The Other World; or, Glimpses of the Supernatural (Vol. 1 of 2): Being Facts, Records, and Traditions Relating to Dreams, Omens, Miraculous Occurrences, Apparitions, Wraiths, Warnings, Second-sight, Witchcraft, Necromancy, etc.
Religion
The Other World; or, Glimpses of the Supernatural (Vol. 1 of 2): Being Facts, Records, and Traditions Relating to Dreams, Omens, Miraculous Occurrences, Apparitions, Wraiths, Warnings, Second-sight, Witchcraft, Necromancy, etc.
Spiritualism; Supernatural
A second example of successful exorcism, now to be narrated, is from the
pen of an eminent and well-known clergyman[44] of the Church of England,
whose literary labours in the early part of the Oxford movement, were
recognized and rewarded by high authority in the English Church. Only a
slight verbal alteration here and there to make the narrative of itself
quite intelligible, has been made by the Editor.
“The subject is almost too sacred for pen; and I only put it on record to
show the goodness of God, and to indicate that His powers are not
withdrawn, nor His Arm shortened. It is some years, however, since the
event to be related happened; and the subject of it has long gone to his
last account. I must scrupulously refrain from any indication of place and
person; though, in these latter days of rude and coarse unbelief, when
such interpositions of the Almighty’s mercy are laughed to scorn, _some_
may find comfort and edification from its recital.
“The son of a farmer, who had just come of age, having heard a sermon of
mine, which I had preached some five years previously, came a distance of
more than thirty miles to seek at my hands ghostly counsel. From his
childhood he had been led to indulge in breaches of the seventh
commandment, and these after a while were certainly of a heinous
character. He believed himself (when I saw him) to be possessed by an
unclean spirit. Wherever he went, he asserted that he saw a hideous black
figure, darkly draped, with a form like a man, but with the face of a
beast, sitting opposite to, huddled up, and staring at him. It would
appear for weeks together, at home, abroad, in his sleeping-room, in the
field, in the market. Sometimes he would throw himself on to the floor in
an agony of distraction, and pray God that it might be removed. For a
short term he would cease to see it. But in due course it reappeared. And
at last (an event which had never happened hitherto,) it would likewise
haunt him in dreams. On one occasion he declared that it seemed to
elongate itself into a long serpent-like figure, and, as he asserted,
tried to creep down his throat. But wherever he went he almost always saw
it. Thinking it might be the result of bodily ailment he consulted a
physician; but with no effect.
“I am free to say that I was not long in coming to a conclusion, that it
was a case of possession; though I did not arrive at that conclusion until
I had taken counsel from one of the most pious and holy clergymen I ever
knew,[45] and had commended the subject to God Almighty in very earnest
prayer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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