Excerpt from the Autobiography of Rev. Joseph Travis (ca. 1807)

About the first appointment I reached on the circuit, I was not a little concerned in witnessing what was called the jerks and dancing exercise. To see persons tumbling down and jerking, hard enough, I thought, to dislocate the joints; women’s combs flying in every direction, and their hair popping almost as loud as wagon-whips—I knew not what to think of it. I never before had seen the like; but ultimately came to the conclusion that religious people might have the jerks, but that there was no religion in the jerks—in which opinion I have remained steadfast to the present day. I can never forget one Sabbath, standing on a floor to preach: Brother Christie, a pious and upright man, the class-leader, was standing close by me; and while we were repeating and singing the first hymn, he was taken with the jerks, knocked the hymn book out of my hand, and gave my unfortunate nose a hard rap. It was some time before I could recover from consternation and pain; and in spite of myself an association of ideas intruded upon me something like this: that if the jerks were from God, he would not wish me to preach to that congregation, under such mal-treatment inflicted on me by the jerks. I, however, endeavored to banish such thoughts, and proceeded in the usual exercises, as if nothing had happened. I have always considered the jerks an incomprehensible sensation, or agitation, produced upon pious people. I ascertained the fact, however, that they were far more prevalent with weak-minded and nervous professors, than with those of well cultivated minds and healthful bodies.