riod, during which time she was under a vow to wear
black garments, to perform certain rites as required by the devil, and
to chant instead of speaking. She told me once that she knew all I could
tell her of the Lord of Heaven and of the death upon the cross of His
Son, but that she served the lord of hell, and his servant she remained,
only giving up her peculiar dress and manner when the time of her vow
had expired.

The yielding of personality to the possession of a spirit no doubt
seriously weakens the will power. Many cases are on record of those who
once delivered, like the man in the Gospel from whom the evil spirit had
been cast out, unconsciously again prepare the empty house to receive
the evil guest, and whose latter state is worse than the former.

It was to a woman, terror of the district in which she lived, that a
Chinese evangelist was called. After prayer in which he and some
inquirers took part, the evil spirit in obedience to their command
departed. A few weeks later on yielding to violent temper, she fell into
a worse state than before. The missionary of the district was this time
begged to go himself. As soon as he entered the room the woman threw
herself upon the _kang_, rolling about in seemingly great agony. The
Chinese helper, Mr. Li, rebuked the spirit, saying: "We ordered you to
leave. Why have you returned?" "I could find no dwelling-place," was the
answer, given with extraordinary rapidity, in the curious spirit voice.
"Find me a place to rest, and I will leave at once." "We have come,"
said Li, "to command you to leave, not to find you a place." Upon this
the woman laughed and clapped her hands, and in the struggle it seemed
as if the powers of evil were in the ascendancy. As she still chuckled
with amusement, Li said: "Let us sing a hymn," and immediately the voice
replied: "I too can sing," and forthwith shouted some theatrical songs.
Mr. Li then prayed, but there was seemingly no power and the voice also
mockingly prayed. The missionary then interposed, saying: "I have not
come here to hold intercourse with demons," and forthwith
authoritatively commanded the demon to leave her. There was a struggle,
and she fell down unconscious on the _kang_.

She came to herself in a normal condition and apologised to the
missionary for her state of deshabille. Faithfully and sternly he
rebuked her for sin and for giving place to the devil. She recognised
her fault, and was from that time a changed w