“The phenomenon of…suddenly falling or sinking down, under religious exercises, has not been uncommon in times of great excitement…. But the bodily agitation called the jerks is a very different affection….”
“I seen a woman have a fit in the morning & the man at knight the first that I ever saw have Convulsion fits. To see the Goodness & the mercy of God in preserving his people how thankful ought I to be….”
“It was about the year 1814, as near as we can ascertain—for there was no record kept of the matter—that the singular religious phenomenon called the “jerks” began to make its appearance at the camp-meetings….”
“[N]ow I left for cincinati again and on my way heard of the New light Presbytarians…and heard all sort of bad reports a bout them they said that…they would fall and lay for hours and…others jerk backwards and forwards with somuch force that a ladys hair wold crack like a wip….”
“There is something in the jerks unexplainable….”
