rifices, the fervor and
force of this religious enthusiasm, how little trace was left. The
religion of Tennessee to-day is farther removed from the teachings of
those early martyrs to what they believed the cause of God than were
the Indians they cared little for, or the rough settlers they sought so
fervently to convert. There is no trace of Indian or settler, nor the
remotest vestige of the religion these preachers so earnestly taught.
This because it was the religion of dogmas, founded upon the vengeance
of God as they saw it in the chronicles of the Hebrews. They carried
what Burns called "tyding o' damnation;" and the long-haired,
hollow-eyed, hot gospeller gave vivid descriptions of unending torture
of hell to the unbeliever. The love of God, the tender mercy of our
blessed Redeemer, were lost in the awful vengeance of an offended and
unforgiving Deity.

Poor human nature, as found among those earlier settlers, was
frightened. The historian tells us that these attacks, more on the
nerves than the conscience, culminated at revivals in what was called
the "jerks." He says: "They were involuntary and irresistible. When
under their influence the sufferers would dance, or sing, or shout.
Sometimes they would sway from side to side, or throw the head backward
or forward, or leap, or spring. Generally those under the influence
would, at the end, fall upon the ground and remain rigid for hours, and
sometimes whole multitudes would become dumb and fall prostrate. As the
swoon passed away, the sufferer would weep piteously, moan and sob.
After a while the gloom would lift, a smile of heavenly peace would
irradiate the countenance, words of joy and rapture would break forth,
and conversion always followed."

It came, in time, to be observed that this conversion affected only the
converted member's manner. To be very serious and sad, to have profanity
give place to prayers, made the substance of the process through which
one escaped eternal punishment after death. Faith that is simply a
longing for life was confounded with belief that, having its base in
evidence, is entirely beyond the control of the would-be believer. The
whole theological affair touched the moral conduct of the true believer
only slightly. Life was harder in the Church than out of it. Charity,
the love of one's neighbor, the forgiveness of sins on the part of the
member--how could he forgive when his God would not forgive?--all gave
way to a loud asserti