to cast out devils even in Jesus' name. Nor does it appear that any native minister has claimed any such power. The most that has been done has been to kneel down and pray to Jesus to relieve the sufferer, at the same time inviting all present to unite in the prayer; and it seems a well-established fact that in nearly or quite every instance, the person afflicted, speaking apparently in a different personality and with a different voice has confessed the power of Jesus and has departed.
Whatever theory we may adopt by way of explaining these mysterious phenomena, the idea of intentional fraud on the part either of the afflicted, or of the Christian witnesses and sympathizers, is excluded.
The absence of all motive to deceive, the great number of instances, the well-tried character of the witnesses, and all the circumstances connected with their minute and consistent narratives, establish beyond reasonable doubt their entire sincerity. Whatever the world at large may think, the native Christians of Shantung are as fully convinced, both of the reality of demoniacal possessions, and of the available power of Jesus to remedy them, as were the disciples in the apostolic church. And the number of coincidences which Dr. Nevius has pointed out between these cases and those described in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles is certainly remarkable. In regard to them each reader of the book must form his own conclusions. The author does not insist upon any particular interpretation, or any final conclusion. He is evidently impressed with the gravity of his subject and the possibility of erroneous speculations. But in his extended researches he has found such speculations already rife, and he has considered them briefly in some of the later chapters of his book.
A belief in demoniacal possession has existed in many lands and throughout the ages, and many and conflicting theories of explanation have been advanced by anthropologists and writers on psychology, hypnotism, etc. Some of these Dr. Nevius has answered, and, as I think, successfully; and on the whole his mind seems inclined to the view that as yet no theory has been advanced which so well accords with the facts as the simple and unquestioning conclusion so universally held by the Christians of Shantung, viz., that evil spirits do in many instances possess or control the mind and will of human beings.
Hypnotism, making due allowance for a thousand extravagances which have attended it, does seem to show that one strong and magnetic human will may so control the mind and will of its subject as by a mere silent volition to direct his words and acts. Who shall say then that a disembodied spirit may not do the same?
Professor Shaler [Nathan Southgate, 1841-1906] of Harvard in his Interpretation of Nature [1893] has pointed out the fact of a strong reaction against the materialism which seemed confident of dominion a few years ago. Certain biological investigators, flushed with the success of their researches, were very confident that, if they had not been able to discover the human soul with the microscope, they had at least identified it very closely with the substance of the brain and nerves. But now, as the professor shows, science is beginning to discover realms of spirit lying beyond the physical, and of which we have as yet but the barest glimpses of knowledge. Evidently human research has not yet finished its work and is not ready to rest its case upon any dogmatic verdict.
Over against materialistic speculation are the vagaries of spiritualists, theosophists, and all apostles of Oriental or Occidental occultism. Their theories are on the opposite extreme, and it is one of their chief claims for recognition that they hope to save society from the deadening influence of materialism.
Dr. Nevius, after considering both of these extremes, finds no better account of man's spiritual nature than that which is given in the Word of God:—No more rational view of his conflicts with evil, no more satisfactory and all sufficient remedy for that evil. While he does not dogmatize in regard to the mysterious maladies suffered in Shantung he deems it wise to state the facts, nor does he disguise the leanings of his own mind, in regard to them.