Publication of this Our Command be made by Order of the Bishops through all the Parish-Churches of their several Diocesses respectively Here was a great difference betwixt the Exercise of the Episcopal Function in the Reigns of the Father and the Son or by this Declaration Ch. I. made the Bishops Trumpeters to the Stage and King Iames II said that in his Time they were Trumpeters of Rebellion because they petitioned against Reading the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience This Declaration for Sports was read by most of them and such of the Ministers as would not conform were turned out till the Controversies betwixt the King and Parliament and the Civil War that ensued put a stop to it Thus I have made it plain That the governing part of the Church patroniz'd the Stage in the Reign of Charles I. and by the Book call'd Centuries of scandalous Ministers we find that many of them were turned out for frequenting the Stage in the Parliament Times and the Theatre being then overturned there was so great a Reform of Manners that notwithstanding the Libertinism which usually accompanies War one might have walk'd through the City and Suburbs without hearing an Oath but when King Charles II. was restored the Play-houses were speedily re-opened and without any Publick Check or Control from the Church went on to that height of Immorality which Mr. C. complains of Nay they were thought very subservient to support the Church by jerking at the Whigs and Dissenters in their Prologues and Plays and to infuse â—rightful Ideas of them into the Heads of the Spectators whilst at the same time they run down the belief of the Popish Plot vindicated the Traitors that had been executed for it and dress'd the true Patriots of our Religion and Liberty in the Skins of Beasts of prey that they might be devoured with the better Appetite It were easie to cram a Volume with Instances of this sort but they are so well known that 't is needless There being no Body who â—requented the Play-house or read the Plays in the two last Reigns but know that the Stage was attempered to the Lascivious and Arbitrary â—umoeâ—s of those Princes and to blacken all those that opposed their Tyrannical Designs Having thus made it appear that the Church hath â—avoured the Stage by their not warning the People against it by seeming to hallow the Phrase of it in their Pulpits by approving or at least conniving at the practise of it on the Sabbath in King Charles I. by prosecuting those who writ against it Writing Plays themselves by some of them practising it in their own Persons and Writing in Defence of it by enjoining the Book of Sports by not opposing it in the Reigns of Charles II. and Iames II. and to which I shall add by their not opposing it in this Reign when they might have hopes of better success seeing both King and Parliament have declared themselves so highly against Immorality and Profaneness I come now in the next place to see how far the Schools are chargeable with the same Crime CAP. IV. The Stage Encouraged by the Schools THIS Subject hath not been so much â—reated on as the former and by Consequence is a sign that the danger of it hath not â—een so much perceived yet it hath not been altogether over-look'd for Authors both Antient and Modern have taken Notice of it Clemens Romanus Nazianzen Tertullian Ambrose Ierom Lactantius Augustine and others of the Antients The 4th Council of Carthage and divers other Councils Bishop Babington Bishop Hooper Perkins Doâ—nham Williams and all other Commentators on the 7th Commandment have Condemned and Forbid the Writing Printing Selling or Teaching any Amorous Wanton Play-books Histories or Heathen Authors especially Ovids wanton Epistles and Books of Love Catullus Tibâ—â—lus Propertius Martial Plautus and Terenâ—â— as may be seen in the Places quoted in the Maâ—â—gin The Reasons why they should not be read 〈◊〉 Youth are giv'n us by Osorius thus 〈◊〉 Poets are Obscene Petulant Effeminate and 〈◊〉 their Lascivious and impure Verses divert thâ— Mind from Shamfastness and Industry to Lust anâ— Sloth and so much the smoother they are 〈◊〉 much the more Noxious and like so manâ— Syrens ruine all those that give Ear to them The more ingeniously any of them write 〈◊〉 amorous Subjects they are so much the moâ—â— Criminal for we willingly Read and easilâ— Learn by Heart a Fine and Elegant Poem anâ— therefore the Poison of Lascivious Verse makâ—â— a quick and speedy Impression upon the Mind and by the Smoothness and Elegancy of thâ— Language kills before an Antidote can be aâ—â—plied Therefore all such Poets ought not only 〈◊〉 be banished the Câ—urt but also the Country Nay Aeneas Silvius afterwards Pope Pius 〈◊〉 in his Treatise of Education dedicated to Ladislâ—â—â— King of Hungary and Bohemia Discoursing whâ—â— Authors and Poets are to be read to Children râ—solves it thus Ovid writes many times in a Melanchollâ— Strain and as often Sweetly but is in moâ—â— places too Lascivious Horace though an Aâ—thor of admirable Eloquence yet has manâ— things I would neither have Read nor expouâ—â—ded to you Martial is a Pernicious tho' Floriâ— and Ornat Poet but so full of Prickles that hiâ— Roses are not to be gathered without dangeâ— Those who write Elegies are altogether to 〈◊〉 kept up from the Boys for they are too Sofâ— and Effeminate Tibullus Propertius Catulliâ—â— and Sappho which we have now translated abound with amorous Subjects and are full of complaints of unfortunate Amours Your Preceptor ought to take special Care that whilst he reads the Comical and Tragical Poets to you he does not seem to instruct you in something that 's Vitious It is still more remarkeable that Ignatius Loyola the Founder of the Order of the Jesuites who are as little recommendable to the World for their Chastity as for their other Vertues forbad the Reading of Terence in Schools to Children and Youth before his Obscenities were expunged lest he should more corrupt their Manners by his Wantonness than help their Wits by his Latin The Jews a People noted enough for their Uncleanness yet did not permit their Children and Youth in Antient Times to read the Canticles till they arrived at 30 Years of Age for fear they should draw those Spiritual Passages of the Love betwixt Christ and his Church to a Carnal Sence and make them Instruments of inflaming their own Lusts And upon the same Account Origen adviâ—eth such as are of an amorous Temper to forbear Reading it How much more Reason is there to forbid the Reading of the Lascivious Heathen Poets and Plays seeing it is found to be true by Experience as Agrippa in his Discourse of Uncleanness hath excellently expressed it That there is no more powerful Engine to attaque and vanquish the Chastity of any Matron Girl or Widow or of any Male or Female whatever than the Reading of Lascivious
demonstration of the Spirit and of Power yet this great Apostle of the Gentiles was brought up at the Feet of Gamaliel and had more humane Learning than 20 of our fluttering Doctors It is not my design to cry down Eloquence in a Preacher nor to commend a rough way of Expression from the Pulpit Eloquence is the Gift of God and commended in the Preacher Apollos but at the same time we are told That he was mighty in the Scriptures and taught diligently the things of the Lord It 's reckoned highly prophane and Mr. Collier has smartly reproved it for Poets to apply the Phrase of the Scripture to the use of the Stage and I see no reason why Vice Versa it should not be liable to that same Censure to adopt the Phrase of the Stage for the Language of the Pulpit not that it 's absolutely Unlawful for a Preache◠to quote an apposite Sentence or Verse either from Greek Latine or other Poets The Apostle himself hath taught us the contrary by his own Example when he tells the Cretians that one of their own Poets says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it is an intolerable Affectation of Novelty when a New Word or a Quaint Phrase is no sooner published in a Play or Gazzette but we shall the next Sunday after hear it out of the Pulpit This is so far from holding fast the Form of sound Words as St. Paul enjoyned Timothy that it is rather the prophane and vain Babbling he commanded him to avoid and which Calvin upon the place says is Inanis tinnitus profanus Simulatque Doctores it a inflant suas tibias ad suam Eloquentiam Venditandam A prophane and empty Jingle which the Doctors make use of to set off their Eloquence It were an easie matter to quote as many Sermons guilty of these Vanities as Mr. Collier has quoted Plays guilty of abusing Scripture but for obvious Reasons I forbear it The only cause why I mention it is to shew that it is not the Poets alone that support the Credit of the Stage and that what is Criminal in a Poet is ten times worse in a Priest and therefore they ought not to pass without a Reproof It 's known there are many godly Persons amongst our Clergy who bewail those things and oppose them as much as they can but there is a mighty Neglect somewhere and the World will hardly be perswaded that our Church of England is unanimous in this Matter else it were easie for them who shook King James out of his Throne to overturn the Stage It is not to be supposed that the King and Parliament would deny the Clergy such a Request if it were duly presented and considering how much the Nation hath suffered in its Morals and Religion by the Licentiousness of the Stage it 's high time that some effectual Course should be taken to suppress it But there 's reason to fear that the Faction begun by Arch-bishop Laud has still too great an interest amongst our Clergy for scarcely can any other reason be imagined why after so many Years Experience of the Mischief of the Stage the Church should be so silent in this Matter That there is something in this I am very apt to think because of the Deference many of the Clergy men pay to the Memory of that Prelate and of his Master King Charles I. whom he help'd to mislead In those Times as Mr. Prin acquaints us in his Histriomastix none were accounted Enemies to the Play-house but Puritans and Precisians and in opposition to them it probably was that Laud and his Clergy became its Patrons and it is not unlike that many of the Less-thinking Church-men continue still to favour it on that Account as being unwilling to condemn that for which King Charles I. and Arch-bishop Laud testified so much Passion but these Gentlemen would do well to remember That the Defence of the Stage was never so much the Characteristick of their church as was the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and seeing the Majority of them have relinquished that they are infinitely the more to blame for still adhering to this If a Petition of the Londoners had so much Influence on Queen Elizabeth as to get the Play-houses suppress'd and if the Stage was expresly condemned by a Statute of King Iames I. we have no reason to despair of obtaining the same now upon the like Application And methinks the Clergy are more concerned to stir in it than ever seeing it would appear by Mr. Collier's third Chapter Of the Clergy abused by the Stage that the Theatre is now become a Nusano◠to themselves It is apparent enough from what has been said already that the Clergy are chargeable with the Mischief of the Stage by the omitting of what their Character obliges them to do against it and that many of them are also Culpable by seeming to hallow its Phrase in the Pulpit but this is not all as will appear by what follows We have heard that the Stage was condemned by Act of Parliament in King Iames I. Time but reviv'd again in the Reign of K. Charles contrary to Law and that Operas were practised in his own Court by his Royal Authority on Sundays Now considering how much that Prince was devoted to the Interest of the Clergy it 's highly improbable that he would have atttempted any such thing had the then Governing part of the Church given him faithful warning against it but Laud and the other topping Church-men of that time were so far from opposing it that they concur'd with him imposed a Book of Sports and Pastimes upon all their Clergy to be read to the People on Sundays which was a fair step towards converting all the Churches of the Nation into Play-houses This great Example did so much incourage the Stage that Mr. Prin tells us in his Book before-mentioned in two Years time there were above 40000 Play-Books printed They became more vendible than the choicest Sermons Grew up from Quarto's to Folio's were printed on far better Paper than most of the Octavo or Quarto Bibles and were more saleable than they And Shackspeers Plays in particular were printed in the best◠Paper The two old Play-houses were rebuilt and enlarged and a new Theatre erected so that there were then six Play-houses in London twice the number of those in Rome in Nero's Time which though a much more spacious City Seneca complains of as being too many That Faction of the Clergy became at last so enamour'd of the Stage that the same Author informs us He had heard some Preachers call their Text a Land-skip or Picture and others a Play or Spectacle dividing their Texts into Actors Spectators Scenes c. as if they had been Acting a Play Upon which he complains of their using Play-house Phrases Clinches and strong Lines as they called them and that it was to to frequent to have Sermons in respect of their Divisions
Language Action Stile and Subject Matter fitter for the Stage from whence they were borrowed than for the Pulpit He tells us further That one Atkinson a Minister in Bedford did the Christtide before Act a private Interlude in the Commissaries House there where he made a Prayer on the Stage chose the Words Acts 10. 14. I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean for his Text preached prophanely upon it and jested to the shame and grief of most that heard him In that same place he complains that in private as well as in popular Stage-plays they represented Ministers Preaching and Praying and brought the Sacred Bible and the Stories of it on the Stage contrary to the Statute of 3. Iac. Cap. 21. The same Author tells us likewise That one Giles Widdowes in a Sermon at Carfolkes in Oxford on Psalm 68. verse 25. did avowedly justifie the Lawfulness of mix'd Dancing at Church-ales and Maypoles upon the Lords Day and confirm'd his Doctrine by his own Practise And page 700. he informs us of three Doctors of Divinity viz. Dr. Gager Dr. Gentiles and Dr. Case who writ in Defence of Stage-plays And page 979. he insinuates that diverse of the Clergy had acted and danced on publick and private Stages The Theatre having thus made so large a Conquest as to get the Court and the Governing part of the Church on its side grew Rampant and as if it disdained to have any less Adversary than God himself did boldly usurp on the Sabbath Afternoons And thus in the Year 1637. Masks were set up at Court on Sundays by His Majesties Authority while at the same time Laud and his Faction forbad Preaching any oftner than once a day and that the common People who could not bear the Expence nor have the Opportunities of Stage-plays might not want one however to prophane the Sabbath the Book of Sports and Pastimes was enjoyned by the Bishops to be read in the Churches by their Inferior Clergy on pain of Deprivation CAP. II. The Stage Encouraged by King Charles I. Sundays MASKS THAT the World may see what a Noble Exchange we had for our Afternoon Sermons and Evening Lectures I shall here give an Account of the Mask that was presented by the Kings Majesty at Whitehall in 1637. on the Sunday after Twelfth-night Entituled BRITANNIA TRIUMPHANS by Inigo Iones Surveyer of His Majesties Works and William Davenant Her Majesties Servant We are told in the Introduction That for these three Years their Majecties had intermitted those Masques and Shews because the Room where they were formerly presented having the Seeling richly adorn'd since with Painting of great Value Figuring the Acts of K. Iames of blessed Memory they were afraid it might suffer by the Smoke of the Lights but His Majesty having now ordered a New Room to be made on purpose which was performed in two Months the Scenes for this Mask were prepared Now who can say but these were Reasons becoming a Martyr and that this was a frugal way of spending his Treasure when at the same time he extorted Money from his Subjects in a Tyrannical manner by Ship-money Loans c. We come now to the Subject of the Mask Britanocles the Glory of the Western World hath by his Wisdom Valour and Piety not only vindicated his own but far distant Seas infested with Pyrates and reduc'd the Land by his Example to a real knowledge of all good Arts and Sciences These Eminent Acts Bellerophon in a wise Pity willingly would preserve from devouring time and therefore to make them last to our Posterity gives a command to Fame who hath already spread them abroad that she should now at home if there can be any maliciously insensible awake them from theif pretended Sleep that even they with the large yet still increasing Number of the Good and Loyal may mutually admire and rejoyce in our happiness This makes it evident enough that the subject was K. Charles himself who had gained some advantage against the Pirates of Barbary the praise of which there was none would have envied him but this was a new way of singing Te Deum no great Argument of Religion and far less any Presage that he should become a Martyr for it to order a Masque for his own praise upon that day which by Divine Institution was set apart for the praise of our Redeemer The next thing we have an Account of is That the Queen being sat under the State and the Room fill'd with Spectators of Quality a Stage was raised at the lower end with an Oval Stair down into the Room The first thing which presented it self to the Eye was the Ornament that inclosed the Scene In the under part of which were two Pedestals of a solid Order whereon the Captives lay bound above sat two Figures in Neeches on the right hand a Woman in a Watchet Drapery heightened with Silver on her Head a Corona Rostrata with one Hand holding the Rudder of a Ship and in the other a little winged Figure with a branch of Palm and a Garland This Woman was to represent Naval Victory In the other Neech on the left sat the Figure of a Man bearing a Scepter with a Hand and an Eye in the Palm and in the other hand a Book on his Head a Garland of Amaranthus his Curace was of Gold with a Palludamentum of Blue and Antick Bases of Crimson his Foot treading on the Head of a Serpent This Figure was to represent Right Government Above these were Ornaments cut out like Cloath of Silver tied up in Knots with Scarsings all touch'd with Gold These Pillasters bore up a large Freese with a Sea-Triumph of naked Children riding on Sea-Horses and Fishes and young Tritoâ—â— with writhen Trumpets and other Maritime Fancies In the midst was placed a great Compartiment of Gold with branches of Palm coming out of the Scrols and within that a lesser of Silver with this Inscription Virtutis Opus proper to the Subject of this Mask and alluding to that of Virgil Sed famam Extendere fuctis from this came a Drapery of Crimson which being tied up with great Knots in the Corners hung down in Foulds on the sides of the Pillasters A Curtain flying up discovered the first Scene wherein were English Houses of the old and newer Forms intermixt with Trees and a far off a prospect of London and the River of Thames So much for the Pomp of this Sunday's Theatre And let any Man who has the least sense of Religion judge whether it does not smell strong of that Pomp and Vanity of the World which Christians abjure at Baptism and was by consequence the most unbecoming Exercise for a Sabbath that could be invented as having an unavoidable Tendency to take up the Thoughts of the Actors and Spectators throughout the whole day and to wear off the Impressions of any Sermons they might have heard in the former part of it But we come now to the
properly applied to them That not only thosâ— who commit such things are worthy of Death but they also that take Pleasure in those that do them He further tells the antient Romans That Stage-Plays polluted their Souls depraved their Manners provoked God and offended their Saviour dishonoured their Christian Profession and drew down Gods Judgments on their State then miserably wasted by the Goths and Vandals therefore he advises them eternally to abandon Theatres which would bring their Souls their Bodies their Church their State to utter Ruine This is so full a Proof of his being against Stagâ—-Plays in general and those too not polluted with Heathen Idolatries but when Church and State were both Christian that certainly our Doctors can never quote Salvian any more for their purpose I pass over their other Popish Saints and Schoolmen that they quote for their Opinion which I suppose will have as little weight with any true Protestant as if they had quoted St. Garnet or St. Coleman but shall take notice of an Argument page xxi that the Canons of Councâ—ls brought against the Stage relate only to Scandalous Plays or Immodest Actors and here also the COUNCILS shall speak foâ— themselves CAP. VII Councils against the STAGE THE Council of Eliberis in Spain held Anno Dom. 305. ordered those who lent their Garments to adorn Plays to be Excommunicated for three Years That no Stage-Player should be received into the Church unless they renounce their Art and if they returned to it again they should be cast out That no Believer should marry a Stage-Player on pain of Excommunication The Council of Arles held at Narbon in France about the Year of our Lord 314. in the Time of Constantine the Great ordered That all Stage-Players should be Excommunicated so long as they continued to Act The Council of Arles in that same Kingdom held Anno 326. Enacted the like The Council of Laodicea in Phrygia Pacatiania held about 364. where most of the Bisâ—ops of Asia were present Enacted That no Clergy-man should be present at any Stage-Play The Council of Hippo held An. 393. and the Council of Carthage in Africa held An. 399. whereof St. â—ustin was a Member forbad the Clergy and Laity the use of Stage-Plays but ordered them to be re-admitâ—ed into the Church upon Repentance The Council of Carthage held An. 401. Enacted That those who were newly Baptized or Converted should abstain from Stage-Plays and that those who upon any solemn Festival omitted the Assâ—mbly of the Church and resorted to Stage Plays should be Excommunicated The Council of Africa held An. 408. decreed That Reconciliation with the Church should not be denied to Stage-Players and Common-Actors in case of Repentance and abandoning their Professions That Stage-Plays are against the Commâ—ndments of God And that Stage-Players should not be admitted as Evidences against any Person but in their proper Causes The Council of Carthage held An. 419. declared all Stage-Players to be infamous Persons and uncapable of bearing Evidence The Council of Constantinople held An. 680. and reputed both by Protestants and Papists to â—e Oâ—cumenical ordered Clergymen that frequented Stage-Plays to be depriv'd and Laymen to be Excommunicated The â—d Council of Nice held about 787. and commonly reputed the 7th Oecumenical Council forbids Stage-Plays as being accursed by the Prophet Isaiah Cap. 5. v. 11 12. And forbid by the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 31. The Synod of Tours held in the time of Charâ—emain An. 813. forbad to frequent Stage-Plays and ordered them to teach others to avoid them The second Synod of Cabilon held in the saâ—â— Year forbad them in like manner The Council of Mentz and Rheimns held under that same Emperor did in the same manner foâ—bid Stage-Plays to the Clergy The Council of Cologn held An. 1549. forbids Comedies to be Acted in Nunneries for though they consisted of Sacred and Pious Subjects they can notwithstanding leave little good but much hurt in the Minds of holy Virgins who behold and admire the External Gestures therefore they forbad the Acting of Comedies in Monastries or that Virgins should be Spectators of them The Council of Milan held An. 1560. in the Chapter concerning the Stage and the Dice admonishes Princes to banish out of their Teritories all Stage-Players Tumblers Jugglers and Jesters and to punish such Publick Houses as entertain them Thus we find Synods Antient and Modern and some of them during the very Darkness of Popery expresly condemning the Stage and that of the Council of Cologn is very remarkable which forbids Virgins the seeing of Comedies tho' the Subject be Sacred and Pious because of the bad Impressions which the External Gesture might leave upon their Minds Nay the very Council of Trent declared so far against Stage-Plays as to forbid them to the Clergy Then what a shame is it that the Church of England should not only be so remiss in declaring against the Stage but that any of her Clergy should appear to defend it as that Dr. does who sent the Letter to M. Motteux to prefix to his Beauty in Distress And much more that any of them should be Authors to write Plays for the Stage as Iasper Main and others of a latter date as the Author of the Innocent Impostors c. whom out of Respect I forbear to Name To these Antient and Modern Councils I shall add that of the Protestant Church of France held at Rochel An. 1571. Where this Canon was unanimously agreed upon viz. All Congregations shall be admonished by their Ministers seriously to Reprehend and Suppress all Dances Mummeries and Enterludes and it shall not be lawful for any Christians to act or be present at any Comedies Tragedies Plays Enterludes or any other such Sports either in publick or private considering that they have always been opposed condemned and suppresseâ— in and by the Church as bringing along with them the Corruption of good Manners This methinks ought to have more weight with M. Motteuâ— and his Church of England Divine than the Letter of a Popish Doctor of Paris I shall insist no further on the Defence of the Stage by the Prefacer to Beauty in Distress those I have already touch'd being his principal Arguments As for his Hints of other things being condemned by those Fathers and Councils which are now generally held to be Innocent they are meâ—r trifles No Protestant ever held that either Men or Councils were Infallible But the Arguments here adduced by those Fathers and Councils against the Stage being founded upon general Scripture Rules ought to direct us in our Faith and Practice as to this Matter Yet seeing our Parisian Doctor thinks it a mighty Argument for the Stage That Bishops Cardinals and Nuncios make no Scruple to be present at Plays though the same hath been forbid by so many Councils Mr. Motteux or his Church of England Divine may acquaint him
Religion and Vertue and bring Vice and Corruption of Manners into Esteem and Reputation The Poets that write for the Stage at least a great part of them seem deeply concerned in this Conspiracy These are the Champions that Charge Religion with such desperate Resolution and have given it so many deep and ghastly Wounds The Stage was an Out-work or Fort rais'd for the Protection and Security of the Temple but the Poets that kept it have revolted and basely betray'd it â—nd what is worse have turn'd all their Force and discharg'd all their Artillery against the Place their Duty was to defend If any Man thinks this an unjust Charge I desire him to read any of our Modern Comedies and I believe he will soon be convinced of the Truth of what I have said The Man of Sense and the â—ine Gentleman in the Comedy who as the chiefest Person propos'd to the Esteem and Imitation of the Audience is enrich'd with all the Sense and Wit the Poet can bestow This extraordinary Person you will find to be a Derider of Religion a greaâ— Admirer of Lucretius not so much for his Leâ—â—ning as Irreligion a Person wholly Idle dissolv'd in Luxury abandon'd to his Pleasure â— great Debaucher of Women profuse and extravagant in his Expences And in short this furnished Gentleman will appear a finished Libertine The young Lady that must support the Character of a Vertuous well-manner'd sensible Woman the most perfect Creature that can be and the very Flower of her Sex this Accomplish'd Person entertains the Audience with confident Discourses immodest Repartees and prophane Railery She is throughly instructed in Intreagues and Assignations a great Scoffeâ— at the prudent Reservedness and Modesty of the best of her Sex she despises the wise Instructions of her Parents or Guardians is disobedient to their Authority and at last without their Knowledge or Consent marries her self to the Gentleman above mentâ—oned And can any one imagine but that our young Ladies and Gentlewomen are admirably instructed by such Patterns of Sense and Virtue If a Clergyman be introduc'd as he often is t is seldom for any other Purpose but to abuse him to expose his very Character and Profession He must needs be a Pimp a Blockhead a Hypocrite some wretched Figure he must make and almost ever be so manag'd as to bring his Order into Contempt This indeed is a very common but yet so gross an Abuse of Wit as was never endured on a Pagan Theatre at least in the antient Primitive Times of Poetry before its Purity and Simplicity became corrupted with the Inventions of after Ages Poets then taught Men to Reverence their Gods and those who â—erv'd them none had so little regard for his Religion as to expose it publickly or if any had their Governments were too Wise to suffer the Worsâ—ip of their Gods to be treated on the Stage with Contempt In our Comedies the Wives of our Citizens are highly encouraged to despise their Husbands and to make great Friendship with some such Virtuous Gentleman and Man of Sense above described This is their way of Recommending Chastity and Fidelity and that Diligence and Frugality may be sufficiently expos'd though the two Virtues that chiefly support the being of any State to deter Men from being Industrious and Wealthy the diligent and thriving Citizen is made the most wretched contemptible thing in â—he World And as the Alderman that makes the best Figure in the City makes the worst on the Stage So under the Character of a Justice of Peace you have all the Prudence and Virtues of the Country most unmercifully insulted over And as these Characters are set up on purpose to ruin all Opinion and Esteem of Virtue so the Conduct throughout the Language the Fable and Contrivance seem evidently design'd for the same noble end There are few fine Conceits few strains of wit or extraordinary pieces of Railery but are either Immodest or Irreligious and very few Scenes but have some spiteful and envious Stroke at Sobriety and good Manners Whence the Youth of the Nation have apparently received very bad Impressions The universal Corruption of Manners and Irreligious Disposition of Mind that Infects the Kingdom seems to have been in a great Measure deriv'd from the Stage or has at least been highly promoted by it and 't is great pitty that those 〈◊〉 whose power it is have not restrained the 〈◊〉 centiousness of it and obliged the Writers to observe more decorum It were to be wished that Poets as Preachers are in some Countries were Paid and Licensed by the State and that none were suffered to write in prejudice of Religion and the Government but that all such Offenders as publick Enemies of Mankind should be silenc'd and duly punished Sure some effectual Care should be taken that these Men might not be suffered by debauching our Youth to help on the Destruction of a brave Nation But seeing the Author of the DEFENCE says without any limitation that Mr. Collier is the first who appear'd from the Pulpit or Press upon this Subject I must put him in mind of others that have Writ and Preached against the Stage long before those I have already mentioned And I think Mr. Prin Author of the Histriomastix deserves the Honour of being nam'd with the first His Treatise being perhaps the Largest Learnedst and most Elaborate of any that ever was writ upon the Subject and to which Mr. Collier has been very much oblig'd for many things in his ingenious Book as I own here once for all I am highly oblig'd my self for not a few though I have made use of them in a different Method I have already agreed with the Author of the Defence That the general Silence of the Clergy of late against the Stage is a Neglect of their Christian Duty but shall now make it appear that it has not always been thus with the Clergy which will be a further Confutation of our Authors Proposition That Mr. Collier is the first that broke Silence in this Matter and serve as a Reproof to the generality of the Church of England Divines of the present times that they come so much short of those of the former in their Zeal against the Stage Antient Church of England Divines against the STAGE IT may perhaps be reckon'd needless to go so far back as the famous Bradwardin Arch-bishop of Canterbury who wrote against the Stage in 1345. or Wickliff the Morning-Star of our Reformation who wrote against Plays in 1380. and therefore we shall descend to those times when the Reformation was arriv'd to a good hight And thus we find in 1572. Dr. Matthew Parker Arch-bishop of Canterbury in his Book De Antiquitate Ecclesiae Britannicae Page 445. asserts That Stage-Plays are not to be suffer'd in any Christian or well govern'd Commonwealth Dr. George Alley Bishop of Exeter and Divinity Lecturer at St. Pauls in 1571. the second year of Queen Elizabeth declaims against
THE Stage Condemn'd AND The Encouragement given to the Immoralities and Profaneness of the Theatre by the English Schools Universities and Pulpits Censur'd King Charles I. Sundays Mask and Declaration for Sports and Pastimes on the Sabbath largely Related and Animadverted upon The Arguments of all the Authors that have Writ in Defence of the Stage against Mr. Collier Consider'd AND The Sense of the Fathers Councils Antient Philosophers and Poets and of the Greek and Roman States and of the First Christian Emperours concerning the DRAMA Faithfully Deliver'd Together with The Censure of the English State and of several Antient and Modern Divines of the Church of England upon the STAGE AND Remarks on diverse late Plays as also on those presented by the two Universities to King Charles I. LONDON Printed for Iohn Salusbury at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1698. To the Right Honourable the Lords and Commons of ENGLAND in Parliament Assembled THE Corruption of Our Stage most Noble Senators is so very Palpable and Notorious that the Authors themselves who Live by it and have lately writ in Defence of it are forc'd to acknowledge it wants a Reformation But when they come to Particulars every one standâ— upon his own Defence and refuses to acknowledge that the Plays of his Writing contain any thing Culpable or Blameâ—worthy All of them write in Defence of the Stage and some of them plead the Usefulness and Absolute Necessity of it at the Expence of the Honour and Credit of the Nation whom they Charge as the most Splenetick and Rebellious People in Europe and that they stand in need of the Drama as a Sovereign Preservative against the Mischievous Effects of that Distemper At Your Feet therefore most Noble Senators the following Sheets are humbly laid as containing amongst other things a Vindication of the Brave and Generous People whom You Represent from that Foul Slander and Charging the Guilt upon the True Criminals who endeavour'd to tear Our Constitution in pieces by setting Our Kings and Parliaments at Variance and endeavouring to have Liberty and Property swallowed up by Prerogative to which wicked Design the Stage hath not a little Contributed The Bleeding Morals of this Gallant Nation are past the Cure of all Quack-pretenders It is His Majesty and Your Honours alone who are capable of applying the Sovereign Remedy by obliging Magistrates and Ministers to perform their Duty or enabling them to do it by New Laws if those we have already be not sufficient Our Gracious Sovereign hath not only rescued us from Popery and Tyranny but out of his Fatherly Care to prevent our future Danger hath again and again recommended it to His People to take Effectual Methods for the Suppressing of Prophaneness and Immorality which the Enemies of our Religion and Liberty made use of as the most successful Engines to Ruine both The Author of this Treatise has endeavour'd to prove That the Corruption of the Stage is in a great measure owing to the Method of Educating our Youth in Schools from whence the Infection spreads into the Universities and Pulpits And having been Encouraged by the late Reigns and part of the Clergy hath at last prov'd so fatal to the Manners of 〈◊〉 â—â—â—ople that the Stage is become a general 〈◊〉 and hath been complained of as such 〈◊〉 by Puritans and those who oppos'd King Charles I. as the Advocates of the Theatre do falsly pretend but by Antient and Modern Church of England Divines and hath been sometimes Restrained and at other times entirely Banished by the States of England in Parliament Assembled Whether the Merits of the present Stage be such as may deserve a more favourable Censure at Your Hands is Submitted as is fit it should to Your Great Wisdom In the following Treatise there 's the Opinion of the Jewish and Christian Church of the Greatest of the Heathen Philosophers and Poets of the Heathen Greek and Roman State of the first Christian Emperours c. and of Our English State against the Theatre fairly exhibited But seeing the Defenders of the Play-house argue the Usefulness of it to the English Nation in general and to the present Govenment in particular it is reasonable the Appeal should be to Our Honourable Representatives and that the Arguments pro and con should be laid before them not doubting if they think fit at all to take it into Consideration but they will give a True and Righteous Judgment in the Matter It is not in England alone where the Lawfulness or Unlawfulness of the Stage and the Immorality and Profaneness of it is the present Subject of Controversie But in France and Italy nay at Rome it self where as well as at Paris the Stage has of late as all the Publick Intelligences inform us receiv'd a Check tho' the Prefaâ—â—r to the Play call'd Beauty in Distress says the French Stage is so Reform'd as not to fall under the Censure of the Antient Fathers The Honour of our Nation and Religion would therefore seem to require that our Theatres should come under Examination as well as theirs but the Time wheâ— and the Method how must be left to the Wisdom of the King and Parliament to determine In the mean time it were to be wished that our English Ladies and Gentlewomen whose Encouragement and Presence is the most powerful Argument after all for the Defence of the Stage and by whose absenting themselves it must fall in Course without Law or Statute would be pleased to consider That the wise Roman Senate approv'd the Divorce which Sempronius Sophus gave to his Wife for no other Reason but that she resorted to the Cirques and Play-houses without his Consent the very sight of which might make her an Adultress and cause her to defile his Bed And the Christian Emperor Justinian made the following Constitution That a Man might lawfully put away his Wife if she resort to Cirques to Play-houses or Stage-Plays without his Privity and Consent because her Chastity might thereby be endangered If Our Stage then be so much Corrupted as its Advocates themselves are forc'd to confess its influence upon the Morals of the Audience must needs be dangerous and therefore it s hop'd our English Senators will be as careful of the Chastity of the English Ladies as the Antient Roman Senators were of theirs and that our English Women whose Beauty is every where admir'd will readily Consent to any thing that may preserve their Modesty too from being so much as Questioned Advertisement to the Reader THE Heads treated on in this Book don't follow in the same order as they are set down in the Title Page because the Author was oblig'd to take them as they occur'd in the Books that he answers but all of them may easily be found out by the Running Titles The Reader is also desir'd to take Notice that the Author designed at first only to have Writ against teaching the Heathen Poets in Schools without eâ—punging those
Stories or Poems There 's none of them let their Disposition be never so good but are in danger of being corrupted by this Method and I should look on it as next akin to a Miracle if there were any Virgin or Matron so Religiously Chast as not to have their Lusts inflamed almost to madness by Reading such kind of Books and Poems In this Case even the Heathen Lecher Ovid who is much more ingenuous than our pretended Christian Poets gives Judgment against his own Amorous POEMS and those of Tibullus c. Eloquar in vitus teneros ne tange Poetas Summonâ—o dotâ—s impias esse meas Callimachum â—ugito non est inimicus amori Et cum Callimacho tu quoque Coe Noces Carmina quis potuit tuto legisse Tibulli Vel tita cujus opus Cynthea sola suit Quis potuit lecto durus discedere Gallo Et mea nescio quid carmina tale sonant De Remedio amoris lib. 3. p. 230. It will appear plain from the very Nature and Design of Christian Schools That such things ought not to be taught in them The end of all such Schools is to teach Wisdom and Vertue that we may know God and our selves and how to Worship God aright whereas the quite contrary is taught by those Authors Homer Hesiod Pindar Aristophanes Virgil Horace and the rest of those Heathen Authors arriv'd to that height of Impiety and Madness that they feign'd such lewd things to be acted by their Gods as a modest Man cannot but be ashamed to rehâ—arse before Youth for they represent their Gods and Goddesses to be such as no honest or well-governed Common-wealth would have admitted them for Citizens so that Palingenius writes truly of them In câ—elo est Meretrix in coelo est turpis adulter Lib. I. There 's no doubt but the Heathen Poets were influenced by Satan to feign such Monstrous and Horrid Things concerning their Deities that they might thereby promote and Authorize Whoredom and Uncleanness among Men and add Fewel to the Flames of Corrupt Nature Certainly those Fables in Ovid's Metamorphosis concerning the Amous nay Rapes of the Gods and others cannot leave any Chast Impressions upon the Minds of Youth What a fulsom Expression is that of Virgil Aneid 7. Mista Deo Mulier The danger of teaching such things to Youth was seen by the very Heathen Philosophers And therefore Plato says That those fabulous Stories of the Poets were not to be receiv'd into a City as if the Gods wag'd War and form'd Ambushes against one another c. whether they be taken in an Allegorical Sense or not For Children says he cannot distinguish betwixt what is spoke figuratively or otherwise and such Opinions as they drink in when they are young they can hardly ever lay aside To feign that God who is altogether Good is the Cause of Evil is an Error that ought to be refuted and therefore the Poets should be compelled to write and speak things that are honest Thaâ— same Author says in Theage I know not what any Man in his Right Wits ought to be more solicitous about than how to have his Son made as good as possible and therefore he advises that care be taken that Nurses don't entertain them with old Wives Fables lest they be corrupted with Madness and Folly from their very Infancy Seeing those poor Heathens who had nothinâ— but the Light of Nature to direct them coulâ— give such excellent Precepts what a shame 〈◊〉 it for Christian Schoolmasters to spend more timâ— in teaching their Youth who Iupiter Vulcaâ— Neptune and Saturn were than who Iesus Chrisâ— is and to teach them those Lascivious Heatheâ— Poâ—ts in direct Opposition to the Seventh Coâ—â—mand St. Augustine in his Book of Conâ—ession 〈◊〉 out Oh that when I was a young Man I haâ—â— been instructed in profitable Books Whilst I wâ—â— a Youth at School I heard them talk of Iupitâ—â— darting Thunder and committing Adultery at tâ—â— same time The Jews were commanded to teach the Laâ—â— of God to their Children diligently to talk 〈◊〉 them when they sat in their Houses when thâ—â— walked by the way when they lay down anâ— when they rose up to write them upon the Posâ— of their Houses and on their Gates Deut. 6. 6 7 â— The Royâ—l Prophet David taught them Thâ— young Men were to purifie their way by takinâ— heed thereunto according to the Word of Goâ— Psal. 119. 9. And the wise King Solomon coâ—â—manded Children to be trained up in the Way tâ—â— they should go and when they were old they woâ—â— not depart from it Prov. 22. 6. The Apostle 〈◊〉 joyns that our Children should be brought up 〈◊〉 the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord Eph. 6 And commands Timothy to avoid Profane and 〈◊〉 Wives Fables 1 Tim. 4. 7. The only Objection of any weight that can 〈◊〉 raised against this is That in those Heathen Poeâ— there are abundance of excellent Moral Sentencâ— and that Youth learn the Purity of the Latiâ—â— Tongue from them To which it may be answerâ— That put them all together they come infiniteâ— short of those Moral Instructions that are to be found in the Proverbs of Solomon and the Ecclesiastes that its evident what Moral Sayings of worth any of those Heathen Authors have they borrow'd them from Moses and others of the divinely inspired Writers and we may with more safety and purity drink from the same Fountaâ—ns than from their polluted Streams And as for the purity of the Latine Tongue it may as well be learnt from others as from the Poets The Roman Histories are excellent for that end and if their Poets were purg'd from their Obscenities c. and so put into the Hands of Youth there could be nothing to object against ' em Nor are there wanting excellent Latine Poems by Christian Authors which might be equally serviceable for instructing our Youth in the purity of the Latine Tongue and inspring them also with true Christian Sentiments such as the famous Antient Poems of Tertullian Arator Apollinaris Nazianzen Prudentius Prosper and other Christian Worthies and the later ones of Du Bartas Beza Scaliger Buchanan Heinsius c. That a Reform of the Schools in this Point hath been so long neglected reflects Shame upon the Church who ought to have chiefly concerned themselves in it and is one main Reason why so many Persons of good parts have applied themselves to write for the Stage and that too with more Wantonness and Latitude than most of the Heaâ—hen Poets ever dar'd to allow themselves and the Corruption hath spread so far as to inâ—ect our Universities who tho' formerly they condemned the Stage are now become its Admirers and to the Scandal of the Nation obscene Poems are writ at their Publick Acts. CAP. V. An Answer to M. Motteuxes Defence of the STAGE I Come next to consider what is offer'd in Defence of the Stage by a Divine of the Church of England from the Authority
if they please That the Council of Lateran held by the Authority of Pope Innocent the third in the year 1215. consisting of two Patriarchs seventy Arch-Bishops four hundred twelve Bishops and eight hundred Abbots and Priors did forbid Clergymen to be present at Stage-Plays or to encourage Tumblers or Jesters So that if neither the Authority of Councils alone nor that of â— Pope and Council together be sufficient to 〈◊〉 the Paris Doctor of the Unlawfulness of Clergymens frequenting the Stage then I musâ— make bold to tell him That he has made a Sacrifice of the Infallibility of the Church of Rome to the Chapel of the Devil the Playhouse as Mr. Motâ—â—ux â—as Sacrificed the Authority of the Protestant Church of France to the Pleasure and Profit he reaps from the Theatre and Drama What a horrid shame is it that Iuliâ—n the Apostate should have had more Regard to the Honour of his Pagan Priests than our present Patrons of the Stage have either to the Credit of Popish or Protestant Divines when as Zozamen tell us he ordered the Priests to be exhorted not to be seen in the Theatre on Pain of Disgrace AN ANSWER TO THE DEFENCE OF Dramatick Poetry CAP. VIII Church of England Divines against the STAGE I Come next to consider the Arguments of that Book call'd A Defence of Dramatick Poetry Or Review of Mr. Collier and must in the Threshold declare my Agreement with the Ingenious Author in his PREFACE That if the Sufferance of the Theatre be so fatally destructive to Morality Vertue and Religion as Mr. Collier has endeavoured to render it he has more Satyriz'd the Pulpit than the Stage and that this Universal Silence of the whole Clergy must conclude their neglect of their Christian Duty But I 〈◊〉 beg leave to inform him that he is mistaken 〈◊〉 he says Mr. Collier is the first Pulpit or 〈◊〉 Sermon upon that Text For tho' it be true 〈◊〉 the Church of England Clergy in general 〈◊〉 been guilty of a Culpable Silence as to 〈◊〉 Head since the Restoration of King Charlâ—â— yet others have not Nor is Mr. Collier the 〈◊〉 Church of England Divine who since that 〈◊〉 hath attack'd the Stage from the Pulpit 〈◊〉 Wesley in a Reformation-Sermon preached in 〈◊〉 Iames's Church Westminster Feb. 13. and 〈◊〉 wards at St. Brides must be allowed to have 〈◊〉 the start of him Wherein he expresses himselâ—â— page 20 c. thus Our Infamous Cheatres seem to have doâ— more Mischief than Hobbs himself or our 〈◊〉 Atheistical Clubs to the Faith and Morals 〈◊〉 the Nation Moral Representations are ownâ—â— to be in their own Nature not only Innocent but ev'n useful as well as pleasant but what 〈◊〉 this to those which have no Morals or Moraliâ—â— at all in them and which are the most Immoraâ— Things in the World which the more any good Man is acquainted with them the less he musâ— still like them and at which Modest Heathenâ— would blush to be present If we ever hope for an entire Reformation of Manners even our Iails and our Theatres must have their shares With as much Reason may we exclaim against our Modern Plays and Interludes as did the olâ— Zealous Fathers against the Pagan Spectacles and as justly rank these as they did the others among those Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World which our Baptism obliges us to â—â—nounce and to abhor What Communion hath the Temple of God with Idols with those Abominable Mysteries of Iniquity which out do the old Fescennina of the Heathens the lewd 〈◊〉 of Baccus and the impious Feasts of 〈◊〉 and Priapus I know not how any Persons can profitably or indeed decently present themselves here before God's Holy Oracle who are â—â—equently present at those Schools of Vice and Nurseries of Profaneness and Lewdness to unlearn there what they are here taught out of God's Holy Word Would you suffer your Friend or your Child to resort every day to a Pesthous or a place infected with any Contagious or Deadly Disease whence you had seen many Persons carried out dead before you If 〈◊〉 would do this who pretended to be in his Right Senses What excuse can be made for those who do worse and are themselves frequently present as well as suffer others to be so at that place which is so nearly allied to Hers which Solomon describes Whose House is the Way to Hell and her Gates lead down to the Chambers of Death How can such Persons pray every day Lead us not into Temptation when they themselves wilfully rush into the very Mouth of it 'T is true the Stage pretends to Reform Manners but let them tell us how many Converts they can Name by their means to Vertue and Religion during these last thirty or forty Years and we can give Numerous and sad Instances to the contrary even of a Brave and Virtuous Nation too generally deprav'd and corrupted to which there cannot perhaps be any one thing assigned which has more highly contributed than these unsufferable and abominable Representations the Authors of which though the publick should continue to take notice of them would either be forc'd so far to alter them that they would hardly be known or else they would fall of themselves If Men would but withdraw their Company from theâ—â— as their presence there does actually encouraâ—â— and support them To close the Head whereoâ—â—am sorry there 's so much cause of insisting 〈◊〉 there are too many of whom we may withoâ—â— breach of Charity believe that they 'd rathâ—â— forsake the Church than the Theatre by 〈◊〉 being so much more frequently and delightfullâ— present at the latter than they are at the foâ— mer. If Oaths if Blasphemy if perpetual Profaâ— tion of the Glorious Name of God and our Blesed Redeemer if making a Scoff and a Laughtâ—â— at his Holy Word and Institutions and I know not why I should not add his Ministers too which is the very Salt and almost Imprimatur to most of the Comedies of the present Age. If Filthiness and foolish Talking and profanâ— or immodest Iesting and insulting over the Miseries and excusing and representing and recoâ—mending the Vices of Mankind either by not pâ—nishing them at all or slightly punishing them or even making them prosperous and happy and teaching others first how to be wicked and then to defend or hide their Wickedness or at least to think Vertue ridiculous and unfashionable and Religion and Piety sit for none but old People Fools and Lunaticks If contempt of Superiors if false Notions of Honour if height of Lewdness and Pride and Revenge and even Murder be those Lessons which are daily taught at these publick Playhouses to the disgrace of our Age corruption of our Mâ—rals and scandal and Odium of our Nation for the Truth of which we may appeal to all the Unprejudic'd and Virtuous part of Mankind Then we may further ask Whether these are â—it place for the Education of Youth