in the view of others the more is he maligned envied hated and the greater Puritan is he accounted as every mans owne experience can informe himâ— These Puritans and Precisians therefore are the best of Christians Secondly those who are most violently invective and maliciously despitefull against Puritans and Precisians both in their words and actions are such who are unsound or popishly affected in their religion or prophane and dissolute in their lives The most Romanized Protestants the deboisest drunkards the effeminatest Ruâ—fians the most fantasticke apish Fashion-mongers the lewdest whoremasters Panders Strumpets the prophanest Roarers Players Play-haunters and Brothel-hunters the most prodigious Swearers Epicures and Health-quaffers the most gracelesse vitious persons of all rankes and professions especially temporizing sloathfull unorthodox epicurean Ale-house haunting dissolute Clergy men the greatest enemies of all others to true grace and piety as all ages witnesse are alwayes the greatest railers the fiercest enemies against Puritans and Precisians as the world now stiles them therefore they are certainly the very best and holiest Christians because the very worst of men who like vitious Nero never heartily condemne ought else but some great good or other detest revile them most Et argumentum recti est malis displicere as not onely Seneca but the Scripture teacheth us Thirdly there is no man ever stiled a Puritan or Precisian by another in scorne or contempt as these names are now commonly used but it is either for some evill or other that he hates which he who stiles him so affects or for some grace or goodnesse or some transcendent degree of holinesse that is in him which the other wants To instance in some particulars Let a man make conscience of drunkennesse of drinking and pledging healthes of frequenting Ale-houses Tavernes and Tobacco-shops and presently he is cried out upon and censured for a Puritan by all the Pot-companions and Drunkards with whom he shall converse Let any one refuse to follow the guise and dissolute effeminate fashions of the times let him crie out against Love-locks and ruffianly long haire against false haire and perewigs which our men and women now generally take up as if they were quite ashamed of that head which God hath given them and proud of the tire-womans which they have dearely bought Let any Gentlewoman of quality now refuse to cut to poulder frizell and set out her haire like a lascivious courtezan or to paint her face like some common prostituted harlot or to follow any other amorous complements and disguises of the times adorning her selfe onely in modest apparell with shamefastnesse sobriety and good workes as becomes a woman professing godlinesse the onely feminine ornaments that St. Paul commends and what else shall they heare from all the Ruffians fantastiques and Frenchefied wanton Dames that live about them but this opprobrious censure that they are become professed Puritans If any make conscience of frequenting Play-houses Dice-houses Whore-houses of lascivious mixt dancing lascivious ribaldry songs and discourses inordinate gaming and such other sinfull pleasures which the most delight in refusing to beare men company in these delights of sinne our Play-haunters Dicers Gamesters Whoremasters and such voluptuous persons will presently voyce them up for Puritans Yea such is the desperate wickednesse of the times that let a man be vitious in one kinde and yet temperate in another as let him be a Play-haunter a gamester and not a drunkard a drunkard and yet no swearer no whoremaster no ruffian or the like or let a man be vitious in diverse kindes and yet not so bad as others of his companions and he shall be sometimes reproached for a Puritan because he is not so universally so extremely wicked and deboist as those of his companions who are farre worse than he Whence we oft times finde that such who are reputed no better than prophane ones when they are in company somewhat better than themselves are censured for Puritans among prophane ones because they are not so unmeasurably wicked as the worst of them And as those who are not so desperately outragious in their extravagant sinfull courses as others are thus houted at for Puritans and Precisians by such as are lewder than themselves so those who outstrip all others in holinesse pietie and vertue are reputed Puritans too because they excell in goodnesse For let a man be a diligent hearer and repeater of Sermons and Lectures a constant reader and discourser of Gods word a strict observer of the Lords day a lover and companion of the holiest men a man that is holy and gracious in his speeches in all companies and places desirous to sow some seedes of grace and to plant religion where ever he comes let him be much in prayer in meditation in fasting and humiliation much grieving for his sinnes and complaining of his corruptions let him be alwayes hungring and thirsting after grace and using all those meanes with conscionable care which may bring him safe to heaven abandoning all those sins those pleasures and companies which may hinder him in his progresse towards heaven Let a man be a diligent powerfull soule-searching sinne-reproving Minister residing constantly upon his benefice and preaching every Lords-day twice or let him be a diligent upright Magistrate punishing drunkennesse drunkards swearers suppressing Ale-houses Mâ—y-games Revels dancing and other unlawfull pastimes on the Lords day according to his oath and duty Let any of any profession be but a little holier or sticter than the Major part of men and this his holines his forwardnes in reliligion is suâ—ficient warrant for all prophane ones for all who fall short of this his practicall power of grace to brand and hate him for a Puritan as every mans conscience cannot but informe him It is manifest then by all these particular experimentall instances that those whom the world stiles Puritans and Precisians are the very best and holiest Christians and that they are thus ignominiously intituled yea hated and maligned because they are lesse vitious more pious strict and vertuous in their lives than such who call them so Fourthly there is no man so fierce an Antipuritan in his health and life but desires to turne Puritan and Precisian in the extremity of his sicknesse and the day of death When God sends his judgements crosses or tormenting mortall diseases upon such who were most bitter Satyrists against Puritans all their lives before or when hee awakens such mens consciences to see the gastly horrour of their notorious sinnes when they are lying perplexed on their death-beds with the feare of damnation ready to breath out their soules into hell at every gaspe they will then turne Puritans in very good earnest desiring to die such as they would never live yea then in such extremities as these they send for those very Puritan Ministers whom they before abhorred to
Philosophersâ— as the Incendiaries and common Nurseriâ—s of all Villany and Wickednesse the bane and ouerthrow of all Grace and Goodnesse the very poyson and corruption of mens mindes and manners the very fatall plagues and ouertures of those States and Kingdomes where they are once tollerated as I shall prooue anon Yet wee we miserable and gracelesse wretches after so many sentences of condemnation passed vpon them after so many Iudgements already inflicted on and yet threatned to vs for them after so many yeres and Iubilies of the glorious Gospel-sun-shine which teacheth vs to deny vngodlinesse and all worldly lusts and to liue soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for the comming and appearance of the great God and our Sauiour Iesus Christ yea after our very vow and sacred couenant in Baptisme which bindes vs to forsake the Deuill and all his Workes the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinfull lusts of the flesh of which these Stage-Playes are the chiefe as if wee were quite degenerated not onely from the grace and holinesse of Christians but euen from the naturall goodnesse and moralitie of Pagans in former Ages doe now euen now in the middest of all our feares at homeâ— and the miserable desolations of Gods Church abroade the very thoughts of which should cause our hearts to bleed and soules to mourne much more our Hellish iollitie and mirth to cease as if wee had made a couenant with Hell and sworne alleageance to the Deuill himselfe inthrall and sell our selues to these Diabolicall and hellish Enter-ludes notwithstanding all that God or man haue said against them and would rather part with Christ Religion God or Heauen then with them Yea so farre are many mens affections wedded to these prophane and Heathenish vanities that as it was in Saint Augustines time euen so it is now whosoeuer is but displeased and offended with them is presently reputed for a common Enemie he that speakes against them or comes not at them is forthwith branded for a Scismaticall or factious Puritan and if any one assay to alter or suppresse them he becomes so odious vnto many that did not the feare of punishment restraine their malice they would not onely scorne and disgrace but euen stone or rent him all to pieces as a man vnworthy for to liue on earth whereas such who further these delights of sinne are highly magnified as the chiefe contriuers of the publike happinesse There was once a time if Tertullian with some other ancient Fathers may bee credited when as it was the chiefest badge and character of a Christian to refraine from Stage-Playes yea this was one great crime which the Pagans did obiect against the Christians in the Primitiue Church that they came not to their Enterludes But now as if Stage-Playes were our Creed and Gospel or the truest embleme of our Christian profession those are not worthy of the name of Christians they must be Puritans and Precisians not Protestants who dislike them Heu quantum mutatus ab illo Alas how â—arre are Christians now degenerated from what they were in ancient times when as that which was their badge and honour heretofore is now become their brand and shame Quantus in Christiano populo honor Christi est vbi religio ignobilem facit How little doe we Christians honour Christ when as the ancient character and practicall power of Religion I meane the abandoning and renouncing of sinne-fomenting Stage-Playes subiect men vnto the highest censure and disgrace Conquerar an taceam This being the dissolute and vnhappy constitution of our depraued times it put mee at the first to this Dilemma whether to sit mute and silent still and mourne in secret for these ouerspredding abominations which haue got such head of late among vs that many who visit the Church scarce once a weeke frequent the Play-house once a day or whether I should lift vp my voyce like a trumpet and crie against them to my power If I should bend my tongue or pen against them as I haue done against some other sinfull and Vnchristian vanities my thoughts informed me that I might with the vnfortunate Disciples fish all night and catch iust nothing at the last but the reproach and scorne of the Histrionicall and prophaner sort whose tongues are set on fire of Hell against all such as dare affront their Hellish practises and so my hopes and trauell would bee wreckt at once If I should on the other side neglect to doe my vttermost to extirpateâ— or withstand these dangerous spectacles or to withdraw such persons from them as my paines and briefe collections in this subiect might reclaime when God had put this oportunitie into my hand and will into my heart to doe it my Conscience then perswaded me that my negligence and slackenesse in this kinde might make mee guiltie of the death of all such ignorant and seduced Soâ—les which these my poore endeuours might rescue from these chaines of Hell and cordes of sinne and interest meâ— in all the euill which they might suppresse Whereupon I resolued with my selfe at last to endure the crosse and despise the hate and shame which the publishing of this HISTRIO-MASTIX might procure mee and to asswage at least in my endeuours if not otherwise these inueterate and festred vlcers which may endanger Church and State at once by applying some speedy corrosiues and emplaisters to them and ripping vp their noxious and infectious nature on the publike Theater in these ensuing Acts and Scoenes which I thought good to stile The Players or Actors Tragoedie not so much for the Stile or Method of it for alas here is neither Tragicke stile nor Poeticall straines nor rare Inuention nor Clowne nor Actor in it but onely bare and naked Trueth which needes nâ— Eloquence nor straine of wit for to adorne or pleade its cause as for the good effects I hope it may and will produce to the suppression and extirpation at least the restraint and diminution both of Playes and common Actors and all those seuerall mischieuous and pestiferous fruites of Hellish wickednesses that issue from them which much desired successe and reformation if I could but liue to see I should deeme my selfe an happy man and thinke my labour richly recompenced The Argument Parts and Method of the ensuing TRAGAEDIE BVt not to spend more time in Prologues I shall now addresse my selfe vnto the Argument or Subiect of this Tragicall Discourse which is no more in briefe then this Conclusion That all popular and common Stage-Playes whether Comicall Tragicall Satyricall Mimicall or mixt of either especially as they are now compiled and personated among vs are such sinfull hurtfull and pernitious Recreations as are altogether vnseemely and vnlawfull vnto Christians A Paradoxicall new and strange Conclusion or Probleme vnto many and yet an ancient and resolued trueth
with much murther and bloodshed in all ages these have caused the Husband to murther his Wife the Wife to poyson her Husband one Whore-master to murther his Corrivals to the selfe-same Strumpet yea these have caused unnaturall Mothers to murther their owne spuriâ—us Issues to conceale their lâ—wdnesse as Authors as our owne Statutes and experience teach us therefore they must needs be cryingâ— because they are bloody sinnes Fiftenthly they are such sinnes which offer an high indignity to the whole Trinity First to God the Father not onely in taking those bodies that are his which were made for himselfe alone not for fornication and giving them up as profâ—ssed instruments of sinne to lust to lewdnesse to Satan to all uncleanesse but likewise in contaminating oblitterating and casting dirt yea sinne upon his most holy Image stamped on them Secondly to Iesus Christ our Lord in taking those bodies which are his members purchased with his most precious blood that they might be preserved pure and chaste to him and making them the members of an Harlot Thirdly to God the holy Ghost in defiling those bodies which are the Temples of the holy Ghost which is in us who cannot indure any pollution especially in his Temples which should be alwayes holy as he is holy And who is there so desperately wicked that dares thus affront the whole Trinity it selfe by these cursed filthy sinnes Sixteenthly they are sinnes of which men very seldome repent A Whore saith Salomon is a deepe Ditch and a strange woman is a narrow Pit out of which men can hardly recover themselves None that goe into her returne againe neither take they hold of the pathes of Life And who then would ingage his soule upon such irrecoverable irrepenitable sins as these Seventeenthly these sinnes are the very high-way to Hell the beaten rode to eternall death the end of them is bitter as wormwood sharpe as a two-edged sword Wherefore Salomon exhorts his Sonne to remove his way farre from a strange woman and not to come nigh the doore of her house a place well worthy their observation who feare not for to run to Whore-houses or to cast themselves upon the temptations the enticements of Strumpets as too many doe For her house inclineth unto death and her pathes unto the dead her feet goe downe to death her steps take hold of hell her house is the way to hell going downe to the chambers of death None that goe into her returne againe neither take they hold of the path of Life Eighteenthly they are sinnes against the very bodies and soules of men Against the bodies of men as the Apostle witnesseth Flee fornication every sinne that a man doth is without the body but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his owne body that is in defiling it in dishonouring it in impayring it in destroying it Against the soules of men as Salomon testifieth Who so saith he committeth adultery with an woman lacketh understanding he that doeth it destroyeth his owne soule And who would be so inhumanely so atheistically desperate as to destroy both soule and body for ever to enjoy the momentany bitter-sweetnesse of these filthy sinnes Nineteenthly they are sinnes which disable men to performe any holy duty acceptable to God Sinnes into which few fall but such as are abhorred of the Lord and given up to a reprobate sence to worke all wickednesse even with greâ—dinesse Sinnes which devoure to destruction and roote out all a mans increase Sinnes which cause the earth to rise up against men and the fire not blowne to devoâ—re them Sinnes which draw downe the temporall the eternall wrath of God upon the children of disobedience These were the sinnes that destroyed the old worldwith water which consumed the Citties of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from Heaven Which caused three and twenty thousand of the Isralites to fall in one day These were the sinnes that caused God in the yeere of our Lord 1583. even in our Citty of London to destroy with â—ire from Heaven two Cittizens the one leaving his Wife the other her owne Husband whiles they were in the very act of adultery on the Lords day their bodies being left dead and halfe burnt up for a Spectacle of Gods avenging Iustice unto others These are the sinnes but adultery and incest morâ— especially which God himselfe hath commanded to be punished with death yea with stoning to death the most vile and shamefulest death of all others Yea these are such sinnes that not onely the Iewes in ancient times but even meere Pagans from the very light of nature did punish with death it selfe Hence Dracâ— enacted that the adulterer taken in adultery might without any danger to the party be lawfully killed The selfe-same Law was enacted by Solon and Plato Hence Romulus among those lawes which he wrote in brasse and placed in the Capitol enacted That the convicted adulteresse should be put to death according as her husband or his friends should thinke meete Which act was afterwards confirmed by the Iulian Law Hence among the Lacedemonians it was lawfull for a man to kill him who was taken in adultery with his wife Hence the Corinthians used to drowne those who prostituted themselves to the lust of others The Vestel Virgins among the Romans bâ—ing convicted of fornication were buried alive In ancient Tiâ—es among the Turkes the adulterer and adulteresse were both stoned to death and at this day they are both most ignominiously punished The Arabians and Tenedians punish adultery with death reputing it a farre greater crime then periury or sacriledge and therefore worthy of a severer punishment The AEthiopians account adultery treason and therefore they make it capitall In Peru whoredome is punished with the death of both parties The Brasilians prosecute adultery with capitall hatred in so much that he whose wife is taken in adultery may lawfully kill her if he please The Indian Bramanes may lawfully poyson their uncâ—aste wives In old Saxony women who were convicted of adultery and ravishers of maides were first hanged and then burned In Sâ—aâ— adultery is death the Fathers of the Malefactors or the next Kinsmen being the Executioners In Palmaria adulterous Priests are punished with cruell death In Hispaniola unchaste Priests are either drowned or burnt Iâ— Bantam Mexico and China adultery is punished with death The Tartars taken in adultery are put to present death for feare of which they live very chaste If then the very judiciall Law of Moses together with these Heathens and Pagan Nations have deemed these sinnes capitall punishing adulterers and adulteresses with death as being the publike enemies of mankinde needs must these sinnes bee execrable yea dangerous unto Christians Twentiethly these sinnes are prejudiciall both to the Church and State
indisposed to repentance Playes are the Birdlime the enchaunting snares of Satan with which he captivates and intangles soules through pleasure and delight they are his chiefest instruments to expell all godly sorrow from mens hearts to stupifie to cauterize their consciences to banish the very feare and thoughts of sinne out of their mindes to remove the sence the sting of conscience iniquity far from their soules to lull their hearts asleepe in deepe security to chase away farre from them all thoughts of Hell of death of damnation of the day of iudgement to forestall all helpes all preparatives all meanes all motives to repentance and to with-hold men from it Alas how can he loath sinne in the street who delights in it in the Play-house How can hee mourne for it in his Closet who sports himselfe with it in the Theater How can hee weepe for it in secret who thus laughes at it in publike How can he looke upon it with detestation in himselfe who makes it his recreation when it is acted by others How can he renounce abhorre condemne it at home who thus applaudes affects admires it abrode Certainely hee can never make sinne his greatest griefe who makes the râ—presentations of it his chiefest mirth He can never make ribaldry adultery whoredome incest and the like the everlasting objects of his hatred who makes the hearing the seeing the acting the lively representations and pictures of them the daily objects of his chiefe delight Every true penitent must be sensible of sinne he mâ—â—â— feele the sting the venom of it see the filth of it bewayle the guilt of it hate the very appearances and resemblances of it flie all the occasions of it all the allurements to it yea utterly abhorre the very sight and hearing of it as a most execrable horrid and accursed thing And can Players can Play-haunters then who spend their dayes in myrth in carnall iollity in laughing in rejoycing in ribaldrous songs in scurrilous jests in amorous Poems in wanton Comedies in lewde discourses in adulterous representations wallowing in the very mire of sensuality voluptuousnesse and such like beastly sinnes without the least remorse be neere to true repentance or to the wayes the preparatives that lead and bring men to it O no! A penitent heart an humbled soule a circumcised eare an eye that weepes in truth for sinne is altogether impatient of such obiects such Enterludes and delights as these Witnesse the pactise of the Pagan converts in the Primitive times who immediately upon their baptisme and syncere repentance did utterly renounce all Stage-playes as accursed Pleasures not daring to returne unto them againe Witnesse all Christian converts of latter times who have done the like Thus did Saint Augustine heretofore as himselfe confesseth thus did M. Gosson and the Author of the 3. Blast of Retrait from Stage-playes of late as themselves record before their repentance and conversion they composed they admired Stage-playes immediately vpon their repentance and reformation they utterly abandoned them and wrote against them Thus likewise did Alipius Saint Augustines convert as himselfe relates thus all that heartily and sincerely turne to God have ever done their repentance drew them first from Playes Play-houses and then bent their hearts their judgements their tongues if not their pens against them Thus was it with the wanton Poet Ovid his very morall Heathenish repentance made him to detest and write agaâ—nst those Playes and Play-houses which formerly hee commended And will not then true Christian Evangelicall repentance much more reclaime men from embitter their hearts their tongues and pens against these Heathenish Hellish and polluted pleasures undoubâ—edly it will as appeares by all the Playâ— contemning Councels Fathers and other Christian Authors here recited and by the concurrent suffrage of the devoutest Christians in all ages who have constantly condemned and declaimed against Stage-playes as the very greatest corruptions that can befall a Church or Christian State The farther men are from Playes and Play-houses the neerer are they saith an Author to true repentance the neerer to them the further are they from this soule-saving grace Hereupon some Fathers well observe that Saint Paul writing to Philemon to provide an house or lodging for him Philemon vers 22. would have such an house as was not neere the Theater or place of publike Enterludes whither lascivious persons running did follow all filthy things lest its filthy vicinage should make it detestable Certainely if it were not meete for an eminent Apostle to dwell neere to Playes or Play-houses for feare their lewde vicinity should make his habitation detestable to Christian Auditors who resorted to it much more unseemely is it for a penitent Christian who must abstaine not onely from evill it selfe but likewise from all the appearancies of it to resort to Playes and Play-houses themselves which are farre more noxious more contagious then the houses neere adjacent to them As hee therefore who would obtaine the perfect grace of remission must withdraw himselfe from the Spectacles and Enterludes of the world if Saint Augustine Aquinas or our owne Country-man Alexander Fabricius write true Doctrine so hee that would attaine the grace of true repentance must wholy sequester himselfe from Playes and Play-houses which are altogether incompatible with true repentance and both hindring men from it and indisposing them to it to the eternall losse the irrecoverable perdition of their dearâ—st soules Wherefore I shall epitomize this Scene into this 39. Play-refuting Argument That which inamors men with sinne and vanity which hardens them in their sinnes detaines them in their wicked courses and indisposeth them to true repentance must needs be utterly unlawfull and execrable unto Christians Witnesse Psal. 101.3 Psal. 119.37 Rom. 24.5 But this doe Stage-playes as the premises demonstrate Therefore they must needs bee utterly unlawfull and execrable unto Christians SCENA DECIMA-QVINTA THe 15. consequent or effect of Stage-playes is that they effeminate their Actors and Spectators making them mimicall histrionicall lascivious apish amorous and unmanly both in their habites gestures speeches complements and their whole deportment enervating and resolving the virility and vigor of their mindes to their owne private and the publike prejudice This Plato De Republica Dialog 3. pag. 597. Clemens Alexandrinus Paedagogi lib 2. cap. 4. lib. 3. cap. 11. Tertullian De Spectaculis cap. 17. Cyprian De Spectaculis lib. Epist. lib. 2. Epist. 2. Donato Lactantius De Vero Cultu cap. 20. Divinarum Instit. Epist. cap. 6. Hierom. Adversus Iovinianum lib. 2. cap. 7. Nazianzen De Recta Educatione ad Selucum pag. 1063. Chrysostome Homil. 6. 38. in Matth. Oratio 7. formerly quoted Augustine De Civitate Dei lib. 1. cap. 32.33 Salvian De Gubernatione Dei lib. 6. Ioannes Salisburiensis De Nugis Curialium lib. 1.
of their corruptions of which they take no notice Excellent to this purpose is that speech of Seneca Quare vitia sua nemo confitetur Quia etiam nunc in illis est Somnium narrare vigilantis est vitia sua confireri sanitatis indicium est Expergiscamur ergo ut errores nostros coarguere possimus Stage-haunters are for the most part lulled asleepe in the Dalilaes lappe of these sinfull pleasures yea they are quite dead in sinnes and trespasses their eyes are so blinded that they will not see their hearts so hardned that they cannot discerne their consciences so cauterized that they never seriously behold nor yet examine the execrable filthinesse greatnesse multitude growth or daily increase of their beloved sinnes and lusts no marvaile therefore if they affirme this falsehood that they receive no hurt at all from Stage-playes Secondly every man especially those who were never thorowly humbled for their sinnes as few Play-frequenters are is a corrupt a partiall and so an unfitting â—udge in his owne cause As therefore men in ordinary differences referre the censure and determination of their owne causes to indifferent Arbitrators who are no wayes ingaged in their suits declining their owne particular discitions to avoyd all partiality it being against reason as Mr. Littleton and our Law-bookes teach us that any man should be the Iudge of his owne cause Or as Aristotle writes of Physicians that they use the helpe of other Physicians in their owne sicknesse because they cannot discerne the true touch of their owne diseases by reason of their distemper the same should our Play-haunters doe in this particular referre the examination of the hurt they receive from Playes and Play-houses unto others who are impartiall judges but not unto themselves whom selfe-love makes too partiall Thirdly I answer with S. Hierom Tunc maxime oppugnaris si te oppugnari nescis Adversarius noster tanquam leo rugiens aliquem devorare quaerens circumit tu pacem putas Sedet in insidijs insidiatur in occulto tu frondosae arboris tectus umbraoulo molles somnos futurus praeda carpis Inde me persequitur luxuria inde compellit libido ut habitantem in me Spiritum sanctum fugem ut templum ejus violem persequitur inquam me hostis cui nomina mille mille nocendi artesâ— ego infaelix victorem me putabo dum capior In illo aestu Charybdis luxuriae salutem vorat Ibi ore virgineo ad pudicitiae perpetranda naufragia Scylla seu renidens libido blanditur Hic barbarum litus hic Diabolus pyrata cum socijs portat vincula capiendis Nolite credere nolite esse securi Licet in modum stagni fusum aequor arrideat licet vix summa jacentis elementi spiritu terga crispentur magnos hic campus montes habet intus inclusum est periculum intus est hostis expedite rudentes vela suspendite tranquillitas ista tempestaâ— est Stage-players and Play-haunters are commonly most dangerously corrupted by the Playes they act and see when as they are least sensible of their hurt yea their oft resort to Playes and Play-houses which perchance did somewhat gall their consciences at the first hath made them sencelesse of their mischiefe at the last Vulnere vetusto neglecto callus obducitur eo insanabile quo insensibile fit Solum est cordurum quod semetipsum non exhorret quia nec sentit I shall therefore shut up this reply with that of Bernard which I would wish all unlamenting Play-haunters sinners to consider Scio longius à salute absistere membrum quod obstupuit aegrum sese non sentientem periculosius laborare Fourthly the hurt men receive from Stage-playes is like the growth of their bodies it increaseth by certaine insensible degrees so that it is hardly discerned whiles it is growing till time hath brought it to maturity Nemo repente fit tu pissimus is as true as ancient No man becomes extreamely vitious on a sudden but by unsensible gradations and so doe Play-haunters too even by those seeds of vice which Stage-playes sow and nourish in them What Seneca writes of the discourses of lewde companions Horum sermo multum nocet Nametiam si non statim officit semina in animo relinquit sequiturque nos etiam cum ab illis discesserimus resurrecturum posteà malum The same may I truely write of Playes whose evill fruits like tares that are buried under ground are oft concealed for a time till at last they bud forth by degrees and come to perfect ripenesse and then they are abvious unto all mens view No wonder therefore if Play-haunters discover not the hurt they receive from Playes because it creepes thus on them by imperceptible gradations though faster upon some then others But albeit Play-haunters feele no hurt at first no more then those who drinke downe poyson in a sugered cup which yet proves fatall to rhem at the last though it were sweet and luscious for the present yet when terrors of conscience death and judgements when crosses and afflictions shall thorowly awaken them when God shall set all their sinnes in order before them or bring them by his grace and mercy to sincere repentance then they shall finde and know it to their griefe as sundry penitent Players and Play-haunters have done before them that Stage-playes have done them hurt indeed Fiftly Stage-playes have exceedingly depraved corrupted many Spectators from time to time and drawne them on to divers sinnes which have even sunke their soules to Hell as the premises largely testifie And can any then think to escape all danger even where they have seene so many perish Can any man rest secure where multitudes have miscarried What S. Cyprian therefore writes in a like case that shall I here commend to Stage-haunters Ad vos nunc mea exhortatio convertitur quos nolumus experiri talia praecipitia ruinarum Metuite quantum potestis ejusmodi casus exitia Et in ista subversione labentium vos experimenta perterreant Nimium praeceps est quitransire contendit ubi alium conspexerit cecidisse vehementer infrenis est cui non incutitur timor alio pereunte Amator vero est salutis suae qui evitat alienae mortis incursum ipse est providus qui solicitus fit cladibus caeterorum Adversa est confidentia quae periculis vitam suam pro certo commendat lubrica spes est quae inter fomenâ—a peccati salvari se sperat Incerta victoria est inter hostilia arma pugnare impossibilis liberatio est â—lammis circundari nec ardere quod Solomon non negat dicens Quis alligabit in sinu suo ignem vestimenta autem sua non comburet Credite quaeso vos credite divinae fidei quinimo pluâ— quà m nostrae Difficile quis venenum bibet vivet verendum est dormienti in ripa ne cadat cum dicat Apostolus
your last dying Scenes draw on apace and it will not be long ere you goe off the Theater of this world unto your proper place and then how miserable will your condition be You have beene the Devils professed agents his meniall hired servants all your lives and must you not then expect his wages at your deathes You have treasured up nought but wrath unto your selves against the day of wrath whiles you lived here precipitating both your selves and others to destruction and can you reape ought but wrath and vengeance hereafter if you repent not now Your very profession hath excommunicated you the Church the Sacraments the society of the Saints on earth and will it not then much more exclude you out of Heaven O miserabilis humana conditio sine Christo vanum omne quod vivimus was S. Hieroms patheticall ejaculation and may it not be much more yours who have lived without Christ in the world who have renounced his service and betaken your selves to the Devils workes and pompes against your baptiâ—mall vow as if you had covenanted by your selves and others to serve the Devill and performe his workes even then when you did at first abjure them O then bewaile with many a bitter teare with many an heart-piercing sigh with much shame much horror griefe and indignation the losse of all that precious time which you have already consumed in the Devils vassalageâ— and since God hath forborne you for so many yeeres out of his tender mercy O now at last thinke it enough yea too too much that you have spent your best your chiefest dayes in this unchristian diabolicall lewde profession professing publikely in S. Peters words The time past of our lives may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles and of the Devill to we will henceforth live to God alone If you will now cast of your former hellish trade of life with shame and detestaâ—ion if you will prove new men new creatures for the time to come Christs armes Christs wounds yea and the Church her bosome stand open to receive you notwithstanding all the lusts and sinnes of your former ignorance But if you will yet stop your eares and harden your hearts against all advice proceeding on stil in this your ungodly trade of life in which you cannot but be wicked then know you are such as are marked out for Hell such who are given up to a reprobate sence to worke all uncleanesse even with greedinesse that you all may be damned in the Day of Iudgement for taking pleasure in unrighteousnesse and disobeying the truth As therefore you expect to enter Heaven Gates or to escape eternall damnation in that great dreadfull Day when you must all appeare before the Iudgement Seate of Christ to give a particular account of all those idle vaine and sinfull actions gestures words and thoughts which have proceeded from you or beene occasioned in others by you all your dayes be sure to give over this wicked trade of Play-acting without any more delayes which will certainely bring you to destruction if you renounce it not as all true penitent Players have done before you For if the righteous shall scarcely be saved in the Day of Iudgement where shall such ungodly sinners as you appeare Certainely you shall not be able to stand in Iudgement or to justifie your selves in this your profession in that sinne-confounding soule-appaling Day but you shall then be punished with everlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord from the glory of his power if the very riches of his grace and mercy will not perswade you to renounce this calling now Quantoque diutius Deus vos expectavit vt emendetis tanto districtius judicabit si neglexeritis by how much the longer God hath forborne you here expecting your repeÌ„tance the more severely shal he then condemne you If any Stage-players here object that they know not how to live or maintaine themselves if they should give over acting To this I answer first that as it is no good argument for Bawdes Panders Whores Theeves Sorcerers Witches Cheaters to persevere in these their wicked courses because they cannot else maintaine themselves so it is no good Plea for Players No man must live by any sinfull profession nor yet doe evill that good may come of it therefore you must not maintaine your selves by acting Playes it being a lewde unchristian infamous occupation Secondly there are divers lawfull callings and imployments by which Players might live in better credit in a farre happier condition then now they doe would they but bee industrious It is therefore Players idlenesse their love of vanity sinfull pleasures not want of other callings that is the ground of this objection Thirdly admit there were no other course of life but this for Players I dare boldly averre that the charity of Christians is such as that they would readily supply the wants of all such indigent impotent aged Actors unable to get their livelihood by any other lawfull trade who out of conscience shall give over Playing Certainely the charity of Christians was such in Cyprians dayes that they would rather maintaine poore penitent Actors with their publike almes then suffer them to perish or continue acting and I doubt not but their charity will be now as large in this particular as it was then Lastly admit the objection true yet it were farre better for you to die to starve then any wayes to live by sinne or sinfull courses There is sinneâ— yea every pious Christian as is evident by the concurrent examples of all the Martyrs should rather chuse to die the cruellest death then to commit one act of sinne Better therefore is it for Players to part with their profession for Christs sake even with the very losse of their lives and goods which they must willingly lose for Christ or else they are not worthy of him then to retaine their Play-acting and so lose their Saviour themselves their very bodies and soules for all eternity as all unreclaimed unrepenting Players in all probability ever doe Let Players therefore if they will be mercifull to themselves shew mercy rather to their soules then to their bodies or estates Talis enim misericordia crudelitate plena est qua videlâ—cet ita corpori servitur ut anima juguletur Quae enim charitas est carnem diligere spiritum negligere Quaeve discretio totum dare corpori animae nihil Qualis vero misâ—â—icordia ancillam reficere dominam interficere Nemo pro hujusmodi misericordia sperat se consequi misericordiam sed certissime potius paenam expectet Yea let them renounce their Play-acting though they perish here rather then perish eternally hereafter to live by it now Lastly I shall here exhort all Play-haunters all Spectators of any publike or private Enterludes to ponder all the
many ingenuous witty comely youthes devoted vnto God in baptisme to whom they owe themselves their service are oft-times by their gracelesse Parents even wholy consecrated to the Stage the Divels Chappell as the Fathers phrase it where they aâ—e trained up in the Schoole of Vice the Play-house as if their natures were not prone enough to sinne unlessâ— they had the helpe of art to backe them to the very excesse of all effeminacy to act those womanish whorish parts which Pagans would even blush to personate And is this a laudable as many a triviall veniall harmelesse thing as most repute it Is this a light a despicable effeminacie for men for Christians thus to adulterate emasculate metamorphose and debase their noble sexe thus purposely yea affectedly to vnman vnchristian vncreate themselves if I may so speake and to make themselves as it were neither men nor women but Monsters a sin as bad nay worse than any adultery offering a kinde of violâ—nce to Gods owne worke and all to no other end but this to exhilerate a confluence of unchaste effeminate vaine companions or to become competent Actors on a Stage the greatest infamy that could befall an ancient Pagan Roman or a Christian Is this a meane a pardonable wickednesse to violate the Lawes of God of Nature to educate those in the very discipline and schoole of Satan who should be trained vp in the admonition feare and nurture of the Lord that so they may be more deepely enthralled to the Devils bondage all their dayes since custome is another nature it being as difficult a thing for such who are accustomed to evill to doe good as for an AEthiopian to change his skin or a Leopard his spots and be made more sure partakers with him in his eternall torments at their deathes O therefore let vs now at last consider with our selves the execrable effeminacy which attends the very acting of our Stage-playes together with the danger accompanying this sinne which is no lesse without repentance then the eternall losse of heavens and then we shall we cannot but abhorre all Stage-playes even in this regard SCENA QVARTA FOurthly as the grosse effeminacie even so the palpable vanitie the ridiculous folly of acting Playes doth manifest them to be evill as this nineteenth Play-affronting Argument will evince That whose very action in its best acception is but ridiculous folly and vanity must certainly be vnseemely yea unlawfull unto Christians But such is the very action of Stage-playes Therefore they must certainly be unseemely and unlawfull unto Christians The Major is evident First because the Scriptures condemne all vanity and follie together with all vaine all foolish actions persons speeches words gestures as dangerous and pernicious evils which draw men by degrees to greater sinnes to serious mischiefes commanding men with all not to returne againe to folly there being wickednesse and madnesse in it to abandon-folly and vanities which promote not the eternall beatitude of their soulâ—s to depart from the presence of a foolish man when as they perceive not in him the lips of knowledge Secondly because vanitie and folly are the very matter seminaries and seeds of sinne of wickednesse there being nothing worse then they The Minor as it is evident by the concurrent testimony of the fore-quoted Fathers Acts 3. Scene 7. so it is such an experimentall knowne truth that it were lost labour for to prove it For what else is the personating of the Clownes the Fooles the Fantastickes the Lovers the Distracted discontented lascivious furious angry persons part but professed vanitie or ridiculous affected folly Yea what else is the whole action of Playes but well personated vanity artificiall folly or a lesse Bedlam frenzie He who shall seriously survay the ridiculous childish inconfiderate yea mad and beastly actions gestures speeches habits prankes and fooleries of Actors on the Stage if he be not childish foolish or frentique himselfe must needs deeme all Stage-players children fooles or Bedlams since they act such parts such pranks yea use such gestures speeches rayment complements and behaviour in Iest which none but children fooles or mad-men doe act or vse in earnest There is â—o difference at all betweene a foolâ— a fantastique a Bedlam a Whore a Pander a Cheater a Tyrant a Drunkard a Murtherer a Divell on the Stage for his part is oft-times acted and those who are such in truth but that the former are farre worse farre more inexcusable than the latter because they wilfully make themselves that in sport to foment the more then childish folly of some vaine Spectators which these others are perchance from naturall necessity or at least from colourable grounds Flendas dixerim an ridendas ineptias The foolery the ridiculousnesse of acting Playes is such that I know not whether men should more bewaile it or deride it Sure I am though â—ew Spectators can finde teares to deplore the sinâ—ulnesse yet most of them can afford laughter to deride the vanity the folly of acting Playes Since therefore vanitie and folly are the genuine proper objects of derision and mens voluptuous smiles the laughter Playes occasion which is their chieâ—est end is a sufficient evidence of their excessive folly and so ground enough for Christians for all men to condemne them as vanities as fooleries as Clemens Alexandrinus and other Fathers doe at large declare And thus much for the first considerable thing in the manner of acting Stage-playes SCENA QVINTA THe second circumstance considerable in the forme of acting Playes is the severall parts and persons sustained in them which suggests this twentieth Play-oppugning Argument Those Playes whose very parts and persons are sinfull yea abominable are certainly unseemely unlawfull unto Christians But such are the parts the persons most frequent in all Stage-playes Therefore they are certainly unseemely unlawfull uâ—to Christians The Maior is irrefragable because such as the parts are such is the whole which is composed of them If the parts then be evill the intiretie that springs out of them must bee such The Minor I shall evidence by this Induction In all our Stage-playes we have most vsually the parts and persons of Divel-gods and Goddesses of Iupiter Mars Apollo Venus Vulcan Saturne Cupid Neptune Mercurie Esculapius Hercules Pluto Bacchus Ceres Minerva Diana Iuno Proserpina Flora Priapus and others yea sometimes the very part and person of the Divell himselfe whose workes whose pompes and vanities all Christians have renounced in their Baptisme Adde we to these the parts and representations of Satyres Silvanes Muses Nymphes Fâ—ries Hobgoblins Fairies Fates with such other heathen vanities which Christians should not name much lesse resemble Together with the parts the persons of Whores Whoremasters Adulterers Bawdes Panders Tyrants Traitors Theeves Murtherers Paricides Drunkards Parasites Prodigals Hypocrites
your hearts with filthy obiects so that they cannot cease from sinne Have they not caâ—sâ—d you to looke upon Whores and Strumpets upon bâ—autifull comely women with a lustfull eye and so to commit if not actuall yet contemplative adultery with thâ—m in your hearts either more or lesse If you deny all this your owne consciences together with all the fore-recited Fathers Councels Christian and Pagan Authors will presently convince you of a lie If you acknowledge it as needs you must since your owne consciences with all the premises will force you to confesse it you must certainely ioyne hands ioyne hearts and iudgements with me in censuring in condemning Stage-playes because they contaminate and defile both their Actors their Spectators soules and bodies because they thus instigate nourish and enflame their inseperable sinfull fleshly lusts which war against their soules which should be mortefied and subdued not fostered not fomented as they are SCENA QVARTA THe fourth effect or fruit of Stage-playes is actuall adultery whoredome and uncleanesse which are no wayes tolerable among Christians From whence this 30. Argument doth arise That which is an immediate occasion furtherance or fomentation of much actuall adultery fornication whoredome and uncleanesse must needs be abominable and utterly unlawfull unto Christians But such are Stage-playes as I shall cleerely manifest Therefore they must needs be abominable and utterly unlawfull unto Christians My Minor must bee yeelded because adultery fornication whoredome with all other actuall uncleanesse how ever men may chance to â—light them as meere triviall veniall sins are most damnable soule-murthering abominations which God which Christian men abhorre The sinfulnesse the damnablenesse of these foule crying sinnes which alas are now so frequent in the world that the commonnesse of them hath made them tollerable if not commendable and lawfull in the eyes of many who are so farre from being ashamed of that they even boast and glory in thâ—se lascivious wickednesses will easily appeare by these particulars First they are sinnes against the expresse letter of the 7. Commandement Thou shalt not commit adultery as all ancient and moderne Expositors of this Commandement testifie Secondly they are sinnes abundantly condemned thorowout the Old and New Testament as abominable and highly displeasing unto God whose wrath none can stand under Thirdly they are the very workes and products of the flesh issuing alwayes from a polluted heart devoyd of grace Fourthly they are those execrable sinnes those abominable pollutions wherein the Idolatrous Pagan Gentiles lived whose lewdnesse Christians must not imitate Fiftly they are those shamefull desperate filthy workes of darknesse which the most audacious miscreants are afraide yea utterly ashamed to commit in the day-time in the face and view of others out of a selfe-guiltinesse an inward consciousnesse of their vilenesse in the act of which if any are deprehended they are in the very terrors of the shadow of death like men distracted they know not what to doe nor whether to flie the very foulenesse of the fact amazing them and the least noyse affrighting them Sixtly they are sinnes which most abominably pollute the bodies and soules of men making them â—dious both in the eyes of God and men Seventhly they are sinnes which bring abundance of shame of dishonour upon the persons families and posterities of those who are guilty of them and even quite deprive them of their glory a wound a dishonour shall they get and their reproach shall not be wiped away as the very wisest of men informes us Sixtly they are sinnes which wholy infatuate and steale away mens hearts so that they are as an Oxe that goeth to the slaughter or as a foole who is led to the correction of the stockes till a dart shrike thorow their liver or as a Bird that hastneth to the snare not knowing that it is for his life Yea these sinnes doe so besot men that they can neither consider the danger of them nor yet use meanes for to escape them Ninthly they consume they putrifie not onely the soules the spirits but the very bodies and estates of men bringing them even to a morselt of bread Tenthly they ingenerate many filthy loathsome diseases which oft-times so putrifie the bodies of lewde adulterous persons that they even stinke above ground becoming odious yea intollerable to themselves and others which made S. Chrysostome to affirme that an adulterer even in this life before he goes to Hell is the most miserable the most wreâ—ched of all men Eleventhly they are such sinnes as are not so much as once to be named much lesse then practised among Christians whom they doe not become those therefore are no true Christians who take pleasure in them Twefely they are such sinnes as exclude men both from the society of Gods Children here who are not so much as to converse or eate with fornicators or adulterers and likewise from the Word the Sacraments the publike Assemblies of the Saints from which all Fornicators Adulterers Strumpets and unchaste persons are ipso facto by the very Law of God and man to be excommunicated that so they may be delivered up to Satan for the destruction of the flesh till they shall give some outward actuall testimony of their sincere repentance for these sinâ— Thirteenthly they are such sins as make a man exceeding guilty in Gods sight A man may as well take fire in his bosome and his clâ—athes not be burnt or goe upon coles and his feet not be scorched as goe into his neighbours wife and yet be innocent Whence Salomon informes us that a strange woman increaseth transgressions amongst men Fourteenthly they are sinnes which oft times shorten and cut off the lives of men and draw on murther after them For as the Adâ—itresse will hunt for the precious life of a man so iealousie is the rage of a man thereâ—ore he will not spare in the day of vengeance he will not regard anâ— ransome neither will he rest content though thou givest many gifes These sinnes were the cause that the Sonnes of Iacob slew the Sechemites and spoiled their City for ravishing and using their Sister Dinah as an Whore These were the death of all those Israelites who committed whoredome with the Daughters of Moab whom God himselfe commanded te be slaine These occasioned the warre betweene the Bexiamites and the other Tribes of the Children of Israell in which there were threescore and five thousand men and upwards slaine yea the whole Tribe of Benjamin where the Levites Concubine was ravished which occasioned this warre were almost utterly destroyed there being 600. men of them onely left alive by meanes of these men-slaying sins These sins caused David to destroy Vriah Absalom to murther his Brother Ammon for ravishing his Sister Tamar These have beene alwayes accompanied
in defileing polluting dishonouring and troubling them with an uncleane degenerated spurious if not accursed ofspring who are no other but the very blemishes shames and infamy of Church of State of nature which all Lawes disinherit who were not to enter into the Congregation of the Lord even to their tenth generation Lastly these sinnes exclude men out of Heaven none that die in the guilt of them shall ever inherite the Kingdome of God or of Christ They cause God to iudge men in a more speciall manner Whoâ—e-mongers and Adultererâ— God will iudge They binde men over to the great Assises at the last day The Lord knoweth how to reserve the uniust unto the day of iudgement to be punished but chieâ—ly them that walke after the flesh in the lust of uncleanesse And if all this bee not enough they plunge mens soules deepe in Hell for all eternity For the abominable and Whore-mâ—ngers and all uncleane persons shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone for ever which is the second death Even as Sodome and Gomorra and the Citties about them in like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example suffring the vengeance of eternall fire for these sinnes of theirs O then consider this all yee incontinent uncleane adulterous persons who forget God who leave the pathes of uprightnesse to walkâ— in the wayes of darkenesse lest he teare you in pieces lest he eternally condemne you to the endlesse flames of Hell for these your flames of lust and there be none to deliver you Since then it is evident by all these premises to the hearts the consciences of all men that adultery fornication uncleanesse are such abominable capitall deepe-dyed pernitious sinnes those Stage-playes which instigate or entise men to them foment men in them must needs bee execrably sinfull yea utterly unlawfull unto Christians so that my Major needs no further proofe For the Minor that Stage-playes are the immediate occasions the fomentations of much actuall adultery whoredome and unclenesse it is most apparantly evident First from their subject matter which being for the most part amorous scurrilous or obscene consisting of adulteries rapes incests whoredomes love-prankes sollicitations to incontinency meretricious ribaldrous songs and iests as I have already proved must needs inflame mens lusts and draw them on to actuall uncleanesse Since evill word which corrupt good manners are but a way a passage unto evill deeds a fire a fewell to adulterous lusts yea the very Chariot of whoredome of uncleanesse as the Fathers stile them Hence is it that Agrippa reputeth amorous Poets lascivious Historians the chiefest Panders in the world yea the very originall Fathers Tutors and chiefe Promoters of baudery and whoredome because their ribaldrous Poems their true their fabulous Histories of the adulteries loves and beastly lewdnesses of Idol-gods or lustfull men are but as so many Lectures to instruct so many allurements to entice so many guides to lead so many argâ—meâ—ts to perswade men to lechery and all actuall uncleanesse whatsoever Hence all ancient all moderne Expositors on the Commandements that ever I have leene have reduced scurrility ribaldry together with all amorous lascivious Poems speeches iests Histories Bookes and Stage-playes to the 7. Commandement as being the fire fewell fâ—mentations occasions of whoredome and adultery Yea hence is it that God himselfe prohibits all â—â—lthy communications all corrupt speeches all foolish talking and iesting which are not convenient together with the very naming of fornication and all uncleanesse as unbecomming Saints because they draw men on to these shamefull workes of darkenesse with which Christian are to have no fellowship If then obscene adulterous Poems fables Histories Ditties iests or speeches have such an attractive such a depraving power in them to draw men on to actuall lewdnesse much more must Stage-playes wherein the quintessence the confluence of all obscenity is pithily contracted emphatically expressed elegantly adorned rhetorically pronounced be more prevalently powerfull to draw men on to these grosse lecherous sinnes Whence Nilus an ancient Abbot adviseth all such who would avoyd the wounds of lust to abstaine from publike Stage-playes and to keepe themselves from them lest they should fall into their enemies hands and be drawne â—n to actuall lewdnesse Secondly my Minors truth is most evident from the very manner of acting Stage-playes and those whoredomes those adulteries personated in them Hee who shall but seriously consider those amorous smiles and wanton gestures those lascivious complements those lewde adulterous kisses and enbracements those lustfull dalliances those impudent immodest panderly passages those effeminate whorish lust-inflaming sollicitations those severall concurrences combinations conspirations of artificiall studied and more then Brothel-house obscenities those reall lively representations of the acts of venery which attend and set out Stage-playes must needs acknowledge that they are the very Schoolâ—s of bauderâ— the Tutors the occasions of reall whoredomes incests adulteries c. whence they were at the first â—onsecrated to Venus the Goddesse of whoredome and adultery the very Roman Theater being stiled THE TEMPLE OF VENVS as Tertullian writes in which whoredome and adultery were freely practised without controll The 6. Councell of Constantinople Can. 100. the Syâ—odâ— of Augusta Anno 1548. cap. 28. together with Clemens Alexandrinus Oratio Adhort ad Gentes fol. 8.9 Gregory Nyssen in his Vitae Moseos Eâ—arratio p. 503. Theodoret Contra Graecos Infideles lib. 3. De Angelis Deque Dijs ac Daemonibus malis Tom. 2. pag. 362.363 Mapheus Vegius De Liberorum Educatione lib. 1. cap. 15. with sundry moderne Divines in their Expositions on the 7. Commandement condemne all amorous wanton pictures of Courtesans and others which now are too to common as incendiaries to mens unruly lusts which draw them on to actuall lewdnesse Certainely if these livelesse pictures are so apt to ingenerate unchaste affections or to pricke men oâ— to whoredome and adâ—ltery much more will these amorous actions complements kisses and embracements these lively pictures these reall representations of adultery and uncleanesse in our Stage-playes doe it It is storied of Tiberius a monster of more then beastly obscenity that as he adorned his houses with lasciviâ—us pictures the better to excite his lâ—sts a practice much in use with many incontinent persons now of late so he caused others to defile one another before his face ut adspectu deficientes libidines excitaret that by this lewde beastly sight he might stirre up his owne decayed lusts The like I finde recorded of Tamerlan the great Scythian Warrier It is registred likewise of that man-monster Heliogabalus that he commanded Stage-players to commit those adulteries upon the Stage in truth which they formerly personated but in shew to quicken up his lusts to whoredome If then the
termes because his owne workes were evill and his brothers righteous and thereupon he grounds this inference Marvell not my brethren if the world hate you Non enim mirum est writes Salvian nunc sanctos homines quaedam aspera pati cum videamus quod Deus etiam per maximum nefas primum sanctorum sivit occidi Looke we upon holy King David we shall finde him thus complaining Psal. 38.19 20. They that hate me wrongfully are multiplied they also that render me evill for good are my adversaries pray marke the onely reason because I follow the thing that good is The Prophet Isay complaineth thus of his times Isay 59.14 15. Iudgement is turned away backward and justice standeth afarre off for truth is fallen in the streets and equity cannot enter yea truth faileth and hee that departeth from evill maketh himselfe a prey or is accounted mad yea hee brings in Christ himselfe prophetically speaking in this manner Behold I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signes and wonders even in Israel The Prophet Amos writes thus of his age Amos 5.8 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate and abhorre him that speaketh uprightly and the Prophet Zechariah informes us that Ioshua the high Priest and his followers that sate before him to wit Christ and all his followers were men wondred at in the world as if they were some monstrous creatures or men besides themselves The Prophet Daniel we know was so unblameable in his life and actions that his very enemies could not finde any errour fault or occasion against him except it were concerning the law of his God and that hee made prayers and supplications before the Lord his God three times a day and for this his piety onely they procured him to be cast into the Lions den I could instance in divers others of Gods dearest Saints who were thus persecuted and maligned for their graces before our Saviours time but that Tertullian hath long since forestalled mee whose memorable passage to this purpose I wish all Antipuritans to consider Aprimordio justitia vim patitur statim ut â—oli Deus caepit invidiam religio sortiâ—a est Qui Deo plaâ—uerat occiditur et quidem à fratre quo procliviùs impietas alieâ—um sanguinem sectaretur à suo auspicata insectata est Denique non modo justorum verum etiam et Prophetarum David exagitatur Elias fugatur Hieremias lapidatur Esaias secatur Zacharias inter altare et â—dem trucidatur perennes cruoris sui maculas silicibus adsignans Ipse clausula legis et Prophetarum nec prophetes sed Angelus dictus contumeliosa caede truncatur in puellae salticae lucar Et utique qui spiritu Dei agebâ—ntur ab ipso in martyria dirigebantur etiam patiendo quae praedicaâ—sent c. Talia à primordio et praecepta et exempla debitricem martyrij fidem ostendunt If wee looke upon Christ and his Apostles we shall finde them hated persecuted slandered reviled with opprobrious names and obloquies being made as the very filth of the world and as the offscouring of all things unto this day yea wee shall see them martyred and put to death for no other cause at all but onely for their grace their holinesse their transcendent goodnesse and their opposition to the sinnes and errours of the times as I have elsewhere amply discoursed If we behold the primitive Christians but a while we shall discover no other cause of their hatred and persecutions against them but onely this that they were Christians that they were better than they were before and more holy than their neighbours This Pliny himseâ—fe affirmes in his Epistle to the Emperour Trajan Affirmabant autem hanc fuisse summam vel culpae Christianorum vel erroris quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire carnemque Christo quasi Deâ— dicere secum invicem seque sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere sed ne furta ne latrocinia ne adulteria committerent ne fidem fallerent ne depositum appellati dâ—negarent Aâ—d yet for this alone were they persecuted and put to death Hence was it that Clemens Alexandrinus writes thus in the behalfe of Christians Nos ergo prosequuntur non ut qui nos esse injustos depraehenderent sed quod nos vitae humanae injuriam facere existiment eâ— quod simus Christiani et ipsos inquam qui sic vitam instituimus et alios adâ—ortamur ut vitam degant similem Hence is that exceâ—lent discourse of Tertullian to the like purpose Ecce autem et odio habemur ab omnibus hominibus nominis causa Non scelus aliquod in causa est sed nomen et solius nominis crimen est Non ideo bonus Caius et prudens Lucius quia Christianus Vt quisquis nomine Christiani I may now say Puritani emendatur offendit Oditur in hominibus innocuis nomen innocuum Nomen detinetur nomen expugnatur et ignotam sectam ignotum et auctorem vox sola praedamnat quia nominatur non quia convincitur Which I may as justly apply to Puritaâ—s and Precisians as ever he did unto Christians who are persecuted and hated onely for their graces their surpassing goodnesse under the vizard of these odious names by such who would rather slaunder than imitate their holinesse Hence Gregory Nazianzen also thus complained of the usage of the pious Christians of his age Spectaculum uovum facti sumus non Angelis et hominibus sed omnibus fermè improbis et flagitiosis et quovis tempore et loco in foro in compoâ—ationibuâ— in voluptatibus in luctibus Ià m etiam ad scenam usque prodijmus quod propemodum lachrymis refero et cum perditissimis obscaenissimisque ridemur nec ullum tam jucundum est spectaculum quà m Christianus comicis cavillis suggillatus And is it not as true of Puritans and Precisians now as it was then of Christians Hence also was the complaint of holy St. Augustine Insultatur homini quia Christianus est insultatur etiam homini qui inter multos Christianos melius vivit et timens aspera verba insultatorum incidit in laqueos diaboli Tibi pro convicio objicitur quod Christianus es Cur autem modo objicitur quod Christianus est Tam pauci non Christiani remansâ—runt ut ijs magis objiciatur quia Christiani non sunt quà m ipsi audeant aliquibus objicere quia Christiani sunt Tamen dico vobis fratres mei incipe quicunque me audis vivere auomodo Christianus et vide si non tibi objiciatur et à Christianis sed nomine non vita non moribus Nemo sentit nisi qui expertus est And is not this the case of Puritansâ— among titular Christians now Survey we all the other Fathers and Ecclesiasticall Historians we shall finde them very copious in this theameâ— that the best
others The seminaries of vice of lewdnesse the lectures of bawdery the plagues the poyson of mens soules and mindes the grand empoysoners of all grace all goodnes the spectacles food of Devils c. p. 2.10 46 47 50 67 69 329. to 590. Sparsim f. 566 See Play-houses unsufferable â—viâ—s in any Christian Church or Stateâ— f. 330. to 501. Sparsimâ— 545. to 780. Devils Devill-Idols delighted with them honored by them See Dancing Devils Idoâ—s Festivals Incorrigible mischiefes p. 38. to 42. The Devill the onely gainer by them p. 44. to 47. More obscene of latter then any in former times pag. 38.39 70 132 458. Rarely acted heretofore pag. 742.743 768. Academicall Stage-playes censured pag. 7.8 490 491 700 701 841. to 867. Sparsim 99â— 999 Statius his censure of Achilles wearing of Womens apparell p. 199. Statutes against Players Playes and Dice-play Epist. Ded. 1. pag. 109.495 496 497 715 716. Stephanio the Plaâ—er whipped p. 459. Stewes erected by Heliogâ—balus p. 389. Suffred in Pagan Rome of old p 767. Erected in Antichristian Rome by Pope Sixtus the 4. and continued by his Successors who make a great revenue of them p. 215.445 446. Play-houses Stewes in former times if not now to p. 144.145 358 359 389 390.446 993. See Iustin Autent Câ—llat 5. Tit. 4. f. 46. Strabo the Geographer a Cappadocian borne his division of Cappadocia pag. 678. Straton King of the Sydonians censured for his dancing c. p. 250.857 Master Stâ—bs his censure of Dancing Dicing May-poles Wakes Stage-playes Epist. Ded 1. pag. 227.358 435 436 698 626â— m. 793.794 795 796. Guli Stuckiâ—s his censure of Dancing Health-drinking and Stage-â—layes pag. 996 Sword-playes condemned prohibited suppressed by Fathers Emperours and others pag. 74.75 347 367 368 548 685 467 468 519. Sybarites their effeminacy and effeminate Pages who did weare long haire and Love-lockes censured p. 883.209 m. Sylla his expence â—pon Actors pag. 315.840 T Tables and no Altars in the Primitive Church p. 396.400 408. See Altars and Hooper C. Tacitus his censure of Playes of Players of Nâ—ro and others who either acted or frequented Playes pag. 368.451 465 705 849 to 853.858 859. Tamerlan his lewd-nesse p. 387. Tapers on Altars and in Churches derived from the Pagans censured p. 22.23 36 758. Tatianus his censure of Playes and Players p. 334.669 Tecla censured for cutting her haire and wearing mans apparell p. 879. Terence his death f. 553. his Comedies censured prohibited to bee read in Schooles p. 916.917 Terynthians much accustomed to laughter c. â— 200. Tertullian his censure of Booke against Stage-playes pag. 49.162 163 330 331 472. fol. 522.523 547 557 â—69 972 973. against acting in womens apparell p. 187.888 against Images Vizards and Stage-disguises p. 36. m. 60.89 m. 160.897 m. 901. his censure of face-painting lascivious apparell false haire wearing of Lawrell crownes Bonefires and disorderly Festivalsâ— pag. 20.160 m. 217.581 m. 745. m. 768.769 770. m. Thales pressed to death at a Play f. 557. Theatre not alwayes taken for a Play-house but sometimes for a place of publike meeting where Orations were made and Malefactors executed pag. 724. to 727. Theaters overturned by tempests f. 558.559 Theft occasioned and taught by Stage-playes and Dicing Epist. Ded. 1. fol. 558.559 Mony got by Dice-play unlawfull games or acting Stage-playes theft p. 325.326 905.906 Themistoclesâ— his law against Magistrates resort to Playes p. 456.457 Theodectes his punishment for inserting Scripture into his Playes p. 110. fol. 553. Theodora censured for putting on mans apparell p. 201.879 Theodoret his censure of Playes and Players fol. 550 Theoâ—oricusâ—is â—is censure of Playes and Players p 470.471 fol. 517.518 Theodosius his inhibâ—tion of lascivious Songs of Stage-playes and Actorsâ— p. 263.264 422 423 424. â—68 715. Theophilact his censure of Playes and dancing pag. 224.228 684. See his Enar. in Act. 17. p. 804. Theophilus Aâ—tiâ—â—henus his censâ—re of Plaâ—es and Players p. 334.557 558 669. Theopompus his divine punishment p. 110. Tiberius Aâ—tinius a story of him p. 11.12 Tiberius banished Players and suppressed Playes p. 122 137 460. f. 516.517 p. 708. his lewdnesse p. 387. Tibullus not to be read pag. 453.454 916 917. Time shrot pretious and to bee redeemed p. 48. m. 302.303 310.346 consumed mispent on Playes and vanities pag. 302. to 310.837.903 946 951. to 946.951.952 953 957 958. f. 530. vacant times and houres how to be spent p. 952. to 956. Tâ—staâ—us his censure of Playes and Players p. 690.846 847. Tragedies and bloody Spectacles censured p. 72 to 76. f. 516 to 520. Trajan his censure and suppression of Playes and Players p 462.463 714. his abridgement of the number of Holi-dayes f. 539. Trebonius Rufinus banished Playes from Vienna p. 458. Tully his censure of Dancing and Stage-playes p. 246.247 248 449 703. his contesting with Roscius p. 932. his censure of him p. 848. Tumblers censured pag. 22. Turkes punish adultery with death p. 382. may justly censure Christians for their excesse p. 747.748 condemne idlenesse as a mortall sinne p. 506. V Valens his Edict against Players and Playes p. 468.843 Valentinian his Edict against Sword-playes Stage-playes Stage-players p. 468.843 844. Valerian his censure of amorous Musicke Songs Playes pag. 269.270 276 683. Valerius Maximus his censure of Playes p. 450.704 732. Valesius a story of him pag. 11. Vanity and vaine things to be avoyded of Christians p. 128.129 173 174. fol. 544.545 Stage-playes vanity and vaine delights Ibidem p. 52.127 to 132.173 to 178. Venus the Patronesse of Stage-playes p. 168.386 her effeminate Priests in womens attire and long haire p. 194.204 207 885. her sacrifices Ibidem Veronius Turinus his death pag. 920. Vertue of Heathens no vertue no patterne for Christians pag. 96. to 100. God onely can teach it not Playes or Players p. 96. to 103.139 Vestaâ—l Virgins how punished for fornication p. 382. did cut their haire and consecrate it to Lucina from whence the polling of Popish Nonnes is derived pag. 202. Vestments of the Gentiles prohibited pag. 22. Vices acted in and taught by Stage-playesâ— pag. 100 to 106.305 to 568. God only can teach men to hate vice not Stage-playes p. 139.140 Vigils why appointed pâ— 642. See Gratian Distinctâ— 75. abolished p. 754. m. 578. Vincentius Beluacensis censure of Playes and Dancing p. 637. 688 471 472. Vitellius taxed for favouring Players pâ—g 856. his law against Knights acting on a Stage pag. 862. Lod. Vives his censure of Players Playes and Popish Enterludes p. 103. m. 114. 115 134. m. 691. Vniversities their censure of common Enterludes p. 490.491 941 942. m. Volateranus his censure of Playes p. 730. Vortiger his vices pag. 133.135 Vulgar delighted with Playes fol. 540. Vzza his death pag. 943.944 W Wakes derived from the ancient Vigils p. 236.754 m. their hurt fol. 516. See M. Stubs his Anatomy pag. 112.113 Waldensâ—s their censure of Dancing Dicing and Stage-playes p. 228. to 233. 636. See Lydij Waldensia Tom. 2. p. 358.