A sect which sprung up about 1373 in Flanders, and places about. It was their custom all of a sudden to fall a dancing, and, holding each other's hands, to continue thereat, till, being suffocated with the extraordinary violence, they fell down breathless together. During these intervals of vehement agitation they pretended to be favoured with wonderful visions. Like the Whippers, they roved from place to place, begging their victuals, holding their secret assemblies, and treating the priesthood and worship of the church with the utmost contempt. Thus we find, as Dr. Haweis observes, that the French Convulsionists and the Welch Jumpers have had predecessors of the same stamp. There is nothing new under the sun. Haweis, and Mosheim's Ch. Hist. Cent. 14.
Despite a stated reliance on the plain meaning of the Bible and the dictates of common sense, Buck's Theological Dictionary, first published in London in 1802, seeks to provide a textual basis for the evangelical community. By combining brief essays on orthodox belief and practice with historical entries on various denominations, Buck provided an interpretive lens that allowed antebellum Protestants to see Christianity's almost two millennia as their own history.Wikipedia
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