Her analysis of Methodists’ everyday activities shows how men and women endeavored to cultivate emo- tion in their devotional lives by ascetical practices of varying intensity, believing that by experiencing even a small part of the suffering of Christ, they would be drawn into a deeper emotional connection with him. That ascetical impulse ran counter to an emerging Enlightenment view of the body that focused on its beauty and usefulness and stressed the importance of caring for it. The experi- ence of emotional connection with God that came through denying the body food, drink, sleep, or other requirements for health had to be measured against the dangers of mistreating the body. So, for example, Mary Fletcher wrote th