274 History of Methodism 



his life and call him to preach his gospel. I thought at the time, if 

 I lived long enough, I would note particularly the history of this 

 child. When about twelve years of age, the Lord converted his 

 soul and he joined the Methodist Church. Soon after, his father 

 moved to Tennessee. When he grew up, the Lord called him to the 

 ministry ; he became an able preacher in the Tennessee Conference ; 

 represented the Church in the General Conference and in the Lou- 

 isville Convention, and died beloved and honored by the people. 

 The child was Ambrose Driskell, grandson of Mr. Kilpatrick, the 

 tirst man in Rutherford county, although a Presbyterian, to open 

 his house for preaching by the Methodists, and who afterward, with 

 his wife, four daughters, and two sons, became members of the Meth- 

 odist Church. 



One of the most mysterious exercises among the people was what 

 was called the jerks. I saw numbers exercised in this way at a 

 camp-meeting held in Lincoln county. Sometimes their heads 

 would be jerked backward and forward with such violence that it 

 would cause them to utter involuntarily a sharp, quick sound sim- 

 ilar to the yelp of a dog; and the hair of the women to crack like a 

 whip. Sometimes their arms, with clenched fists, would be jerked 

 in alternate directions with such force as seemed sufficient almost to 

 separate them from the body. Sometimes all ^heir limbs would be 

 aflected, and they would be thrown into almost every imaginable 

 position, and it was as impossible to hold them still almost as to 

 hold a wild horse. When a woman was exercised in this way, other 

 women would join hands around her and keep her within the circle 

 they formed ; but the men were left without constraint to jerk at 

 large through the congregation, over benches, over logs, and even 

 over fences. I have seen persons exercised in such a way that they 

 would go all over the floor with a quick, dancing motion, and with 

 such rapidity that their feet would rattle upon the floor like drum- 

 sticks. 



1 will mention a strange fanaticism which, in these early days, 

 showed itself in the congregation at Knob Creek Church in this 

 (Rutherford) county, which was originally a Presbyterian Church, 

 but was finally cut off because nothing could be done with the mem- 

 bers. Every impression made upon the mind, they professed to be 

 lieve, proceeded directly from the Lord, and they endeavored to 

 obey it, no matter what might be its character. For example: One 

 man said that he had an impression from the Lord that he must sow 

 his corn broadcast, and cultivate it with a wooden plow and wooden 



