A50170:62
The triumphs of the reformed religion in America the life of the renowned John…
The triumphs of the reformed religion in America the life of the renowned John Eliot, a person justly famous in the church of God, not only as an eminent Christian and an excellent minister among the English, but also as a memorable evangelist among the Indians of New-England : with some account concerning the late and strange success of the Gospel in those parts of the world which for many ages have lain buried in pagan ignorance / written by Cotton Mather.The triumphs of the reformed religion in America the life of the renowned John Eliot, a person justly famous in the church of God, not only as an eminent Christian and an excellant minister among the English, but also as a memorable evangelist amoung the Indians of New-England : with some account concerning the late and strange success of the Gospel in those parts of the world which for many ages have lain buried in pagan ignorance / written by Cotton Mather.
Boston: printed by Benjamin Harris and John Allen for Joseph Brunning, 1691
Part 1 › Article 3: Article III. His Exemplary Mortification.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The Lust of the flesh he could not reconcile ⟨p. 30⟩himself to the least pampering or indulging of; but he persecuted it with a continual Antipathy; being upon higher principles than Tully was acquainted withal, of his mind, Non est dignus nomine hominis, qui non • di••• •otum velit esse in isto genere voluptatis. The Sleep that he allowed himself cheated him not of his Morning-hours; but he reckoned the Morning no less a friend unto the Graces, than unto the Muses. He would call upon Students, I pray look to it that you be morning-Birds! and for many more than a score of years before he dyed, he removed his Lodging into his Study, on purpose that being there alone, he might enjoy his ea•ly Mornings, without giving the disturbance of the least noise to any of his Friends, whose Affections to him else might have been ready to have called, Master spare thy self. The Meat upon which he lived was a Cibus simplex, an homely but an wholesome Diet. Rich Varieties, costly V•ands, and poignant Sauces, came not upon his own Table, and when he found them on other mens, he rarely tasted of them. O•e Dish and a plain one, wa• his Dinner; and when invited unto a Feast, […] have seen him sit Magnifying of God, for th• Plenty which His people in this Wilderness we•• within a few years arisen to; but not mor• than a Bit or two of all the Dainties taken in•• his own mouth all the while. And for a Supper he had learned of his loved and blessed Patron old Mr. Cotton, either wholly to omit it, or t• ⟨p. 31⟩make a small sup or two the utmost of it. The drink which he still used was very small; he cared not for Wines or Drams, and I believe, he never once in all his life knew what it was to feel so much as a noxious fume in his head, from any of them; good, clear water was more precious, as well as more usual with him, than any of those Liquors with which men do so frequently spoil their own Healths, while perhaps they drink, those of other men. When at a strangers House in the Summer time, he has bin entertained with a glass, which they told him was Of water and wine, he has with a complaisant gravity replied unto this purpose; Wine, 'tis a noble generous Liquor, and we should be humbly thankful for it; but as I remember, Water was made before it! So abstemious was he;