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Story
March 3, 1804
Jenks' Portland Gazette
Portland, Cumberland County, Maine
What is this article about?
A 1803 letter from Knox County, Tennessee, describes a summer religious revival with unusual physical manifestations including jerking convulsions, loud laughing, and ecstatic dancing during a four-day sacrament, viewed as divine work.
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OCR Quality
95%
Excellent
Full Text
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE
The following extract of a letter received by a citizen of Gates county, in this State, from his brother in Tennessee, dated Knox county, Oct. 1st, 1803: gives an account of some movements in religion, which we lay before our readers, and on which they will form their own opinions:
"A great revival of religion took place in this neighborhood this summer. It began in a way that I never saw before, and it continues in a very strange way. It began with a jerking and shaking of the body, something like convulsion fits, and this bodily exercise continued with some for three or four months, and that daily. Since that there is a laughing takes place amongst the people, that may be heard for one or two hundred yards. I was at a sacrament a few days past, which held four days and there was something new to me, though I have heard of it before, which was a dancing amongst many, as perfect a dance as I ever saw after a violin; some danced as long as their strength would last, and I have not a doubt but that they danced with the same spirit that David danced before the Ark. It would be impossible to relate all the exercises of the body that are to be seen; Some jumping, some running, some shouting and some in great distress; it is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes."
[Raleigh (N. C.) Register.]
The following extract of a letter received by a citizen of Gates county, in this State, from his brother in Tennessee, dated Knox county, Oct. 1st, 1803: gives an account of some movements in religion, which we lay before our readers, and on which they will form their own opinions:
"A great revival of religion took place in this neighborhood this summer. It began in a way that I never saw before, and it continues in a very strange way. It began with a jerking and shaking of the body, something like convulsion fits, and this bodily exercise continued with some for three or four months, and that daily. Since that there is a laughing takes place amongst the people, that may be heard for one or two hundred yards. I was at a sacrament a few days past, which held four days and there was something new to me, though I have heard of it before, which was a dancing amongst many, as perfect a dance as I ever saw after a violin; some danced as long as their strength would last, and I have not a doubt but that they danced with the same spirit that David danced before the Ark. It would be impossible to relate all the exercises of the body that are to be seen; Some jumping, some running, some shouting and some in great distress; it is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes."
[Raleigh (N. C.) Register.]
What sub-type of article is it?
Extraordinary Event
Curiosity
Historical Event
What themes does it cover?
Providence Divine
Moral Virtue
What keywords are associated?
Religious Revival
Jerking Exercise
Laughing
Dancing
Sacrament
Knox County
1803
Where did it happen?
Knox County, Tennessee
Story Details
Location
Knox County, Tennessee
Event Date
Summer 1803
Story Details
A religious revival begins with jerking and shaking like convulsions, lasting months; followed by loud laughing and dancing at a four-day sacrament, with jumping, running, shouting, and distress, seen as the Lord's marvelous doing.