Cleo. What is it, pray?
Hor. I don't think we shall have Time ——
Cleo. Supper, I see, is going in.
The Fourth Dialogue Between Horatio and Cleomenes.
Horatio. I am glad my little Dinner pleased you. I don't love large Pieces of Meat for a small Company; especially in warm Weather: They heat the Room, and are offensive even upon a Side-board.
Cleo. It was very handsome indeed; and Horatio is elegant in every Thing. Your Favours of Yesterday, your Coming without Form, was so engaging, that I was resolved to repay the Compliment without Delay.
Hor. Assure your self, that your Payment is not more prompt, than it is welcome.
Cleo. I know no higher Enjoyment, than that of your Friendship. But pray, what was the Difficulty you hinted at last Night, when Supper broke off our Discourse?
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 kept, and set aside for Prayer, for Fasting and Humiliation. If on these Days Men should be sincere in their Devotion; if a pains-taking Clergy, of Apostolic Lives, on the one Hand, should preach Repentance to their Hearers, and shew them the Difference between the temporal Evils, which they complain'd of, tho' they were less afflicting than they had deserv'd, and the eternal Miseries, which impenitent Sinners would unavoidably meet with, tho' now they thought little of them; if the Hearers, on the other, searching their Consciences without Reserve, should reflect upon their past Conduct; if both the Clergy and the Laity should thus join in religious Exercises, and, adding real Fasting to ardent Prayer, humble themselves before the Throne of Mercy, with Sorrow and Contrition; if, I say, the Days you speak of were to be spent in this Manner, they would be of use in no War, but against the World, the Flesh, or the Devil, the only Enemies a Christian Hero is not oblig'd to love, and over which the Triumph is the darling Object of his Ambition, and the glorious End of his Warfare. On the Contrary, such Fast-days would be hurtful to a Soldier, in the literal Sense of the Word, and destructive to the Intentions of all Armies; and I would as soon expect from them, that they should turn Men into Trees or Stones, as that they should inspire them with martial Courage, or make them eager to fight. But skilful Politicians make an Advantage of every Thing, and often turn into useful Tools the seeming Obstacles to their Ambition. The most resolute Unbeliever, if he is a good Hypocrite, may pretend to as much Superstition and hold Fear, as the most timorous Bigot can be really possess'd with; and the First often gains his Point by making use of the Religion of others, where the Latter is undone by being hamper'd with his own.