Letter from John Meacham, Issachar Bates, and Benjamin Seth Youngs to David Osborn (April 27, 1805)

Letter from John Meacham, Issachar Bates, and Benjamin Seth Youngs to David Osborn (April 27, 1805)

“Soon after they began to sing several were taken with the Jerks, while sitting on their seats. Their heads, & shoulders were Jerked back & forth, with such increasing violence, that in a few seconds their hats, & bonnets, & even hankerchiefs which were tied close to their heads would fly off. Some would soon be Jerked flat on the floor, in a manner very mortifying to all delicate feelings….”

Excerpts from the Journal of Benjamin Seth Youngs (May 30, 1805–January 14, 1806)

Excerpts from the Journal of Benjamin Seth Youngs (May 30, 1805–January 14, 1806)

“Charity M. came about 10 A.M. with the Jerks & in trouble & opened her mind to B. She said She received the Jerks to be a compelling power from God….”

Excerpt from Archibald Alexander’s Thoughts on Religious Experience (1844)

“In those remarkable bodily affections, called the jerks, which appeared in religious meetings some years ago, the nervous irregularity was commonly produced by the sight of other persons thus affected; and if in some instances without the sight, yet by having the imagination strongly impressed by hearing of such things….”