« First Among Friends | Main | Revelation old and new »

Quaking

This sounds rather different from the modern Quaker meetings I've attended:

"Convincement," the term the Children [Quakers] used for conversion, meant to be overcome, and their meetings were gatherings of those who had been overtaken and gripped by God's Spirit. With no obvious leader, the group met in silence to await the promptings of the ever-present Christ. Almost anything was possible: shaking, quaking, rolling, even stripping. Sometimes nothing of moment was said or done, but an attender might still be touched by the power that seemed collected in the group.

One Friend described such a meeting at Grayrigg in Westmorland where a troubled young girl left, sat on the ground, and then cried out in agony, "O Lord make me clean." Such incidents revealed the Lord's presence to the person convinced but also spoke to others, leading them to sense their own needs. At other times, as at Malton in early 1653, nearly two hundred came together and were so moved that, to quote a visitor who was there, "almost all of the room was shaken." An evangelist explained how people leaving a steeplehouse were astonished to see the Children "trembling and crying" in their meeting.

Sometimes three or four who were strong in the truth would appoint a "threshing meeting" to winnow those ready to be convinced from among the heathen. Here, sparked by the presence of opponents, the scene was often more turbulent. At one such meeting a Ranter challenged Fox, who bluntly responded, "Repent you swine and beast." (First Among Friends, 59-60, paragraph breaks added)

Perhaps convincement comes more quietly now? I can't find good reason why it should.