Hor. When you spoke of Preaching and Praying in Armies, you said, that Nothing was ever mention'd to them, that was mortifying, or would depress the Mind. I had heard the same from you in Substance more than once before; and I own, that the Nature of the Thing seems to require, that Soldiers should be indulg'd in their Pride, and that all Exhortations to Battle should be cheerful and pleasing. But the last Time you was speaking of this, I recollected what I had read of the Solemn Fasts, that were so frequently observed in Oliver's Days; and presently I was puzled, and no ways able to account for the Usefulness of them in War, by the System which you had made appear to be very rational. The Fact it self, that _Cromwell_ appointed many Days of Fasting and Humiliation, and made them be strictly kept, is undeniable; but it is impossible, they should promote Chearfulness; and what Purpose they could have been made to serve, that was not religious, I can not conceive. The mechanical Effect, which Fasting can have upon the Spirits, is to lower, flatten, and depress them; and the very Essence of Humiliation is the Mortification of Pride. You have own'd, that _Cromwell_ understood Human Nature, and was a crafty Politician; but you would never allow, that he had the least Intention of promoting Piety, or rendring his Men good Christians. Cleo. The Objection you have started seems to be of great Weight at first View; but if we look more narrowly into it, and examine this Affair, as we have done some other Things, the Difficulty you labour under will soon disappear. From the Nature of Man and Society it must follow, that whatever particular Vices may be more or less predominant in different Climates and different Ages, Luxury and Pride will always be reigning Sins in all civiliz'd Nations: Against these two stubborn, and always epidemic Maladies, the great Physician of the Soul has, in his Gospel Dispensation, left us two sovereign Remedies, Fasting and Humiliation; which, when rightly used, and duely assisted with the Exercise of Prayer, never fail to cure the Diseases I named in the most desperate Cases. No method likewise is more reasonable; for, tho' _Jesus Christ_ had not recommended it himself, it is impossible to think on any Prescription, more judiciously adapted to an Ailment, than Fasting and Humiliation, accompany'd with fervent Prayer, are to Luxury and Pride. This is the Reason, that in private as well as public Disasters, and all Adversities in which is was thought that the divine Anger was visible, all Believers in _Christ_ have, ever since the Promulgation of the Gospel, made use of the aforesaid Remedies, as the most proper Means to obtain Pardon for their Offences, and render heaven propitious to them. All Magistrates likewise, where the Christian Religion has been national, have in general Misfortunes and all great Calamities (whenever they happen'd) appointed Days to be solemnly