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