Editing Mortification of the flesh (section)

====Methodism====
[[File:Circuit rider illustration Eggleston.png|thumb|200px|Illustration from ''The Circuit Rider: A Tale of the Heroic Age'' by [[Edward Eggleston]] depicting a Methodist circuit rider on horseback]]
{{Further|Works of Piety}}
[[Samuel Wesley (poet, died 1735)|Samuel Wesley Sr.]] examined the writings of [[Thomas à Kempis]] on the mortification of the flesh and concluded that "mortification is still an indispensable Christian duty."<ref name="Torpy2009"/> His son, [[John Wesley]], the evangelical Christian progenitor of the [[Methodist Church]] continued "to hold à Kempis in high regard".<ref name="Torpy2009">{{cite book |last=Torpy |first=Arthur Alan |title=The Prevenient Piety of Samuel Wesley, Sr. |date=26 October 2009 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |language=en |isbn=9780810870826 |page=104 |quote=Samuel weighed the pros and cons of Thomas à Kempis on the mortification of the flesh with Samuel taking a moderate position between two extremes. As for T. Kempsis, all the world are apt to strain o' one side or t'other. And 'tis no wonder if contemplative men...when they observed how mad the bulk of the world was for sensual pleasures, should run the matter too far o' the contrary extreme, and attempt to persuade us to have no senses at all ...But for all that, mortification is still an indispensable Christian duty." John, in his later years, would continue to hold à Kempis in high regard, recommending him to Sammie Wesley, Charles's son, for edification and hoped for evangelical conversion.}}</ref> As such, he likewise wrote that "efforts to manifest true faith would be 'quickened' by self mortification and entire obedience".<ref name="Anderson2012"/> Moreover, he "spoke approvingly of 'voluntary instances of mortification' in his journals".<ref name="Anderson2012">{{cite book |last=Anderson |first=Misty G. |title=Imagining Methodism in Eighteenth-Century Britain: Enthusiasm, Belief, and the Borders of the Self |date=14 March 2012 |publisher=JHU Press |language=en |isbn=9781421404806 |page=114}}</ref> Methodist [[circuit rider (religious)|circuit riders]] were known for practicing the [[spiritual discipline]] of mortifying the flesh as they "arose well before dawn for solitary prayer; they remained on their knees [[fasting#Methodism|without food or drink]] or physical comforts sometimes for hours on end".<ref name="Bratt2012">{{cite book |last=Bratt |first=James D. |title=By the Vision of Another World: Worship in American History |year=2012 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |language=en |isbn=9780802867100 |page=44 |quote=Methodist preachers, in particular, may have been tempted to take the elevation of the spirit and concomitant mortification of the body to extremes. Early circuit riders often arose well before dawn for solitary prayer; they remained on their knees without food or drink or physical comforts sometimes for hours on end.}}</ref> [[John Cennick]], the first Methodist [[itinerant preacher]], [[Christian prayer|prayed]] nine times a day, fasted and "fancying dry bread too great an indulgence for so great a sinner as himself, he began to feed on potatoes, acorns, crabs, and grass".<ref name="Rubin1994">{{cite book |last=Rubin |first=Julius H. |title=Religious Melancholy and Protestant Experience in America |year=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |isbn=9780195083019 |page=[https://archive.org/details/religiousmelanch00rubi/page/84 84] |url=https://archive.org/details/religiousmelanch00rubi/page/84 |quote="Ascetic disciplines in both Catholicism and Protestantism were a system of rules of conduct to control the flesh by starvation and renunciation." John Cennick, the first Methodist lay preacher, exemplifies the fact that Protestant ascetics were required to adopt monastic regimens of the body in their everyday lives. "He fasted long and often, and prayed nine times a day. Fancying dry bread too great an indulgence for so great a sinner as himself, he began to feed on potatoes, acorns, crabs, and grass; and often wished that he could live on roots and herbs."}}</ref> The Methodist [[evangelism|evangelist]] John Wesley Childs was known for "limiting what he would eat" and choosing "to walk beside his horse rather than to ride in order to demonstrate his willingness to suffer for his calling and to try[ing] to heighten his religious experience through subjecting himself to trials."<ref name="Bratt">{{cite book |last=Bratt |first=James D. |title=By the Vision of Another World: Worship in American History |year=2012 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |language=en |isbn=9780802867100 |page=44}}</ref> The ''[[Wesleyan Methodist Magazine]]'' in 1813 published a statement written by [[Matthew Henry]] for Christian believers:<ref name="WesleyanMethodistMagazine1813"/>
{{Blockquote|By using yourselves to consideration, you will come to be aware of the snares that your spiritual enemies lay for you, of the snake under the green grass, and will not be imposed upon so easily as many are by the wiles of Satan; and by habituating yourselves to [[self-denial]] and mortification of the flesh, and a holy contempt of this world, you will wrest the most dangerous weapons of the hand of the strong man armed, and will take from him that part of his armour most trusted, for it is by the world and the flesh that he mostly fights against us: nay, and this sober-mindedness will put you the whole [[armour of God]], that you may be able to stand in the evil day; and so to resist the [[devil in Christianity|devil]], that he may flee from you.<ref name="WesleyanMethodistMagazine1813">{{cite book |title=Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine, Volume 36 |year=1813 |language=en |page=252 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzJAAAAAYAAJ |access-date=12 June 2016}}</ref>}}