The "Jerks" Revived

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 1, 1858

The "Jerks" Revived.

The Livingston County News of the 16th says: "We learn that at Avoca, Ills., the Methodists are having a religious excitement. At meetings of this kind we believe it is customary for the attendants to have what is termed 'the power.' But at this place the wonder has assumed a different shape; members of the audience are suddenly seized with violent spasms causing them to jump up and tumble down, writhe and twist and tumble about generally like 'a parched pea.' Our informant says, a man passing the streets one day, feeling the influence coming upon him, fastened his arms about a post to keep from being taken up or thrown down, and had it not been that the ground was frozen, the post would have been thus miraculously pulled up. Those thus affected cling to their seats in the vain attempt to keep themselves within bounds, but the more they exert themselves to keep quiet, the more they are jerked and strung about."

Another account says:

"From fifty to a hundred were jerking at the same time. Their hands, shoulders, feet and heads would be violently thrown into the most grotesque and apparently frightful shapes. The women's bonnets would fly off, their hair become disheveled, and in some instances snap like a whip. In some instances it attacked unbelievers, and unconverted men who tried to resist it, by folding their arms and wrapping them tightly around their bodies, but in spite of themselves, their shoulders, first one and then the other, would be jerked back, till they lost all control of themselves."—Spiritual Age.