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

CHAPTER VII: OTHER COMMUNICATIONS

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES IN CHINA

The following is taken from the Christian Herald and Signs of the Times of August 4, 1880.

"A Chinese demon-possessed woman becoming a Bible-woman."
"The Rev. W. R. Stuart, of the Foochow [Fuzhou] Mission in China, (English Church Missionary Society) in his report of work during the past year, furnished the following marvelous cure of a demon-possessed woman.
"One Sunday morning, about a year ago, a woman with her husband and four children came to my house here, and asked to be taken in and taught 'the doctrine.' We replied that we had no place where they could reside, and no means whereby to support them. The poor people fell down before us, knocking their heads on the ground, beseeching that we would have pity on them, and teach them the doctrine (i. e. Christianity), for that the woman was possessed by an evil spirit, and had come a very long way at considerable expense, in obedience to a dream commanding her, if she would get rid of the evil spirit, to go to Foochow, and learn the doctrine of Jesus. Still we replied that it was quite impossible that we should take them in. However, just at that time the students of our Theological College were in need of a cook, and hearing of this family they sent over word that they themselves would take the man as their cook, and subscribe among themselves sufficient to support the family for a while; allowing them to occupy an empty room underneath the college. To this we agreed; the entire expense being borne by the students.
"Some few days afterwards I was suddenly summoned by a message that the woman was in one of her fits, and I immediately went down with Dr. Taylor. We found her sitting on her bed, waving her arms about, and talking in an excited manner. She evidently had no control over herself, and was not conscious of what she was saying. Dr. Taylor, in order to ascertain whether it was merely a hysterical fit, or something over which she had control, called for a large dinner knife, and baring her arm laid the edge against the skin, as though he intended to cut; but the woman seemed to take no heed whatever. He then threw a cupful of water in her face; but she seemed to mind this as little as the knife; never for a moment stopping in

her loud talk; and strange to say, as far as I could follow it, it was entirely about God and Christ and the Holy Spirit; and that she believed in the Son of God.

"This was the more strange, seeing that, as far as we could reason, the woman never had any opportunity whatever of learning the doctrine. Holding her hand I induced her to stop for one moment, and said: 'Who is this Son of God; do you know?' She replied at once in the same wild way as before: 'Yes, I know, He is Jesus: Jesus is the Son of God.'¹⁵
"A few moments afterwards she shivered all over three times in a strange way. I caught her hands thinking she was about to fall. But she seemed to get better, and lay quietly down on the bed. The next day or two she remained in bed, and on Saturday night following she again had a dream. The evil spirit seemed to seize her by the neck, commanding her to leave Foo-chow at once, and return to her home, or it would kill her. However instead of obeying she ran by herself Sunday morning to the church, and while there the pain which she had been feeling all the morning in her neck left her, and she experienced a strangely happy sensation; and since that day she has had no return of those attacks which she had been subject to continually for three years previously, and to obtain a cure for which she, poor woman, had presented many costly offerings to the idols. Now for a year she has been working with Mrs. Stuart, and nothing could exceed her diligence and earnest desire to learn the way of God more perfectly. Just lately she has returned home well able to read the New Testament, and parts of the Old Testament, burning with a desire to teach her relations and friends at Chia-Sioh, none of whom, as yet, know anything of the truth."
Further particulars connected with this case are given in an account of it written by Mrs. Stuart, and published in Woman's Work, May, 1880. After alluding to the happy experience referred to above Mrs. Stuart says:
"All the Christians there, both men and women, had been praying very earnestly for her, and were greatly rejoiced when they heard of this happy result.
"Soon after this she joined our class of Christian women, who came to our house daily to study, and was most remarkable for her great diligence and eager desire to learn. She learned quickly and easily, and seemed to take great delight in it. Her great anxiety was to learn enough herself to be able to teach her relations and friends, especially her parents; for she was so afraid that they might die before she had taught them to know and love the Saviour.
"Her relations, hearing that she was cured, were very much astonished, and sent her messages several times asking her to come back and teach them about the Christian's God; for they believed He must have greater power than their idols. She remained with us however until she had learned to read the colloquial New Testament very fairly; and a short time ago the whole family returned to their native village, taking with them a well instructed Christian woman to help them in teaching their heathen relations and friends. She begged us to remember them in prayer that God would give them wisdom and incline the hearts of the people to listen to them; for she felt she must obey the Saviour's command given of old to one in a similar position: 'Return unto thine own house and show how great things God hath done unto thee,'"¹⁶
The following are extracts from an account of a supposed case of "possession" in the province of Kwang-tung [Guangdong], which was published in 1880. Many interesting details relating to Chinese social life and customs are omitted.
"How a Familiar Spirit was Ejected from the Yong Family."
Translated from the verbal narrative of Mrs. Yong, by Miss A. M. Field, author of Pagoda Shadows.
" 'The first thing that I remember in my life is the distress of extreme poverty. When I was fifteen years old my mother was attacked by a demon, and she could not drive it away. Christians have only to resist the devil and he flees from them;¹⁷ but people who know nothing about God have only their own strength with which to meet demons, and they have to succumb to them. My mother had violent palpitations of the heart, spasmodic contractions of the muscles, and foaming at the mouth. Then she would speak whatever the demon told her to say, and would do whatever he impelled her to do. My father told her that it was very bad to be a spirit-medium; but if she was going to be one she must be an honest one, and never give other than good advice, nor take more than fair pay for her services. She never took more than two or three cents from any one who came to her for a consultation with the demon. There were several spirit-mediums in our village, but none was so popular as my mother became. . . . When I was twenty-two my father died, and shortly after, the two young women that my mother had taken as wives for two of my brothers, died, within twenty days. My brothers then said that my mother's familiar spirit was a harmful one, and that they would no longer live in the house with it. The two elder boys went away and became the sons of a well-to-do kinsman; the third set up housekeeping apart from us; and the youngest hired himself out to a petty official. My mother was greatly distressed by all this, and thought she would try to rid herself of her possessor; but the demon told her that if she tried to evict him she would be the worse for it; and she then dared to do nothing for her own salvation."
Then follows a long account of the manner in which the family heard of Christianity, which they finally embraced. Then the story proceeds as follows: "As the Holy Spirit entered my mother's heart the demon went out. When she knew about the true God, and trusted in Jesus, she no longer feared the demon, and when he came and agitated her heart and twisted her muscles, she prayed to God till the demon left her. The idols were all put out of the house, and the other members of the family began to believe.
"All the neighbors protested against my mother's ceasing to interpret the will of the gods to them. When they saw that my brother Po-hing and I were determined to be Christians they urged my mother to separate from us, and continue her old occupation. But we held to our mother, and finally brought her heart and all with us. We have less money than we had when my mother was a spirit-medium; but we have what is worth more than money: a knowledge of the truth, and the joy that comes from the consciousness that we are in the way to Heaven.
"The familiar spirit troubles my mother no more. Every member of our household is a believer, and several of our neighbors come to our house for Sunday worship."
At the end of the above translation Miss Field adds the following remarks:

"This old woman, named Lotus, was, when I first saw her, the least hope-inspiring of all the women who have come under my instruction. Her son and daughter had urged her to come out here to see me, hoping I might lead her to the Saviour, but not daring to present other motives for her coming than that of "seeing the Teacheress' pretty foreign pictures and furniture." She came with them, saying she did not care about hearing any preaching, but as she had not been away from home for a long time she would go and see the Teacheress. She seemed such a wreck as a demon might make of a woman. Her hands shook so that she could scarcely hold a book; her head vibrated incessantly from palsy; and her split tongue, slashed often in her frenzies to draw blood for medicine, appeared like a forked one, about to fly out of her mouth as she talked. Her mind was completely saturated with heathenism. I wondered whether the rays of Divine light would ever penetrate the great depth of paganism in which her soul was sunk; and whether they would ever so quicken it that it would burst the tangled coils of the superstitions which bound it. That was three years ago. To-day that old woman is a Christian, singularly quick in apprehending the highest spiritual truths, and with a great love for the Bible, which she delights in reading to herself and others.

"Had I stood beside the Lord in Judea when he healed the demoniac that raged among the tombs, and with my mortal eyes had seen that man sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, the miracle would have appeared to me no greater than this one, and no more truly the work of His hand." (Swatow [Shantou], China, 1880.)
My readers will probably think that the cases of supposed demon-possession already given are quite sufficient for a fair presentation of the whole subject, and that a continuation of these cases, which might be indefinitely multiplied, would be not only useless, but monotonous and wearisome.
As some persons, however, may be specially interested in further details, and especially in new phases of these phenomena, other cases from our Shantung [Shandong] stations and other places in North China, may be found in the Appendix. These coming from familiar acquaintances, who could be questioned and cross-questioned, are specially accompanied with circumstantial details. Similar facts and experiences from other eastern nations, and from European nations, are given in the chapters immediately following.
Before closing this chapter I think it well to make some reference to the experience and testimony of Roman Catholic missionaries in China, on this subject. It would not be difficult to multiply evidence from this source to almost any extent. I will content myself with introducing an extract from the letter of D. M. St. Martin, a translation of which was kindly sent me by S. Wells Williams, LL.D. This communication is important, as showing how common supposed cases of demon-possession were in China more then half a century ago; and how missionaries of this church have dealt with them.
(Translation)
"Experience moreover has proved that religion spreads the more it is persecuted. Those who had no knowledge of this before, astonished at the faithfulness and intrepidity of the confessors of this faith, acknowledged at least that there was in it something more than human. They then longed to be instructed in the truth. As simply as possible were taught to them the doctrines of the gospel; and with the same simplicity they believed.
Strongest of proofs for them was the fact, always remaining, of the Christian's power over demons. It is amazing how much these poor infidels are tormented by them. From them they can discover no remedy save in the prayers of the Christians, by whose assistance they are dehvered and converted. I am at this moment awaiting the outcome of an event that bids fair to turn to the advantage of religion. There is at a distance of seven or eight leagues from here the home of certain pagans which, during a month past, has been infested with demons. They maltreat all there who oppose them, and have been seen from time to time setting the house on fire; so that the wretched occupants are kept ever on the alert. They have had recourse to all kinds of superstition; having called upon their Bonzes, who are the priests of the country; but the Bonzes could do naught. The pater familias, at whose house we reside, proposed to go thither; and upon accepting his suggestion I gave him what instruction was necessary, and he went. He is a man of most admirable faith. He was converted some five or six months ago, and has himself converted all his family, which is an unusually large one. He has worked many marvelous cures, saying to the sick: 'Believe, and thou shalt be made whole,' and this practice is usually attended with success. He has already been persecuted for the faith, and borne his sufferings with the greatest constancy. My trust in God's compassion is such that I know his journey will be a perfect success."
Letters of D. M. Saint Martin.