Chapter 2.
And now came a painful experience. For some months all had gone well in the home of the ex-Confucianist, and the excitement aroused by his conversion had to some extent subsided. It even seemed as though the tide were beginning to turn, and he might gain ground in popular favor again. This in large measure was due to a practical way he had of applying the teachings of Christ to daily affairs.
His first concern, for example, on becoming a Christian, had been to Seek out the aged stepmother, driven from his home years before, and living still in poverty and neglect.
“Only return to us, mother,” he urged, “and see how changed my heart has become. All that is possible, now, I will do to atone for the past. You shall have the best our home affords, and the handsomest coffin and funeral I can provide.”
At first the old lady was frightened, and thought he must have lost his senses. But by degrees it dawned upon her that he really meant what he said. And then with joy and wonder, she went with him and was reinstated in the old home.
“See,” said the village women, “to be a Christian cannot be so bad after all!”
And then there were his brothers, clever, unscrupulous men, with hot tempers like his own. Though all of them Confucian scholars, well drilled in “the five relationships,” they had found it impossible to live together, and long ago the family had been broken up. Time only added bitterness to the quarrel, until everybody knew that the brothers were at daggers drawn.
But Hsi read in the teachings of his new Master, “first be reconciled to thy brother”; and this he felt must mean just what it said.
It was a difficult undertaking; but he prayed much about it, and frankly confessed where he himself had been wrong. Publicly to sue for peace, for nothing of that sort can be private in China, meant not a little humiliation, and at first he was only laughed at for his pains. But by degrees he conquered the difficulty, and friendly intercourse was resumed.
“Surely,” thought the onlookers, moved to approbation, “the teachings of the Western Sage have power.”
Thus, little by little, the new faith won its way. A Chinaman knows how to appreciate a good thing when he sees it, though it usually takes some time to open his eyes. And all the while Hsi was preaching as well as practicing the Gospel. Daily worship in his household had grown into a little service, often attended by outsiders. Among his relatives not a few were interested, and his wife and stepmother were almost ready to declare themselves Christians.
And just then this new trouble arose: the strangest, most unexpected thing that could have happened.
It all concerned Mrs. Hsi, and thus touched her husband in the tenderest point. For he had been so full of hope and joy about her. Always receptive and intelligent, she had grasped the truth with clearness. Her life had brightened and her heart enlarged, until it seemed as though she would become her husband’s real fellow worker and friend.
Then, suddenly, all was changed; and her very nature seemed changed too. At first only moody and restless, she rapidly fell a prey to deep depression, alternating with painful excitement. Soon she could scarcely eat or sleep, and household duties were neglected. In spite of herself, and against her own will, she was tormented by constant suggestions of evil, while a horror as of some dread nightmare seemed to possess her. She was not ill in body, and certainly not deranged in mind. But try as she might to control her thoughts and actions, she seemed under the sway of some evil power against which resistance was of no avail.
Especially when the time came for daily worship, she was thrown into paroxysms of ungovernable rage. This distressed and amazed her as much as her husband, and at first she sought to restrain the violent antipathy she did not wish to feel. But little by little her will ceased to exert any power. She seemed carried quite out of herself, and in the seizures, which became frequent, would use language more terrible than anything she could ever have heard in her life. Sometimes she would rush into the room, like one insane, and violently break up the proceedings, or would fall insensible on the floor, writhing in convulsions that resembled epilepsy.
Recognizing these and other symptoms only too well, the excited Neighbors gathered round, crying: “Did not we say so from the beginning! It is a doctrine of devils, and now the evil spirits have come upon her. Certainly he is reaping his reward.”
The swing of the pendulum was complete, and in his trouble Hsi found no sympathy. There was not a man or woman in the village but believed that his wife was possessed by evil spirits, as a judgment upon his sin against the gods.
“A famous Conqueror of Demons,” they cried. “Let us see what his faith can do now.”
And for a time it seemed as though that faith could do nothing. This was the bitterest surprise of all. Local doctors were powerless, and all the treatment he could think of unavailing. But prayer; surely prayer would bring relief? Yet pray as he might the poor sufferer only grew worse. Exhausted by the violence of more frequent paroxysms, the strain began to tell seriously, and all her strength seemed ebbing away.
Then Hsi cast himself afresh on God. This trouble, whatever it was, came from the great enemy of souls, and must yield to the power of Jesus. He called for a fast of three days and nights in his household, and gave himself to prayer. Weak in body, but strong in faith, he laid hold on the promises of God, and claimed complete deliverance. Then without hesitation he went to his distressed wife, and laying his hands upon her, in the name of Jesus, commanded the evil spirits to depart and torment her no more.
Then and there the change was wrought. To the astonishment of all except her husband, Mrs. Hsi was immediately delivered. Weak as she was, she realized that the trouble was conquered. And very soon the neighborhood realized it too.
For the completeness of the cure was proved by after events. Mrs. Hsi never again suffered in this way. And so profoundly was she impressed, that she forthwith declared herself a Christian and one with her husband in his life work.
The effect upon the villagers was startling. Familiar as they were with cases of alleged demon possession more or less terrible in character, the people had never seen or heard of a cure, and never expected to. What could one do against malicious spirits? Yet here, before their eyes, was proof of a power mightier than the strong man armed. It seemed little less than a miracle.
“Who can this Jesus be?” was the question of many hearts. “No wonder they would have us, too, believe and worship.”
Some did follow Mrs. Hsi’s example, and turn to the Lord. Regular Sunday services were established, and idolatry in many homes began to relax its hitherto unquestioned sway.
But it was Hsi himself who learned the deepest lessons through all this strange experience. More than ever confident in the power of Christ, he devoted himself afresh to the spread of the Gospel, and came to believe with stronger faith in the efficacy of prayer, under all circumstances, in His name.