REV. ARTHUR ELWIN ON ANCESTRAL WORSHIP. 



73 



and if we go out in the evening we have to take a lantern, but 

 the night when the offerings are made, lanterns are hung all 

 along the street to give light, so that the destitute spirits may 

 not miss tlieir way, when on the road to the place where the 

 offerings are to be made. It may be mentioned that this 

 society is subscribed to by all the chief men of the city. Fear 

 prompts the gifts. Destitute, neglected spirits may do much 

 harm, but if only they can be kept clothed and fed, they will be 

 quiet. 



This fear of the evil spirits is a very I'eal thing with the 

 Chinese. Xot a few times, when sleeping in a Chinese village, 

 have I been awoke in the middle of the night by a tremendous 

 noise, caused by shouting, beating of gongs, and the letting off 

 of fire crackers, and I have been told in the morning that the 

 noise wns caused by the people driving away an evil spirit. 

 Someone had died, or, as they say, " the evil spirit had run 

 away with somebody's soul," the fear being lest if the spirit 

 were not driven out of the village, someone else's soul might be 

 run away with. 



Insanity is nearly always ascribed to possession by a 

 destitute spirit. The speaker has in his possession iron fetters, 

 which were worn for many months by a young woman, who 

 was said to be possessed by a destitute spirit. The friends of 

 the young woman heard that the Christian's God could cast out 

 evil spirits, they therefore asked a member of the new religion 

 to come and pray that the spirit might be cast out of their 

 relative. The prayer meeting was held in a little room far 

 away in the hills. The Christian prayed that, as m time of old 

 the Lord had exercised His power by casting out evil spirits by 

 the shore of the sea of Galilee, so He would now once more 

 exercise that power by casting out the evil spirit that possessed 

 the young woman kneeling in the room. When they rose from 

 their knees, the friends at once removed the chain with which 

 the young woman's feet were bound, and she was free. For 

 three years the young woman was connected with our mission 

 in China, and at the end of that time, to our great regret, her 

 husband came and claimed her, and took her far away into the 

 hills, where we could not reach her. 



It is well known that all foreigners are called by the Chinese 

 "Foreign Devils." We hardly ever went out in the streets of 

 Hangchow without hearing someone say : " There goes a foreign 

 devil." It is not a nice name to be called, and it will be 

 well to inc^uire what the name really means. The word 

 translated Devil, is the name given to the destitute spirits, 



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