“a very remarkable exercise attended his mind, and going through
the streets without his shoes he cried, ‘Woe to the bloody city of
Lichfield.’ His feelings were deeply affected, for there seemed to
be a channel of blood running down the streets, and the market place
appeared like a pool of blood.” On inquiry he learned that a large
number of Christians had been put to death there during the reign
of the Emperor Diocletian thirteen centuries before. “He therefore
attributed the exercise which came upon him to the sense that was given
him of the blood of the martyrs.”
We are also told that he “received an evidence” of the great fire of
London in 1666, before the event, and Janney narrates at length a
“still more remarkable vision” of the same fire by another Friend,
“whose prophecy is well attested.” According to the account, this man
rode into the city, as though having come in haste, and went up and
down the streets for two days, prophesying that the city would be
destroyed by fire. To others of his own denomination he declared that
he had had a vision of the event some time before, but had delayed to
declare it as commanded, until he felt the fire in his own bosom. When
the fire did occur as he had predicted, he stood before the flames with
arms outstretched, as if to stay their advance, until forcibly brought
away by his friends.
In mental and physical temperament Fox seems to have closely resembled
Mohammed and the Indian prophets of the Ghost dance. We are told that
he had much mental suffering and was often under great temptation. “He
fasted much, and walked abroad in solitary places. Taking his Bible,
he sat in hollow trees or secluded spots, and often at night he walked
alone in silent meditation.” At one time “he fell into such a condition
that he looked like a corpse, and many who came to see him supposed him
to be really dead. In this trance he continued fourteen days, after
which his sorrow began to abate, and with brokenness of heart and tears
of joy he acknowledged the infinite love of God.” (_Janney, George
Fox._)
The sect obtained the name of Quakers from the violent tremblings which
overcame the worshipers in the early days, and which they regarded
as manifestations of divine power on them. So violent were these
convulsions that, as their own historian tells us, on one occasion the
house itself seemed to be shaken. According to another authority, men
and women sometimes fell down and lay upon the ground struggling as if
for life. Their ministers, however, seem not to have encouraged such
exhibitions, but strove to relieve the fit by putting the patient to
bed and administering soothing medicines. (_“Quakers,” Encyclopedia
Britannica._)
The Fifth-Monarchy Men were a small band of religionists who arose
about the same time, proclaiming that the “Fifth Monarchy” prophesied
by Daniel was at hand, when Christ would come down from heaven and
reign visibly upon earth for a thousand years. In 1657 they formed
a plot to kill Cromwell, and in 1661 they broke out in insurrection
at night, parading the streets with a banner on which was depicted a
lion, proclaiming that Christ had come and declaring that they were
invulnerable and invincible, as “King Jesus” was their invisible
leader. Troops were called out against them, but the Fifth-Monarchy
Men, expecting supernatural assistance, refused to submit, and fought
until they were nearly all shot down. The leaders were afterward
tried and executed. (_Janney’s George Fox_ and _Schaff’s Religious
Encyclopedia_.)
FRENCH PROPHETS
Forty years later, about the end of the seventeenth century, another
sect of convulsionists, being driven out of France, “found an asylum in
Protestant countries [and] carried with them the disease, both of mind
and body, which their long sufferings had produced.” They spread into
Germany and Holland, and in 1706 reached England, where they became
known as “French prophets.” Their meetings were characterized by such
extravagance of convulsion and trance performance that they became
the wonder of the ignorant and the scandal of the more intelligent
classes, notwithstanding which the infection spread far and wide.
We are told that they “were wrought upon in a very extraordinary
manner, not only in their minds, but also in their physical systems.
They had visions and trances and were subject to violent agitations
of body. Men and women, and even little children, were so exercised
that spectators were struck with great wonder and astonishment. Their
powerful admonitions and prophetic warnings were heard and received
with reverence and awe.”
At one time Charles Wesley had occasion to stop for the night with a
gentleman who belonged to the sect. Wesley was unaware of the fact
until, as they were about to go to bed, his new friend suddenly fell
into a violent fit and began to gobble like a turkey. Wesley was
frightened and began exorcising him, so that he soon recovered from the
fit, when they went to bed, although the evangelist confesses that he
himself did not sleep very soundly with Satan so near him.
Some time afterward Wesley with several companions visited a prophetess
of the sect, as he says, to try whether the spirits came from God.
She was a young woman of agreeable speech and manner. “Presently she
leaned back in her chair and had strong workings in her breast and
uttered deep sighs. Her head and her hands and by turns every part of
her body were affected with convulsive motions. This continued about
ten minutes. Then she began to speak with a clear, strong voice, but so
interrupted with the workings, sighings, and contortions of her body
that she seldom brought forth half a sentence together. What she said
was chiefly in spiritual words, and all as in the person of God, as if
it were the language of immediate inspiration.” (_Southey’s Wesley_,
_I_, and _Evans’ Shakers_.)
JUMPERS
About 1740 a similar extravagant sect, known as the Jumpers, arose in
Wales. According to the description given by Wesley, their exercises
were a very exact parallel of the Ghost dance. “After the preaching
was over anyone who pleased gave out a verse of a hymn, and this
they sung over and over again, with all their might and main, thirty
or forty times, till some of them worked themselves into a sort of
drunkenness or madness; they were then violently agitated, and leaped
up and down in all manner of postures frequently for hours together.” A
contemporary writer states that he had seen perhaps ten thousand at a
single meeting of the Jumpers shouting out in the midst of the sermon
and ready to leap for joy. (_Southey’s Wesley_, _II_.)
METHODISTS
About the same time the Methodists originated in England under Wesley
and Whitefield, and their assemblies were characterized by all the
hysteric and convulsive extravagance which they brought with them to
this country, and which is not even yet extinct in the south. The
most remarkable of these exhibitions took place under the preaching of
Wesley, following him, as we are told, wherever he went. Whitefield,
although more forcible and sensational in his preaching, did not at
first produce the same effect on his hearers, and considered such
manifestations as but doubtful signs of the presence of the Lord and
by no means to be encouraged. On preaching, however, to a congregation
in which Wesley had already produced such convulsions, and where,
consequently, there was a predisposition in this direction, several
persons were thus seized and sank down upon the floor, and we are told
by the biographer “this was a great triumph to Wesley.”
Wesley himself describes several instances. At one time, he states,
a physician suspecting fraud attended a meeting during which a woman
was thrown into a fit, crying aloud and weeping violently, until great
drops of sweat ran down her face and her whole body shook. The doctor
stood close by, noting every symptom, and not knowing what to think,
being convinced that it was not fraud or any natural disorder. “But
when both her soul and body were healed in a moment he acknowledged
the finger of God.” On another occasion, Wesley tells us, “While I
was earnestly inviting all men to enter into the Holiest by this new
and living way, many of those that heard began to call upon God with
strong cries and tears. Some sank down, and there remained no strength
in them. Others exceedingly trembled and quaked. Some were torn with a
kind of convulsive motion in every part of their bodies, and that so
violently that often four or five persons could not hold one of them.
I have seen many hysterical and epileptic fits, but none of them were
like these in many respects. I immediately prayed that God would not
suffer those who were weak to be offended; but one woman was greatly,
being sure that they might help it if they would, no one should
persuade her to the contrary; and she was got three or four yards, when
she also dropped down in as violent an agony as the rest.”
At another time, “while he was speaking one of his hearers dropped
down, and in the course of half an hour seven others, in violent
agonies. The pains as of hell, he says, came about them; but
notwithstanding his own reasoning neither he nor his auditors called
in question the divine origin of these emotions, and they went away
rejoicing and praising God.... Sometimes he scarcely began to speak
before some of his believers, overwrought with expectation, fell into
the crisis, for so it may be called in this case, as properly as in
animal magnetism. Sometimes his voice could scarcely be heard amid the
groans and cries of these suffering and raving enthusiasts. It was
not long before men, women, and children began to act the demoniac as
well as the convert. Wesley had seen many hysterical fits and many
fits of epilepsy, but none that were like these, and he confirmed the
patients in their belief that they were torn of Satan. One or two
indeed perplexed him a little, for they were tormented in such an
unaccountable manner that they seemed to be lunatic, he says, as well
as sore vexed. But suspicions of this kind made little impression
upon his intoxicated understanding; the fanaticism which he had
excited in others was now reacting upon himself. How should it have
been otherwise? A Quaker, who was present at one meeting and inveighed
against what he called the dissimulation of these creatures, caught
the contagious emotion himself, and even while he was biting his lips
and knitting his brows, dropped down as if he had been struck by
lightning.” (_Southey’s Wesley._)
SHAKERS
About the year 1750 there originated in England another peculiar body
of sectarians calling themselves the “United Society of Believers in
Christ’s Second Appearing,” but commonly known, for obvious reasons,
as Shakers. Their chief prophetess and founder was “Mother” Ann Lee,
whom they claim as the actual reincarnation of Christ. They claim also
the inspiration of prophecy, the gift of healing, and sometimes even
the gift of tongues, and believe in the reality of constant intercourse
with the spirit world through visions. In consequence of persecution
in England, on account of their public dancing, shouting, and shaking,
they removed to this country about 1780 and settled at New Lebanon, New
York, where the society still keeps up its organization.
The best idea of the Shakers is given in a small volume by Evans,
who was himself a member of the sect. Speaking of the convulsive
manifestations among them, he says: “Sometimes, after sitting awhile
in silent meditation, they were seized with a mighty trembling, under
which they would often express the indignation of God against all sin.
At other times they were exercised with singing, shouting, and leaping
for joy at the near prospect of salvation. They were often exercised
with great agitation of body and limbs, shaking, running, and walking
the floor, with a variety of other operations and signs, swiftly
passing and repassing each other like clouds agitated with a mighty
wind. These exercises, so strange in the eyes of the beholders, brought
upon them the appellation of Shakers, which has been their most common
name of distinction ever since.” With regard to their dancing, he says:
“It is pretty generally known that the Shakers serve God by singing
and dancing; but why they practice this mode of worship is not so
generally understood.... When sin is fully removed, by confessing and
forsaking it, the cause of heaviness, gloom, and sorrow is gone, and
joy and rejoicing, and thanksgiving and praise are then the spontaneous
effects of a true spirit of devotion. And whatever manner the spirit
may dictate, or whatever the form into which the spirit may lead, it
is acceptable to Him from whom the spirit proceeds.” On one particular
occasion, “previous to our coming we called a meeting and there was
[sic] so many gifts (such as prophecies, revelations, visions, and
dreams) in confirmation of a former revelation for us to come that
some could hardly wait for others to tell their gifts. We had a joyful
meeting and danced till morning.”
Of Ann Lee, their founder, he asserts that she saw Jesus Christ in open
vision and received direct revelations from this source. On a certain
occasion she herself declared to her followers: “The room over your
head is full of angels of God. I see them, and you could see them if
you were redeemed. I look in at the windows of heaven and see what
there is in the invisible world. I see the angels of God, and hear them
sing. I see the glories of God. I see Ezekiel Goodrich flying from one
heaven to another!” And, turning to the company present, she said, “Go
in and join his resurrection.” She then began to sing, and they praised
the Lord in the dance. On another occasion she said: “The apostles, in
their day, saw as through a glass darkly, but we see face to face, and
see things as they are, and converse with spirits and see their states.
The gospel is preached to souls who have left the body. I see thousands
of the dead rising and coming to judgment, now at this present time.”
At another time she declared that she had seen a certain young woman in
the spirit world, “praising God in the dance;” and of a man deceased,
“He has appeared to me again, and has arisen from the dead and come
into the first heaven and is traveling on to the second and third
heaven.”
Their dance is performed regularly at their religious gatherings at the
New Lebanon settlement. The two sexes are arranged in ranks opposite
and facing each other, in which position they listen to a sermon by
one of the elders, after which a hymn is sung. They then form a circle
around a party of singers, to whose singing they keep time in the
dance. At times the excitement and fervor of spirit become intense,
and their bodily evolutions as rapid as those of the dervishes,
although still preserving the order of the dance. (_Evans’ Shakers_ and
encyclopedia articles on _Shakers_.)
KENTUCKY REVIVAL
About the year 1800 an epidemic of religious frenzy, known as the
Kentucky Revival, broke out in Kentucky and Tennessee, chiefly among
the Methodists and Baptists, with accompaniments that far surpassed the
wildest excesses of the Ghost dance. Fanatic preachers taught their
deluded followers that the spiritual advent of the kingdom was near at
hand, when Christ would reign on earth and there would be an end of
all sin. The date generally fixed for the consummation was the summer
of 1805, and the excitement continued and grew in violence for several
years until the time came and passed without extraordinary event,
when the frenzy gradually subsided, leaving the ignorant believers
in a state of utter collapse. The performances at the meetings of
these enthusiasts were of the most exaggerated camp-meeting order,
such as may still be witnessed in many parts of the south, especially
among the colored people. Evans, the Shaker historian, who is strong
in the gift of faith, tells us that “the subjects of this work were
greatly exercised in dreams, visions, revelations, and the spirit of
prophecy. In these gifts of the spirit they saw and testified that the
great day of God was at hand, that Christ was about to set up his
kingdom on earth, and that this very work would terminate in the full
manifestation of the latter day of glory.”
From another authority, endowed perhaps with less of fervor but with
more of common sense, we get a description of these “exercises” which
has a familiar ring that seems to bring it very near home. “The
people remained on the ground day and night, listening to the most
exciting sermons, and engaging in a mode of worship which consisted in
alternate crying, laughing, singing, and shouting, accompanied with
gesticulations of a most extraordinary character. Often there would
be an unusual outcry; some bursting forth into loud ejaculations of
thanksgiving; others exhorting their careless friends to ‘turn to
the Lord;’ some struck with terror, and hastening to escape; others
trembling, weeping, and swooning away, till every appearance of life
was gone, and the extremities of the body assumed the coldness of a
corpse. At one meeting not less than a thousand persons fell to the
ground, apparently without sense or motion. It was common to see them
shed tears plentifully about an hour before they fell. They were then
seized with a general tremor, and sometimes they uttered one or two
piercing shrieks in the moment of falling. This latter phenomenon was
common to both sexes, to all ages, and to all sorts of characters.”
(_Caswall, The Prophet of the Nineteenth Century_, quoted by _Remy_.)
After a time these crazy performances in the sacred name of religion
became so much a matter of course that they were regularly classified
in categories as the rolls, the jerks, the barks, etc. “The rolling
exercise was affected by doubling themselves up, then rolling from one
side to the other like a hoop, or in extending the body horizontally
and rolling over and over in the filth like so many swine. The jerk
consisted in violent spasms and twistings of every part of the body.
Sometimes the head was twisted round so that the head was turned
to the back, and the countenance so much distorted that not one of
its features was to be recognized. When attacked by the jerks, they
sometimes hopped like frogs, and the face and limbs underwent the most
hideous contortions. The bark consisted in throwing themselves on all
fours, growling, showing their teeth, and barking like dogs. Sometimes
a number of people crouching down in front of the minister continued
to bark as long as he preached. These last were supposed to be more
especially endowed with the gifts of prophecy, dreams, rhapsodies, and
visions of angels.” (_Remy, Journey to Great Salt Lake City, I._)
Twenty years later the jerking epidemic again broke out in Tennessee,
and is described in a letter by the famous visionary and revivalist,
Lorenzo Dow, who was then preaching in the same region. His description
agrees with that given the author by old men who lived at this time
in eastern Tennessee. We quote from Dow’s letter: “There commenced a
trembling among the wicked. One and a second fell from their seats. I
think for eleven hours there was no cessation of the loud cries. Of
the people, some who were standing and sitting fell like men shot on
the field of battle, and I felt it like a tremor to run through my
soul and veins so that it took away my limb power, so that I fell to
the floor, and by faith saw a greater blessing than I had hitherto
experienced.” At another place he says: “After taking a cup of tea, I
began to speak to a vast audience, and I observed about thirty to have
the jerks, though they strove to keep as still as they could. These
emotions were involuntary and irresistible, as any unprejudiced mind
might see.” At Marysville “many appeared to feel the word, but about
fifty felt the jerks. On Sunday, at Knoxville, the governor being
present, about one hundred and fifty had the jerking exercise, among
them a circuit preacher, Johnson, who had opposed them a little while
before. Camp meeting commenced at Liberty. Here I saw the jerks, and
some danced. The people are taken with jerking irresistibly, and if
they strive to resist it it worries them more than hard work. Their
eyes, when dancing, seem to be fixed upward as if upon an invisible
object, and they are lost to all below. I passed by a meeting house
where I observed the undergrowth had been cut down for a camp meeting,
and from fifty to a hundred saplings left breast high, which appeared
to me so slovenish that I could not but ask my guide the cause, who
observed they were topped so high and left for the people to jerk
by. This so excited my attention that I went over the ground to view
it, and found where the people had laid hold of them and jerked so
powerfully that they kicked up the earth as a horse stamping flies.
Persecutors are more subject to the jerks than others, and they have
cursed and swore and damned it while jerking.” Then he says: “I have
seen Presbyterians, Methodists, Quakers, Baptists, Church of England,
and Independents exercised with the jerks—gentlemen and ladies, black
and white, rich and poor—without exception. Those naturalists who wish
to get it to philosophize upon it and the most godly are excepted from
the jerks. The wicked are more afraid of it than of the smallpox or
yellow fever.”
It is worthy of note that, according to his account, investigators who
wished to study the phenomenon were unable to come under the influence,
even though they so desired.
ADVENTISTS
About 1831 William Miller, a licensed minister, began to preach the
advent of Christ and the destruction of the world, fixing the date
for the year 1843. Like most others of his kind who have achieved
notoriety, he based his prediction on the prophecies of the Bible,
which he figured out with mathematical exactness. He began preaching
in New York and New England, but afterward traveled southward,
delivering, it is said, over three thousand lectures in support of his
theory. His predictions led to the formation of a new sect commonly
known as Adventists, who are said at one time to have numbered over
fifty thousand. Carried away by blind enthusiasm they made their
preparations for the end of all things, which they confidently expected
in the summer of 1843. As the time drew near the believers made all
preparations for their final departure from the world, many of them
selling their property, and arraying themselves in white “ascension
robes,” which were actually put on sale by the storekeepers for the
occasion. But the day and the year went by without the fulfillment
of the prophecy. Miller claimed to have discovered an error in his
calculations and fixed one or two other dates later on, but as these
also proved false, his followers lost faith and the delusion died out.
The Adventists still number fifteen or twenty thousand, the largest
body being in southern Michigan, but although they hold the doctrine
of the near advent of the final end, and endeavor to be at all times
ready, they no longer undertake to fix the date.
It may be noted here that the idea of a millennium, when the Messiah
shall come in person upon the earth and reign with the just for a
thousand years, was so firmly held by many of the early Christians that
it may almost be said to have formed a part of the doctrinal tradition
of the church. The belief was an inheritance from the Jews, many of
whose sacred writers taught that time was to endure through seven
great “years” of a thousand years each, the seventh and last being the
Sabbatical year or millennium, when their Messiah would appear and make
their kingdom the mistress of the world. For this materialistic view
of the millennium the Christian fathers substituted a belief in the
spiritual triumph of religion, when the armies of antichrist would be
annihilated, but the expectation of the return of Christ to rule in
person over his church before the last days was an essential part of
the doctrine, founded on numerous prophecies of both the Old and the
New Testament.
OTHER PARALLELS
BEEKMANITES