God of goodness, grant us to exterminate these Christians; it is for
thy glory we fight, and our death is a martyrdom for thy name. And then,
offering victims, they prepared for battle.

On the other side, the Russians, kneeling, said:

We render thanks to God, and celebrate his power. He hath strengthened
our arm to humble his enemies. Hear our prayers, thou God of mercy! To
please thee, we will pass three days without eating either meat or eggs.
Grant us to extirpate these impious Mahometans, and to overturn their
empire. To thee we will consecrate the tenth of our spoil; to thee we
will raise new temples.

And the priests filled the churches with clouds of smoke, and said to
the people:

We pray for you, God accepteth our incense, and blesseth your arms.
Continue to fast and to fight; confess to us your secret sins; give
your wealth to the church; we will absolve you from your crimes, and you
shall die in a state of grace.

And they sprinkled water upon the people, dealt out to them, as amulets
and charms, small relics of the dead, and the people breathed war and
combat.

Struck with this contrast of the same passions, and grieving for their
fatal consequences, I was considering the difficulty with which the
common judge could yield to prayers so contradictory; when the Genius,
glowing with anger, spoke with vehemence: