While at prayer, Mr. Lawson was interrupted by shrieks and struggles on the part of the afflicted, and a voice near said:
"Fits!"
He kept on praying for the Lord to relieve them of their torments, while Charles Stevens, who was in the house, declared that a whip would relieve them. After the prayer, a psalm was sung, as usual, and then Abigail Williams, turning to the preacher, said in a loud, coarse voice:
"Now stand up and name your text!"
After he had named his text, she said:
"It is a long text."
He had scarcely begun his sermon, when Mrs. Pope, one of the afflicted women, bawled out:
"Now, there is enough of that."
"These mad people ought to be kept away from the house of worship," declared Charles Stevens to a neighbor.
Rev. Mr. Lawson, unaccustomed to these interruptions, was greatly annoyed and had to pause frequently in his sermon. Goodwife Corey was present at the time, and Abigail Williams, in the midst of the sermon, cried out: