Cleo. You have allow'd, that the Grand Point in Armies, and what has been ever most labour'd among military Men, was to make them believe, that Heaven, that is, the Deity they adore, was of their Side; and it is certain, (as I have hinted before) that how widely soever Men had differ'd in their Sentiments concerning the invisible Cause, or the Worship it requires, they have all agreed in this; and the Use that has been made of Religion in War has ever had a palpable Tendency this way. The Word Fasting, indefinitely spoken, sounds very harshly to a Man of a good Stomach; but, as practis'd religiously among _Protestants_, it is hardly an Emblem of the Thing it self, and rather a Joke than any grievous Penance: At least in _England_, by keeping a Fast-Day, Men mean no more, than Eating their Dinners three or four Hours later than they used to do, and perhaps no Supper that Night: Which is a Piece of Abstinence, that is so far from being likely to have an ill Effect upon the Strength or Spirits of Men in Health and Vigour, that there is not One in Fifty, whom it will not render more brisk and lively in the next Day. I speak of People that are not in Want, and who, of dainty or courser Fate, eat as much much every Day as their Appetite requires. As for Humiliation, it is a Word of Course. Fast-Days, bar the Abstinence already mention'd, are kept no otherwise, than the _Sunday_ is. In the Army of the Rebels, the Chaplains perhaps preach'd and pray'd somewhat longer on those Days, and read a few Chapters more in the Bible, than was usual for them to do on a Sabbath-Day. But that was all. Hor. But you have allow'd, that many of the _Roundheads_ were sincere in their Religion, and that most of the Soldiers, tho' they were bad Christians, were still Believers. It is unreasonable to think, that the Solemnity of those Days, and the continual Shew of Devotion they were spent in, should have made no Impression upon a considerable Part of such a Multitude, as you your self suppose their Army to have been. Where a great Number of the Vulgar, who believe Hell-Torments and Fire Everlasting, are forced to hear, first their Lives laid open, and their Iniquities display'd, and, after that, all the terrible Things, that the Parson can say of Eternal Misery, it is impossible, that many of them should not be affected with Fear and Sorrow, at least for that Time: However, this is beyond all Dispute, that the mildest Remonstrances that can be made on that Head, will sooner dispose Men to Melancholy, than they will to Chearfulness.