The Players Scourge, Part 2 · Act 4 · Scene 1

The Players Scourge · Part 2 · Act 4 · Scene 1

p. 913SCENA PRIMA.

HAving thus run over these three Corollaries of the unlawfulnesse of penning, acting and beholding Stage-playes; I come now to answer such Objections as may bee made against them; especially against the unlawfulnesse of acting & beholding Stage-playes. The arguments (or pretences rather) for the acting of Stage-playes (which I shall first reply to) are these:

First, it is lawfull to read a Play; therefore to pen,Object… 1. to act, or see it acted.

To this I answer first;Answ. 1. that the obscenity, ribaldry, amorousnesse, heathenishnesse, and prophanesse of most Play-bookes, Arcadiaes, and fained Histories that are p. 914now so much in admiration, is such, that it is not lawfull for any (especially for Children, Youthes, or those of the female …ex, who take most pleasure in them) so much as once to read them, for feare they should inflame their lusts, and draw them on to actuall lewdnesse, and prophanesse. Hence hhHomil. in Cantit. Cant. apud Hieronimi opera. Tom. 8. pag. 122. and in his owne Workes. Tom. 2. fol. 68.Origen, iiProaemium in Ezechiel. Tom. 4. p. 330. D.Hierom and kkTheodoret Interp. in Canticum. Cantic. Tom. 1. p. 215. Philonis Carpathiorum Episcopi in Cantica. Cant. Interpr. Bibl. Patrum. Tom. 4. p. 559. E. Prosper Aquit. l. 3. De Vita Contempl. c. 6. Maphaeus Vegius, De Perseverantia Religionis. lib. 5. Bibl. Patrum. Tom. 15. pag. 929. G. See HRabanus Maurus, Lyra, Tostatus, Hugo Cardinalis, Os… ander, and others, who have written upon the Canticles, accordingly.others informe us, that in ancient times Children and Youthes among the Iewes were not permitted to read the Booke of Canticles before they came to the age of 30. yeeres, for feare they should draw those spirituall love passages to a carnall sence, and make them instruments to inflame their lusts. VponUpon which ground llHomil. 1. in Cant. Cantic. See Philo Carpath. Episco. in Cant… Cantic. accordingly.Origen adviseth all carnall persons, and those who are prone to lust, to forbeare the reading of this heavenly Song of Songs. Si enim aliquis accesserit, qui secundum carnem tantummodo vir est, huic tali non parum ex hac Scriptura discriminis periculi que nascetur. Audire enim purè & castis auribus amoris nomina nescie…s, ab interiori homine ad exteriorem & carnalem virum, omnem deflectat auditum, & à spiritu convertetur ad carnem: nutriet que in semetipso concupiscentias carnales, & …ccasione divinae Scripturae commoveri, & incitari videbitur ad libidinem carnis. Ob hoc ergo m…neo & consilium do, omni qui nondum carnis & sanguinis molestijs caret, ne que ab affectu naturae materialis abscedit, ut à lectione libelli hujus, eorum que quae in eo dicentur, penitus temperet. Aiunt enim observari etiā apud Hebraeos, quod nisi quis ad aetatem perfectam maturam que pervenerit, libellum hunc ne quidem in manibus tenere permittatur. If Children, yong men, and carnall persons then upon this ground, are thus advised to refraine the reading of this sacred canonicall Booke of Spirituall love expressions betweene Christ and his beloved Church: mmMap…eus Vegius, De Perseverant. Relig. lib. 5. pag. 927.Ne sub recordatione sanctarum faeminarum, &c. qu… ibi nominantur, noxiae titulationis stimulus excitaretur, &c. How much more then ought p. 915they to forbeare the reading of lascivious amorous scurrilous Play-bookes, Histories, and Arcadiaes; there being no women, no youthes so exactly chaste, which may not easily be corrupted by them, and even inflamed unto fury with strange and monstrous lusts; nnNeque vero machina quaevis ad oppugnandum, cùm matronarum pudicitiā, …um virginum ac viduarum castimoniam validior, quam lectio lascivae historiae & Poesis: nulla tàm bonae indolis faemina, quae ha… ipsa non corrumpatur, mirum que putarem si aliqua reperiatur, aut virgo… aut mulier, tam exactae castitati… sive pudiciti…, quae ejusmodi lectionibus & historijs peregrina libidine non sa…pe ad furorem us que accen…atur. De Vanit. Scient. cap. 64.since there is no stronger engine to assault and vanquish the chastity of …ny Maetron, Girle or Widdow, of any male or female whatsoever, then these amo…o…s Play-poets Poems and Histories, as Agrippa in his discourse of Bawdery, hath truely informed us. At que tamen (writes hee) quae in his libris plurimum edocta puella est, quae que horum s…it jacere dicteria, & ex horum disciplina cum procis in multas horas facunde confabulari, haec demum est probè aulica. Hence Clemens Romanus Constit. Apostol lib. 1. cap. 8. & Carolus Bovius in his Scholia upon the same place. Ib. p. 125. Nazianzen de Recta Educatione ad Selucum. pag. 1063. Basil, de Legendis libris Gentilium Oratio. Tertullian De Idololatria. lib. cap. 18. to 20. Ambrose in Evangelium Lucae. lib. 1. vers. 1. Hierom. Epist. 22. cap 13. & Epist. 146. to Damasus. Lactantius de Falsa Religioue. cap. 12.15. Augustine De Civit. Dei. lib. 2. cap. 1.8. & Confessionum. lib. 1. cap. 15.16. Isiodor Hispalensis De Summo bono. lib. 3. cap. 13. Prosper Aquittanicus, De Vita Contemplativa. c. 6. Theodoret in Cant. Cantic. Tom. 1. pag 215. Isiodor Pelusiota. Epist. lib. 1. Epist. 62.63. Gregory the first. Epist. l. 9. Epist. 48. Iuo Carnotensis. Decret. pars 4. cap. 160. to 169. Gratian Distin…tio. 86. The 4. Councell of Carthage. C…n. 16. The Councell of Colen under Adolphus. Anno… 1549. Synodus Mechlinienses apud Ioannem Langhecrucium, De Vita & Honestate Ecclesiast… lib. 2. cap. 22. pag. 321. De Institutione. Iuventutis. Can. 3. The Councell of Triers. Anno… 1540. Cap. De Sc…olis. Surius. Tom. 4. Concil. pag. 838.890. ooApud Boch…llum Decr…ta Eccles. Gal. lib. 1. T…t. 10. cap. 3.4.5. pag. 95.The Synod of Towres. Anno 1583. The Councell of Burdeaux. 1582. The Synod of Rothomagium. An. 1581. Franciscus Z…phyrus in his Epistle to Simon and Nicholas prefixed to Tertullians Apologie. G…orgius Fabritius, his Epistle to the Duke of Saxony. Agrippa De p. 916Vanitate Scientiarum. lib. cap. 64. & 71. Lodovicus Vives, De Tradendis Disciplinis. lib. 3. pag. 288.289. Episcopus Chemnensis, Onus Ecclesiae. cap. 18. sect. 8.9, 10, 11. Osorius De **Sunt enim quidē poëtae petulātes, obscaeni, molles, effaeminati lascivis & impuris carminibꝰ animos à industria, ad libidinem & ignaviā turpiter avocantes, qui quidē quo dulciores sunt, eò pejꝰ nocent, & tanquā Syrenes quaedā omnibꝰ, qui aures illis praebent, perniciem & interitū moliuntur. In rebus enim turpibus ille capitalior est qui majus ingeniū adhibet, quod in poetis valde perspicitur: concinnū enim & eligans carmen libenter legimꝰ & ediscimꝰ. Facilime igitur lascivi carminis venenū in animos influit, & eligantiae suavitate conditum, prius interitum dignitati affert, quàm aliquod remedium adhiberi possit, &c. Omnes igitur Poetae qui non honestatem, sed turpitudinem mollibus & lascivis carminibus exprimunt, non ab aula tantum regia, sed à totius patriae finibus exterminandi & eijciendi sunt, &c. Ibidem.Regum Instit. lib. 4. pag. 120.121 Mapheus Vegius De Educatione Liberorum. lib. 2. cap. 18. lib. 3… cap. 1.2. & De Perseverantia Religionis. lib. 5. Bibl. Patrum. Tom. 15. pag. 929.930. D. Humphries of true Nobility. Booke 2. D. Rainolds Overthrow of Stage-playes. pag. 122.123. Thomas Beacon, BB. Babington, BB. Hooper, Ioannis Nyder, M. Perkins, Dod, Elton, Lake, Downeham, Williams, and all other Expositors on the 7. Commandement, together with most Commentators on Ephes. 5.2, 3, 4. have expresly condemned and prohibited Christians to pen, to print, to sell, to read, or Schoole-masters and others to teach any amorous wanton Play-bookes, Histories, or Heathen Authors, especially Ovids wanton Epistles and Bookes of love; Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Martiall, the Comedies of Plautus, Terence, and other such amorous Bookes savoring either of Pagan Gods, of ethnicke rites and ceremonies, or of scurrility, amorousnesse & prophanesse; as their alleaged places will most amply testifie to such who shall peruse them at their leisure: the reason of which is thus expressed by Isiodor Hispalensis, Iuo Carnotensis, & Gratian, Ideo prohibetur Christianis legere figmenta poetarum, quia per oblectamenta fabularum mentem nimis excitent ad incentiva libidinum. Non enim thura solum offerendo daemonibus immolatur, sed etiam eorum dicta libentius capiendo. The penning and reading of all amorous Bookes was so execrable in the Primitive times, how ever they are much admired now, that ppNicephorus Callistus. Ecclesiast. Hist. lib. 12. cap. 34. Col. 757.Heli…dorus Bishop of Trica was deprived of his Bishopricke by a Provinciall Synod, for those wanton amorous Bookes he had p. 917written in his youth, his bookes being likewis… awarded to the fire to be burnt (though they are yet applauded and read by many amorous persons) quia lectione eorum juvenes multi in periculū conijcerentur: because divers yong men by reading of them might bee corrupted and entised unto lewdnesse; answerable to which memorable pious act are these Constitutions of the Councell of Burdeaux. An. 1582. and of the Synod of Towres. Anno 1583. well worth our observation. qqBochellus Decret. Eccles. Gal. lib. 1. Tit. 10. cap 3.4, 5.Quia multi à vera fide aberrantes contra professionem, etiam consultò gravius peccant, &c. Prohibet haec Synodus, ne libri magicae artis, vel ad **Nota.lasciviam & luxum provocantes imprimantur, vendantur, legantur, aut retineantur omnino; jubet que sicut repertifu… rint comburantur, sub ejusdem Anathematis paena quam ipso facto incurrunt, qui minime paruerint. Moneantur etiam saepissime fideles Christiani à suis Parochis & confessarijs ut fugiant, tanquam virus mortiferum, lectionem librorum quorumcum que , qui vel ad artes magicas pertinent, vel obscaenas & impias narrationes continent: eos que ut olim tempore **Acts 19.19.Acts 19:19Apostolorum factum legimus, comburant. Yea, rrMaffaeus in Vita Ignatij. lib. 4. cap. 8. pag. 432.Ignatius Loyola, the Father of the Iesuits, was so precise in this particular; That hee forbade the reading of Terence in Schooles to Children and Youthes, before his obscenities were expunged, lest he should more corrupt their manners by his wantonnesse, then by his Latine helpe their wits. And AEneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope Pius the second, in his ssOpera. Basileae. 1551. pag. 984.Tractat…, De Liberorum Educatione, Dedicated to L…dislaus King of Hungary and Bohemia; discoursing what Authors and Poets are to be red to Children; resolves it thus. Ovidius ubi que tristis, ubi que dulcis est, in pleris que tamen locis nimium lascivus. Horatius sive fuit multae eloquentiae, &c. sunt tamen in eo quaedam quae tibi nec legere voluerim nec interpraetari. Martialis perniciosus, quamvis floridus & ornatus, ita tamen spinis densus est, ut legi rosas abs que punctione non sinat. Elegiam qui scribunt omnes puero negari debent; nimium enim sunt molles Tibullus, Propertius, Ca…ullus, & quae p. 918translata est apud nos, Sapho, raro nam que non amatoria scribunt, desertos que conqueruntur amores. Amoveantur igitur, &c. Animadvertere etiam praeceptorem op…rtet dum tibi comaedos tragaedos que legit, ne quid vitij persuadere videatur. And in his 359. Epi…tle pag. 869.870, Where hee repents him seriously of that amorous Treatise which he had penned in his youth, he writes thus to our present purpose. Tractatum de amore olim sensu pariter que aetate juvenes cum nos scripsisse recolimus, paenitentia immodica pudor que ac maeror animum nostrum vehementer excruciant: quippe qui sciamus qui que protestati expresse fuimus, duo contineri in eo libello, …pertam videlicet, sed heu lasciviam nimis prurientem que amoris historiam, & morale quod eam consequitur, edificans dogma. Quorum primum fatuos at que errantes video sectari **Nota.quam plurimos, Alterum heu dolor, pene nullos. Ita impravatum est at que obfuscatum infaelix mortalium genus. De amore igitur quae scripsimus olim juvenes, contemnite ô mortales at que respuite; sequimini quae nunc dicimus, & seni magi… quam juven… credite. Nec privatum hominem plures facite quàm Pontificem: AEneam reijcite, Pium suscipite, &c. A passage which plainely informes us, that amorous Playes and Poems though intermixed with grave Sentences and Morals, are dangerous to be read or penned, because more will be corrupted by their amorousnesse, then instructed or edified by their Morals, as daily experience too well proves. If these authorities of Christians will not sufficiently convince us of the danger, t…e unlawfulnesse of reading amorous Bookes and Playes, the most assiduous studies of this our idle wanton age; consider then that ttSee here, pag. 448.Plato, a Heathen Philosopher, banished all Play-poets, and their Poems out of his Common-wealth; that uuSee here, pag. 455.456… 457.the Lacedemonians, Massilienses, and at last the Athenians to, prohibited and suppressed all Playes and Play-poems, not suffring them to bee read or acted: xxSee here, pag. 448.449, 450.that Aristotle, Plutarch, and Quintilian expresly condemned the reading of wanton, amorous, fabulous, obscene lascivious Poems p. 919and Writers; that yyOvid Tristiū. l. 1.2. Manutius in Vita Ovidij… See Sabellicus, Zonaras, Opmeerus Chronicon Chronic. in Vita Ovidij & Augusti. accordingly.Augustus banished Ovid for his obscene, and p…nderly Bookes of love; and that zzSee here, pag. 452.453, 454.Ovid himselfe disswaded men very seriously from re…ding his owne or other mens wanton Bookes and Poems, as being apt to inflame mens lusts, and to draw them on to whoredome, adultery, effeminacy, scurrility, and all kinde of beastly lewdnesse. And can Christians then approve or justifie the delightfull reading and revolving (that I say not the penning, studying, **Ovids Art of Love, and Aristotles Problems are translated into English, & a new impression of them vented almost every yeere.printing and venting) of such lewde amorous Bookes and Playes, which these very Heathen Authors have condemned, and so prove farre worse then Pagans? I shall therefore cloze up this first Reply to this Objection with the words of learned reverend George Alley, (Bishop of Exeter, in the second yeere of Queene Elizabeths Raigne,) against the reading, writing, and Printing of wanton Bookes and Playes. aaIn his Poore mans Library, London 1571. Cum gratia & privilegio regiae Majestatis. part 1. Miscellanea. 6. Praelectio secunda. fol. 46.47, 48.It is to be lamented, that not onelyonly in the time of the idolatrous and superstitious Church, but even in this time also lascivious impur…, wanton Bookes, pearce into many mens houses and hands. Alas what doth such kinde of Bookes worke and bring with them? Forsooth nothing else but fire, even the burning flames of an unchaste minde, the brands of pleasure, the coles of filthinesse; the fire I say, that doth consume, devoure, and roote out all the nourishments of vertue, the fire I say, which is a proeme and entrance into the eternall fire of Hell. What is so expedient unto a Common-wealth as not to suffer witches to live? for so the Lord commanded by his servant **Exod. 22.18…Exod 22:18Moses. And (I pray you) be not they worse then an hundred Witches, which take mens senses from them? not with magicall delusions, but with the enchantments of dame Venus, and as it were to give them Circes cup to drinke of, and so of men to make them beasts. What punishment deserve they as either **I would our Play-poets and Play-printers would consider this.make or print such unsavory Bookes; truely I would wish them the same reward wherewith bbAElij Lampridij, Alexander Severus. pag. 230. See Eutropius and Grimston in his life.Alexander Severus recompenced his p. 920very familiar Vetronius Turinus, ut fumo videlicet pereant qui fumum vendunt, that they perish with smoke who sell smoke. And what other things doe these set forth to sale, but smoke, ready to breake out into flame? For, that certaine persons bequeath themselves wholy to the reading of such lascivious and wanton Bookes, who knoweth not, that thereof commeth the first preparative of the minde, that when any one sparke of fire (be it never so little) falls into the tinder of Lady Venus, suddenly it is set on fire as towe or flaxe. Many doe read the verses which Lycoris the Strumpet, the Paramour of Gallus the Poet did read, and the verses which Corynna mentioned in Ovid, and which Neaera did read. Objection.It will perchance be replyed, that they doe read them, either for the increase of knowledge, or to drive away idlenesse. I answer, Answer.If any doe salute Venus, but a limine, as they say, that is, a farre off, as it wer… in the entrie, what kindling and flames, I pray you, will ensue thereof when the coles bee once stirred? **Note this well.It is to be feared that no small number of them who professe Christianity, be in this respect a great deale worse then the Heathen. The people called eeSee here, pag. 455.456.Massilienses, before they knew Christ, yea, or heard whether there were a Christ, but were very Pagans, and sacrificers to Idols, yet were knowne to all the world to be of such pure and unc…rrupt manners, that the manners of the Massilienses (as Plautus testifieth) are commonly counted the best and most approoved manners of all others. These among many other good orders of their well nurtured City made a severe law, that there should be no Comedy played within their City, for the argument for the most part of such Playes, did containe the acts of dissolute and wanton love. They had also within their City (about 613. yeeres before the birth of Christ) a Sword of execution wherewith the guilty and offenders should be slaine; but the uprightnesse of their living was such, that the Sword not being used was eaten with rust, and nothing meet to serve that turne: And alas are not almost all places in these dayes replenished with Iuglers,, Scoffers, Iesters, Players, p. 921which may say and doe what they lust be it never so fleshly and filthy? and yet suffred with laughing and clapping of hands? ddPlutarchi Apothegmata. Hiero. Tom. 1. pag. 398.Hiero Syracusanus, did punish Epicharmus the Poet, because he rehearsed certaine wanton verses in the presence of his wife, for hee would that in his house not onelyonly other parts of the body should be chaste, but the eares also, which be unto other members of the body instead of a tunnell, to be kept, sartas tectas, that is, defended and covered, as the proverbe saith, and to be shut from all uncomely and ribaldry talke. VntoUnto which fact of Hiero, the worthy sentence of eeIoan. Sar…sberiensis. de Nugis Curialium. lib. 1. cap. 8.Pericles is much consonant and agreeable. Sophocles, who was joynt fellow with Pericles in the Pr…torship, beholding and greatly praysing the well favored beauty of a certaine Boy passing by him, was rebuked of Pericles his companion after this sort: Not onelyonly the hands of him that is a Pretor ought to refraine from lucre of money, but also th… eyes to bee continent from wanton lookes. The ffPlutarchus, De Gloria Atheniensium. lib. Volateranus Comment. l. 29. fol. 323. See here, pag. 455.Athenians provided very well for the integrity of their Iudges, that it should not be lawfull for any of the Areopagites to write any Comedy or Play: and Epicharmus suffred punishment at the hands of Hiero for the rehearsall of certaine unchaste verses. But I speake it with sorrow of heart; to our vicious Ballad-makers, and indictors of lewde Songs and Playes, no revengment, but rewards are largely payd and given: ggSee Plutarchi Laconica Apothegmata: & Laconica Institut. accordingly.Gerardas a very ancient man of Lacedemonia, being demanded of his Hoste, what paine adulterers suffred at Sparta, made this answer: O mine Hoste, there is no adulterer among us neither can there be: (prey marke the reason:) For this was the manner among them, that they were never present …t any Comedy, nor any other Playes, fearing lest they should heare and see those things which were repugnant to their lawes. But to revert to our purpose: Wanton Bookes, can bee no other thing but the fruits of wanton men, who although they write any one good sentence in their Workes, yet for the unwor…hinesse of the person the sentence is rejected. The hhPlutarchi Apothegm…ta Laconica. pag. 496.Sen…te of Lacedemonia would have refused a very worthy and apt p. 922saying of one Demosthenes, for the unworthinesse of the Author, if certaine men of authority called among them Ephori, had not come betweene, and caused another of the Senators to have pronounced the sentence againe, as his owne saying. Plutarch writeth, that there was a law among the Grecians, that even the good Bookes of ill men should be destroyed, that the memory of the Authors also, should thereby utterly be blotted out and cleane put away, **Let all Play-poets, and Authors, yea Printers and venters of lascivious amorous Bookes consider this.Gerson; sometimes Chancellor of Paris, speaking of a certaine Booke made by Ioannes Meldinensis, the title whereof is the Romant of the Rose, writeth of that Booke two things. First, he saith, if I had the Romant of the Rose, and that there were but one of them to bee had, and might have for it 500. Crownes, I would rather burne it then sell it. Againe, saith he, if I did understand that Ioannes Meldinensis did not repent with true sorrow of minde, for the **Peccant enim omnes artifices qui talia quae ad lasciviam pertinent componunt. Alexander Alensis. Summa Theologiae. pars 2. Quaest. 135. m. 5. p. 619making and setting forth of this Booke, I would pray no more for him, then I would for Iudas Iscariot, of whose damnation I am most certaine. And they also which reading this Booke, doe apply it unto wicked and wanton manners, are the Authors of his great paine and punishment. The like Ioannes Raulius said of the Booke and Fables of one Operius Danus, that hee was a most damned man, unlesse he repented and acknowledged his fault, for the setting forth of that Booke. I would God they heard these things whom it delighteth to write or read such shamelesse and lascivious workes. Let them remember the saying of Saint Paul; iiGal. 6.7, 8.Gal 6:7Gal 6:8A man shall reape that which hee hath sowen. kkOratio encomiastica in Petrum & Paulum.Chrysostome, a great enhaunser of Pauls prayses, writeth; that so long shall the rewards of Paul rise more and more, how long there shall remaine such, which shall either by his life or doctrine be bronght unto the Lord God. The same may we say of all such, who while they lived have sowne ill seed, either by doing, saying, writing, or reading, that unlesse they repented, the more persons that are made ill by them, the more sharpe and greater growth their paine, as Saint Augustine wrote of Arrius. God save every Christian p. 923heart, from either the delighting or reading of such miserable monuments. Thus concludes this reverend Bishop, and so shall I this first reply. Secondly, admit it 2be lawfull to read Playes or Comedies now and then for recreation sake, yet the frequent constant reading of Play-bookes, of other prophane lascivious amorous Poems, Histories, and discourses, (which many now make their daily study;) to read more Playes then Sermons, then Bookes of piety and devotion, then Bookes or Chapters of the Bible, then Authors that should enable men in their callings, or fit them for the publike good, must needs be sinfull, as all the forequoted authorities witnesse, because it avocates mens mindes from better and more sacred studies, on which they should spend their time, and fraughts them onelyonly with empty words and vanities, which ll1 Cor. 15.33.1 Cor 15:33corrupt them for the present, and binde them over to damnation for the future. The Scripture we know commands men, mmPsal. 4.2. Psal 119.37. Col. 2.8, 20, 21, 22. 1 Tim. 6.4, 5. 2 Tim. 2.16, 23. Acts 19.19.Ps 4:2Ps 119:37Col 2:8Col 2:20Col 2:21Col 2:221 Tim 6:41 Tim 6:52 Tim 2:162 Tim 2:23Acts 19:19not to delight in vanity, in old wives tales, in fabulous poeticall discourses, or other empty studies which tend not to our spirituall goo… nnIsay 55.1, 2.Isa 55:1Isa 55:2Not to lay out our money for that which is not bread, and our labour for that which satisfieth not: ooEphes. 5.16. Col. 4.5.Eph 5:16Col 4:5but to redeeme the time, because the dayes are evill. Yea, it commands men to ppCol. 1.10. Iam. 3.17. Ioh. 15.2. to 8.Col 1:10Jas 3:17John 15:2–8be fruitfull and abundant in all good workes… qq1 Pet. 1.14, 15, 16.1 Pet 1:141 Pet 1:151 Pet 1:16to be holy in all manner of conversation; rr1 Cor. 15.58. Ioh. 15 2. to 8. 2 Tim. 4.7. 2 Pet. 3.18.1 Cor 15:58John 15:2–82 Tim 4:72 Pet 3:18to be alwayes doing and receiving good, and finishing that worke which God hath given them to doe, growing every day more and more in grace, and in the knowledge of God and Christ, ss1 Tim. 6.19.1 Tim 6:19laying up a good foundation against the time to come, tt2 Cor. 7.1.2 Cor 7:1and perfecting holinesse in the feare of God, uu2 Pet. 1.10.2 Pet 1:10giving all diligence to mak… their calling and election sure: xx1 Cor. 10.30, 31.1 Cor 10:301 Cor 10:31doing all they doe to the praise and glory of God. Now the ordinary reading of Comedies, Tragedies, Arcadiaes, Amorous Histories, Poets, and other prophane Discourses, is altogether inconsistent with all and every of these sacred Precepts, therefore it cannot bee lawfull. Besides the Scripture commands men even yyMatth 12.36. Ephes. 5.3, 4, 5. Ier. 4.14.Matt 12:36Eph 5:3Eph 5:4Eph 5:5Jer 4:14wholy to abandon all idle words, p. 924all vaine unprofitable discourses, thought… and actions. If then it gives us no liberty so much as to thinke a vaine thought, or to utter an idle word, certainely it alots us no vacant time for the reading of such vaine wanton Playes or Bookes. Againe, God enjoynes us, zzEphes. 4.19, 31. Col. 4.6. Iude 20.Eph 4:19Eph 4:31Col 4:6Jude 1:20that our speech should be alway…s profitable and gracious, seasoned with salt, that so it may administer grace to the hearers, and build them up in their most holy faith: Therefore our writings, our studies, our reading must not be unedifying, amorous and prophane, which ought to be as holy as serious, and profitable as our disco…rses. Moreover, it is the expresse precept of the Apostle Paul, (whom many prophane ones will here taxe of Puritanisme) Eph. 4.29. &c. 5.3, 4. But fornication and all uncleanesse, or covetousnesse, let it not be once named among you as becommeth Saints: neither filt…inesse, nor foolish talking nor jesting, which are not convenient, &c. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouthes but that which is good to **So the Margent of our New translation renders it.edifie profitably, that it may mini…ter grace to the hearers, &c. And may wee then read or write these sinnes and vices which we ought not to name? or study or peruse such wanton Playes and Pamplets, which can administer nought but gracelesnesse, lust, prophanesse to the Readers? Lastly, wee are commanded to **Iohn 5.34… c. 7.5…. Acts 17.11. Deut. 6.5. to 10. cap. 17.19. Col. 3.16. Psal. 1.2. Cant. 3.1.John 5:34Acts 17:11Deut 6:5–10Col 3:16Ps 1:2Song 3:1search the Scriptures daily: to meditate in the Law of God day and night, and to read therein all the dayes of our lives, that we may learne to feare the Lord, and to keepe and doe all the workes and Statutes of his Law; which was bbPsal. 119.97. Psal. 16.7. Psal. 119.57.Ps 119:97Ps 16:7Ps 119:57King Davids study all the day long, yea, in the night season to: And because no time should bee left for any vaine studies or discourses; we are further enjoyned, ccDeut. 6.5. to 10.Deut 6:5–10to have the Word of God alwayes in our hearts; to teach it diligently to our children, and to talke of it when we are sitting in our houses, and when wee are walking by the way, when we lye downe, and when we rise up: Which for any man now conscionably to performe, is no lesse then arrant Puritanisme, in the worlds account. If then we p. 925believe these sacred precepts (to which I might adde two more; **1 Thes. 5.15, 16. Phil. 4.4.1 Thess 5:151 Thess 5:16Phil 4:4Pray continually. Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes, and againe I say rejoyce) to bee the Word of God, and so to binde us to obedience; there are certainely no vacant times alotted unto Christians, to read any idle Books or Play-house Pamphlets, which are altogether incompatible with these precepts, and the serious pious study of the sacred Scripture, as S. **Epist. 22. ad Eu…tochium. cap. 13. Tom. 1… pag. 62… See Iuo Carnotensis. quarta pars. Decret. cap. 162.163, 164, 165, 166. Gratian Distinctio. 37. accordingly.Hierom writes. Quae enim (quoth he) cōmunicatio luci ad tenebras? …ui consensus Christo cum Belial? quid facit cum Psalterio Horatius? cum Evangelijs Maro? cum Apostolis Cicero? Et licet omnia munda mundis & nihil reijciend…m quod cum gra…iarum actione percipitur; tamen simul non debemus bibere calicem Christi, & calicem Daemoniorum; as he there proves by his owne example, which I would wish all such as make prophane Playes and human Authors their chiefest studies, even seriously to consider; For saith he, when ever I fell to read the Prophets after I had beene reading Tully and Plautus, Sermo horrebat incultus, their uncompt stile became irkesome to me; & quia lumen caecis oculis non videbam, non oculorum putabam culpam e…se, sed solis. Whiles the old Serpent did thus delude me, a strong feaver shed into my bones, invaded my weake body, and brought me even to deaths doore: at which time I was suddenly rapt in …pirit unto the Tribunall of a Iudge, where there was such a great and glorious light as cast me downe upon my face, that I durst not looke up. And being then demanded what I was, I answered, I am a Christian: whereupon the Iudge replyed, thou lyest: Ciceronianus es, non Christianus: thou art a Ciceronian, not a Christian: for where thy treasure is, there also is thy heart; whereupon I grew speechlesse, and being beaten by the Iudges command, and tortured with the fire of conscience; I began to cry out and say, Lord have mercy upon me. Whereupon those who stood by falling down at the Iudges feet, intreated that he would give pardon to my youth, and give place of repentance to my error: exact…rus p. 926deinde cruciatum si gentilium litterarum libr…s aliq…ando legiss…m. I being then in so great a strait, that I could be content to promise greater things, began to sweare and protest by his Name, saying, Domine si unquam habuero …odices seculares, si legero, te negavi. And being dismissed upon this my oath I returned to my selfe againe, and opened my eyes, drenched with such a showre of teares, that the very extremity of my griefe would even cause the incredulous to believe this tr…nce, which was no slumbe… or vaine dreame, but a thing really acted… my very shoulders being blacke and blue with stripes, the paine of which remained after I awaked. Since which time saith he; Fateor me tanto dehinc studio divina legisse, quanto non ante mortalia leg…ram. And from hence this Father exhorts all Christians to give over the reading of all prophane Bookes, all wanton Poems, which in his 146. Epistle to Damasus, hee most aptly compares to the Huskes with which the Prodigall in the Gospell was fed; where hee writes thus fitly to our purpose. ffTom. 3. pag. 408.Possumus & aliter siliquas interpraetari. Daemonum cibus est carmina poetarum, saecularis sapientia, rhetoricorum pompa verborum. Haec sua omnes suavitate delectant, & dum aures versibus dulci modulatione currentibus capiuntur, animam quo que penetrant, & pectoris interna devinciunt. Verum, ubi cum summo studio fu…rint, & labore perlect…, nihil aliud nisi inanem sonum, & sermonum strepitum suis lectoribus tribuunt, nulla ibi saturitas veritatis, nulla re…ectio justitiae reperitur: studiosi …arum in fame veri, in virtutum penuria perseverant. Vnde & Apostolus prohibet; gg1 Cor. 8.1 Cor 8ne in Idolio quis recumbat, &c. Nonne tibi videtur sub alijs verbis di…ere, ne legas Philosop…os, Orato…es, Poetas, nec in illorum le…tione requiescas? Nec nobis blandiamur, si in eis, quae sunt scripta, non credimus, cum aliorum conscientia vulneretur, & putemur probare, quae dum legimus, non repr…bamus. Absit ut de ore Christiano sonet, Iuppiter omnipoten…, & me Hercule, & me Castor, & caetera magis portenta quam numina. At nunc etiam Sacerdotes Dei (and is not as tr…e p. 927of our times?) omissis Evangelijs & Prophetis, videmus Comaedias legere, amatoria Bucolicorum vers…um verba canere, ten…re Virgilium, & id, quod in pueris necessitatis est, crimen in se fa…ere voluptatis. Cavendum igitur si captivam velimus habere uxorem, ne in idolio recumbamus: aut si certè fuerimus ejus amore decepti, mundemus eam, & omni sordium errore purgemus, ne scandalum patiatur frater pro quo Christus mortuus, cum in ore Christiani carmina, in idolorum laudem composita, audierit personare. Since therefore all these idle Play-bookes and such like amorous Pastorals are but empty huskes, hhInquinant non alunt. Seneca. Epist. 2. See Augustin. Confes. lib. 1. cap. 16.17. accordingly.which yeeld no nourishment but to Swine, or such as wallow in their beastly lusts and carnall pleasures; since they are incompatible with the pious study and diligent reading of Gods sacred Word, (iiPsal. 19.10. Psal. 119.103. Heb. 5.12, 13, 14. 1 Pet. 2.2, 3. Cant. 5.1. Psal. 63.5, 6.Ps 19:10Ps 119:103Heb 5:12Heb 5:13Heb 5:141 Pet 2:21 Pet 2:3Song 5:1Ps 63:5Ps 63:6 the gold, the hony, the milke, the marrow, the heavenly Manna, feast and sweatest nourishment of our soules,) with the serious hearing, reading, meditation, thoughts and study whereof we should alwayes constantly feed, refresh, rejoyce, and feast our spirits, which commonly starve and pine away whiles we are too much taken up with other studies or imployments, especially with Playes and idle amorous Pamphlets: (the very reading of which **Confes. lib. 1. cap. 15.16, 17.S. Augustine, repented and condemned:) let us hencefore lay aside such unprofitable, unchristian studies, betaking our selves wholly at leastwise principally to Gods sacred Word, which is kk2 Tim. 3.15.2 Tim 3:15onelyonly able to make us wise unto salvation, and to nourish our soules unto eternall life: & since Christianity is our general profession, let not Paganisme, scurrility, prophanes, wantonnes, amorousnesse, Playes, or lewde Poeticall Figments or Histories, but Gods Word alone, which as **Omnem scientiam & doctrinam sacra Scriptura transc…ndit, verum praedicat & ad caelestem patriam invitat. f. 1.Sūmula Raymundi saith, transcends all other Bookes & Sciences; be our chiefest study, at all such vacant times as are not occupied in our lawfull callings, or other pious duties. I shal therfore cloze up this 2. reply, with that Apostolicall Constitution recorded by llConstit. Apostol. lib. 1. cap. 6 7. Apud Suriū, Concil. Tom. 1. pag. 45.Clemens Romanus, (if the Booke bee his) which I would wish al Papists who deny the reading of p. 928the Scripture unto Lay-men, to whō this good precept is directed as the very **Catholica doctrina de Laicis. Ibid. pag. 43.Title and first Chapter proves, even seriously to consider. Sed sive ad fideles & ejusdem sententiae homines accedis, conferens cum ijs vitali… verba loquere: sin minus accedis, intus sedens percurre legem, Reges, Prophetas: Psalle hymnos David, **Nota. See Hierom. Epist. 7. c. 3, 5. Epi. 9. c. 5. Ep. 10. c. 4.5. Ep. 16. c. 3.4. Epist. 18. neere the end. Ep. 22. c. 6.15, 16. Epi… 23. Epi. 25. c. 1. Ambrose, Chrysostome, Primasius, Sedulius, Theodoret, Beda, &c. on Ephes. 5. & Col. 3. to the like purpose.Eph 5Col 3lege diligenter Evangelium, quod est horū complementū. Abstine ab omnibus Gentiliū libris. Quid enim tibi cum externis libris, vel legibus, vel Prophetis? quae quidem leves à fide abducunt. Nam quid tibi deest in lege Dei, ut ad illâs gentium fabulas confugias? Nam si historica percurrere cupis, habes Reges: si sophistica & Prophetica, habes Prophetas, & Iob, & Proverbiorum authorem, in quibus omnis poeticae, & sapientiae accuratam rationem invenies; quoniam Domini Dei, qui solus est sapiens, voces sunt. Quod si cantilenas cupis, habes Psalmos: si rerum origines nosse desideras, habes Genesim: si leges & praecepta, gloriosam Dei legem. Ab omnibus igitur exteris & diabolicis libris vehementer te contine… mmBernard Super Cantica. Sermo. 86. fol. 176. C.quoniam in ipso verbo sunt omnia. Ibi remedium vulnerum, ibi subsidia necessitatum, ibi resarcitus defectuum, ibi profectuum copiae, ibi deni que quicquid accipere vel habere hominibus expedit, quicquid decet, quicquid oportet. Sine causa ergo aliud à verbo petitur, cum ipsum sit omnia. Thirdly, admit a man may lawfully read a Play-book, yet it nnSee D. Rainolds Overthrow of Stage-playes, pag. 21.22. accordingly.will not follow, that therefore he may pen, or act a Play, or see it acted. For first, a man may lawfully read such things, as hee cannot pen, or act, or behold without offending God. A man perchance may lawfully read a Masse-booke, but yet he cannot write a Masse-booke, nor yet act, or say, or see a Masse without committing sinne. Some men may lawfully read an **See Th. Bibliandri Apologia pro Editione Alcorani: & Nicolai de Cusa Cribratio Alcorani.Alcoran, or any hereticall Booke,**Ambros. Com. in Luc. l. 1. c. 1. Tom. 3. p. 3. C. ut magis judicent quàm sequantur; rather to confute then follow it; but no man can pen, or print, or publish it with delight, (no nor yet read it out of love and liking, as men read Play-bookes) but he must transgresse. A man may safely read the stories of **Gen. 18…20, 21. cap. 19.4, 5. Ezech. 16.49. 2 Pet. 2.6, 8, Iude 7.Gen 18:20Gen 18:21Ezek 16:492 Pet 2:62 Pet 2:8Jude 1:7the Sodomites sinnes, of the Canaanites and Israelites p. 929Idolatries; but yet to act, or see them acted cannot bee lesse then sinfull. A man may and must ppDeut. 6.5, 6, 7. Psal. 1.2. Acts 17.11.Deut 6:5Deut 6:6Deut 6:7Ps 1:2Acts 17:11daily read the sacred Scriptures, the Passion of our Saviour, the Histories of Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Iob, and others recited in the Bible; yet none qqSee p. 108. to 126, 636, 763. to 767.may Play or see them Played without sinne, yea highest blasphemie and prophanesse; though some gracelesse wretches as well in private as in popular Stage-playes much prophane them, bringing not onelyonly Ministers, preaching and praying, but even the very sacred Bible and the stories in it on the Stage, rrOne Atkinson a Minister in Bedford the last Christtide, in the Commissaries house there, acted a private Enterlude, where he made a prayer on the Stage, and chose a Text. viz. Acts 10.14. on which he most prophanely preached and jested, to the very shame & griefe of most that heard him.Acts 10:14as some late notorious damnable (if not damned) precedents witnesse; when as not onelyonly our owne pious Statute of ssSee pag. 109.110.3. Iacobi. cap. 21. but likewise ttBochellus Decreta Eccles. Gal. lib. 1. Tit. 10. c. 12. pag. 96.Concilium Rhemense, Anno 1583. which decrees thus: Vt ea vitent fideles quibus cultus divinus impediri potest, statuimus, ne quis Scripturae sacrae verba ad scurriliae, detrectationes, superstitiones, incantationes, sortes, libellos famosos audeat usurpare. Si quis contra fecerit, juris & arbitrij paenis coerceatur: And uuIbid. c. 13.Concilium Bituriense. Anno 1554. which thus ordaines. Non liceat cuiquam verba & sententias sacrae Scripturae ad scurrilia, fabulosa, vana, adulationes, detractiones, superstitiones, & diabolicas incantationes, divinationes, sortes, libellos famosos, & alias ejusmodi impietates usurpare: Qui in eo peccaverint, ab Episcopis legitimis paenis coercētur: together with the Synod of Rochell. An. 1571. (here p. 636.) & **See William Wraghton his Rescuer of the Romish Fox. fol. 97.BB. Gardener have long since prohibited and condemned this atheisticall horrid prophanesse, which no Christian can so much as thinke off, but with highest detestation. Since therefore many things may be lawfully read, which cannot honestly be penned, acted, heard or seene, the argument is but a meere inconsequent. Secondly, though a man perchance may in some cases lawfully read a Play-booke, **See William Wraghton his Rescuer of the Romish Fox. fol. 97.yet it will not follow, that he may compose, or act, or see a Stage-play: For first, a man may read a Play with detestation both of its vanity, ribaldry and prophanesse; but he can neither pen, nor play, nor yet very willingly p. 930behold it, as all Play-haunters doe, without approbation 2and delight. Secondly, a man may read a Play without any prodigall vaine expence of money, or over-great losse of time: but none can compile, or act, or see a Stage-play xxSee Act 6. Scene 1.2.Acts 6without losse of time, of money, which 3should bee better imployed: Thirdly, Stage-playes may be privately read over without any danger of infection by ill company, without any publike infamy or scandall, without giving any ill example, without any incouraging or maintaining of Players in their ungodly profession, or without participating with them in their sinnes; yySee Act 6. Scene 3. to 18.Acts 6but they can neither be compiled, beheld, or acted, without these severall unlawfull circumstances which cannot be avoyded.

4Fourthly, Stageplayes may be read without using or beholding any effeminate amorous, lustfull gestures, complements, kisses, dalliances, or embracements; any whorish, immodest, fantastique, womanish apparell, Vizards, disguises; any lively representations of Venery, whoredome, adultery, and the like, which are apt to enrage mens lusts: without hypocrisie, feining, cheats, lascivious tunes and dances, with such other unlawfull Stage ingredients or concomitants: zzSee Part 1. Act 5. thorowout, & Part 2. Act 2. thorowout.Acts 5Acts 2but they can neither be seene nor acted, without all, or most of these. Fiftly, he that reades a Stage-play may passe by all obscene or amorous passages, all prophane or 5scurrill Iests, all heathenish oathes and execrations even with detestation; but he who makes, who acts, who heares, or viewes a Stage-play acted, hath no such liberty left him, but hee must act, recite, behold and heare them all. Yea sometimes such who act the Clowne or amorous person, adde many obscene lascivious jests and passages of their owne, by way of appendix, to delight the auditors, which were not in 6their parts before. Lastly, when a man reads a Play, he ever wants that viva vox, that flexanimous rhetoricall Stage-elocution, that lively action and representation p. 931of the Players themselves which put life and vigor into these their Enterludes, and make them pierce more deepely into the Spectators eyes, their eares and lewde affections, precipitating them on to lust: yea, the eyes, the eares of Play-readers want all those lust-enraging objects, which Actors and Spectators meet with in the Play-house: Therefore though the reading of Stage-playes may be lawfull, yet the composing, acting, or seeing of them in all these several regards, cannot be so. So that this first Objection is both false and frivolous.

The second Objection for the composing and acting of Playes is this.Object. 2. aaSe Haywards Apologie for Actors: and Doctor Gagers Reply to Doctor Rainolds, p. 119.120. Augustin. Confes. lib. 1. cap. 16. accordingly.The penning and acting of Playes doth whet & exercise mens wits and poetry, embolden youth, confirme their voyces, helpe their memories, action and elocution; and make them perfect Orators. Therefore it is both lawfull, yea and usefull to.

To this I answer first:Answ. 1. that this Objection makes onelyonly for academicall and private, but nought for popular Enterludes. Secondly, academicall Stage-playes are seldome acted or penned for any of the ends, the uses here recorded, but onelyonly for entertainement, for mirth and pleasure sake. Thirdly, bbRom. 3.8. Ephes. 5.3… 4, 5.Rom 3:8Eph 5:3men must not doe 2evill that good may come of it: therefore they may not 3exercise their wits, their inventions about lascivious amorous Play-house Poems; they may not strengthen or stuffe their memories with such vaine lewde empty froth as Playes now are; nor embolden themselves by acting effeminate, scurrile, whorish, impudent, or immodes… parts: nor yet helpe their action, their elocution by uttering, by personating any unlawfull things, which may either draw or tempt them unto lewdnesse. We know that frequenting of Tavernes and Brothels; courting of impudent Strumpets, keeping of deboist company, reading of amorous Bookes and Pastorals, adde spirit and boldnesse unto men, yea oft improve their elocution, carriage, and amorous fond p. 932discourse, as much or more then Playes, **See here. pag. 483. & August. Confes. lib. 1. cap. 15.16, 17.yet none may use these wicked courses to obtaine these petty benefits; no more then he may oppresse, or steale, or cheate, or perjure himselfe to augment his wealth, or 4use charmes and sorceries to recover health. Fourthly, **Hierom. Epist. 22. c. 13.Melius est aliquid nescire, quàm cum periculo discere. The hurt, the danger that accrues to men by penning, by acting Playes, is evermore **See August. Confes. lib. 1. cap. 16.17. accordingly.farre greater then the good, the benefits here alleaged: the evill is certaine, the good, uncertaine: it is no wisedome, no safety therefore to plung men into sundry great and certaine evils, 5to atchieve some probable meane emoluments. Fiftly, the good that comes by penning or acting Playes, is onelyonly temporall; the hurt, the mischiefe is eternall; the good extends no further then mens bodies; the **See Act 6. thorowout.Acts 6damage reacheth to their soules, yea oft unto their bodies, goods and names: it is no discretion then for men to hazard the losse, the damage of their soules, for 6such petty improvements of their bodies. Sixtly, there is little or no analogie betweene the action, the elocution of Players, of Orators and Divines: The principall prayse of Actors is a lively counterfeiting and representation of the parts, the persons they sustaine, by corporall gestures rather then by words: the chiefest prayse of Orators is to **Orator est vir bonus, dicendi peritus. Cicero. De Oratore. lib. 1. Quintilian Instit. Orat. l. 12. cap. 1. accordingly.expresse, to describe the things they speake of in an elegant flexanimous phrase, and grave elocution: the duty of the one being to represent things to the eye, whereas the other speaks onelyonly to the eare. Which diversity is warranted both by the story of Cicero the Orator, and Roscius the Actor, who, as ffSaturnal. lib. 3. cap. 14. pag. 459.Macrobius writes, did use to contend together; Vtrum ille s…pius …andem …ententiā varijs gestibus efficeret, an ipse p…r eloquentiae copiam sermone divers… pronunciaret: by the very stiles of Actor, and **Oratoris opus oratio. Quintil. Instit. l. 12. c. 10. pag. 703.Orator, the first, importing onelyonly corporall gestures, and representations; the other, verball expressions… and by the usuall phrases of seeing a Stage-play, and hearing an Oration. Now what proportion is there betweene p. 933gestures and words? betweene **Horū omniū dissimilis at que diversa inter se ratio est. Id itaque vitandū in quo magna pars errat, ne in oratione Poëtas nobis & Historicos, Oratores aut declamatores imitandos putemus. Sua cui que proposita lex, suus decor est, &c. Quintil. Instit. l. 10 c 2. pag. 375.acting and speaking well, that one should be such a helpe or furtherance to the other? Alas what profit, what advantage can an Orator gaine by acting an amorous females, a Bawdes, a Panders, a Ru…ians, Drunkards, Murtherers, Lovers, Soldiers, Kings, Tyrants, Fayries, Furies, Devils or Pagan Idols part with suitable gestures and speeches? tell me I beseech you, what furtherances these are to make a perfect Orator, who though hee may plead or speake for others, must act no other man but himselfe alone, whereas Players must never act themselves but other parts? Certainely if wee believe ggInstit. Orat. lib. 1. cap. 19. & l. 11. c. 3. pag. 645.636, 648.Quintilian, or a hhD. Rainolds Overthrow of Stage-playes. p. 119… to 126.late famous Orator of our owne, the acting of Playes, which is full of wantonnesse, of light, of lewde, of foolish gestures and speeches, is the next way to marre an Orator, whose speech, action and deportment mu…t be grave and serious. Hence iiInstit. Orat. l. 1. c. 18.19. p. 79. l. 10. c. 2. p. 755. & lib. 11. cap. 3. pag. 645.648, 677.Quintilian (as eminent an Orator as most now extant) in his directions how an Orator should frame his speech, his voyce and gesture, expresly forbids him… to imitate the voyce **Orator utatur laterum inclinatione forti ac virili, non à scena & histrionibus, sed ab a mis, &c. Non enim comaedum esse sed oratorem volo. Quare nec in gestu persequemur omnis argutias, nec in …oquendo distinctionibus, temporibus, effictionibus moleste sequemur, ut si in scena sit dicendum, &c.or gestures of Players, or to expresse or act the slaves, the drunkards, lovers, penni-fathers, cowards, or any such Play-house part, because as they were no wayes necessary for an Orator, so they will rather corrupt his minde and manners, then any wayes helpe his elocution or action. The acting therefore of Playes is no wayes necessary or usefull for an Orator, it being no furtherance but an apparant obstacle to true oratory, action, elocution; there being no analogie betweene the wanton amorous gestures, speeches, Pastorals, jests, and florishes of a Poet, an Actor; and the sad, grave, serious elocution or action of an Orator. And as Play-acting is no wayes usefull for an Orator, so much lesse kkSee M. Ber…ard his Faithfull Shepheard. cap. 13. pag. 89. accordingly.for a Minister, or p. 934Divine, there being no Analogie betweene Preachers and Players, Sermons and Playes, Theaters and Churches, betweene the sacred, sober, chaste, and modest gestures, the soule-saving speeches of the one, and the lascivious, scurrill, prophane, ungodly action and discourses of the other. Hence the llAct 7. Scene 3. & Part 2. Act 2. Scene 1.Acts 7Acts 2forementioned Councels, Fathers and Canonists, together with **Item placuit, ut eas prorsus mundanas dignitates, quas seculares viri vel principes terrae exercere solent in venationibꝰ scilicet, vel canticis secularibus, aut in resoluta & immoderata laetitia, in lyris & tibijs & his similibus …usibus, nullus sub ecclesiastico canone constitu…us ob inanis Iaetitiae fluxū, audeat, fastu superbiae tumidus, quandoque praesumendo abuti, &c. Surius. Tom. 3. pag. 264.Concilium Foro-juliense, Can. 6. which I before omitted, have inhibited Ministers and Clergie men from penning, acting and beholding Stage-playes, as being no wayes suitable, but altogether incompatible with their most holy and grave profession: Hence also they excluded all common Actors, (and likewise academicall to, till they had done publike penance) from the Ministeriall function; the acting of Playes being so far from making men fit for the ministry, that it made them both unfit, and likewise uncapable to receive it. What therefore mmPlutarchi Laconica. Agis junior. p. 468.Agis junior replyed to a wicked fellow who oft demanded of him, Quis essèt Spartanorum optimus? Quitui est dissimilimus; the same may I say of Ministers; that hee is the best Minister who is most unlike a Player both in his gesture, habit, speech and elocution. Hence nnDe Officijs. lib. 1. cap. 18. Tom. 4. p. 6.7.Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Millaine, refused to give Ecclesiasticall Orders to one who sued for them, and likewise deprived another (who afterwards fell to the Arian heresie) Quia lucebat in eorum incessu species quaedam scurrarum percursantium: condemning not onelyonly all those Clergie men, but also Laymen to, who used Playerly gestures, qui sensim ambulando imitantur histrionicos gestus, & quasi quaedam fercula pomparum, & statuarum motus nutantium, ut quotiescun que gradum transferunt modulos quosdam servare videantur: avice too common in this our antique wanton age. We that know that oo1 Tim. 3.8.… Ambros. De Officijs. lib. 1. c. 18. Galataeus De Moribus.1 Tim 3:8all Christians, and more especially Ministers, ought to be sober, modest, grave, chaste, both in their gesture and deportment; Hence ppSurius Concil. Tom. 4. pag. 742.743.Concilium Senonense. An. 1528. Decreta Morum. cap. 25. decrees thus. Clerici in incessu quo que honestatem exhibeant, ut gravitate p. 935itineris, mentis maturitatem ostendant. Incompositio enim corporis, risus dissolutus, indece…s …culorum vagatio, inaequalitatem indicant mentis. And then it proceeds thus. Non in scenam velut histriones prodeant, non comaedias vernaculas agant; non spectaculum corporis sui faciant in publico privatove loco (pray marke it:) Quae omnia cum omnibus sacerdotibus sunt indec…ra, & ordini clericali multum detrahentia, tum illis praecipue, quibus animarum cura est commissa. An infallible evidence that histrionicall gestures, and t…e acting of Stage-playes either in publike or private, are no wise usefull, but altogether scandalous, and unseemely for a Minister; and that the acting, the beholding of Playes, will make men qqSee Act 5. Scene 1.2, 3, 4. & Act 6. Scene 3. to 17. accordingly.Acts 5Acts 6amorous, wanton, light and Playerlike in their gestures, as rrHom. 1. De Verbis Isaiae. Tom. 1. Col. Col. 1281.1283, 1284. & Orat. 7. Tom. 5. Col. 1484.1485. See here pag. 400.401.Saint Chrysostome with others largely testi…ie. And as Theatricall gestures are altogether unseemely in a Minister, (whence Protestants condemne ssSee Act 3. Scene 5. See D. Rainolds, Bishop Bale, Bishop M…rt…n, D. Sutcliffe, D. Beard, and others of the Masse: & Haddon Contr. Osorium. lib. 3. fol. 263.Acts 3all Masse-priests gestures, crouchings and noddings in the celebrating or acting of their Masses, which they compare to Playes,) So likewi…e are all poeticall Play-house phrases, Clinches, and strong lines, as now some stile them; (too frequent in our Sermons; which in respect of their **I have heard some stile their texts a Landscrip or Picture: others a Play or Spectacle, dividing their texts into Actors, Spectators, Scenes, &c. as if they were acting of a Play, not preaching of Gods Word.Divisions, language, action, stile, and subject matter, consisting either of wanton flashes of luxurious wits, or meere quotations of humane Authors, Poets, Orators, Histories, Philosophers, and Popish Schoole-men; or sesquipedalia verba, great empty swelling words of vanity and estimation more fitter for the Stage, from whence they are ofttimes borrowed, (then the Pulpet,) unsutable for Mini…ters ttProsper De Vita Contempt. lib. 3. cap. 6. fol. 105.qui dum indecēter elegantes videre volunt, passim jam turpibus verbis impude…er insaniunt. Ministers are Gods uu2 Cor. 5.20.2 Cor 5:20Ambassadors, therefore they **Numb. 22.35, 28. Ier. 26.2. 1 Cor. 1.17. cap. 2.1, 4.Num 22:35Num 22:28Jer 26:21 Cor 1:17must speake nothing in the Pulpit but those words which God shall put into their mouthes; they must deliver Gods message in his owne dialect; p. 936not in the yyCol. 2.8.Col 2:8language of Poets, and other humane Authors, in which Gods spirit never breathes. They are Christs VnderUnder-shepheards, zzIoh. 10.3, 4, 5, 8, 16.John 10:3John 10:4John 10:5John 10:8John 10:16therefore they must speake unto their Flockes in Christs owne voyce, which they must onelyonly know and heare, and follow, not in the voyce of strangers, whose voyce they will not, yea they must not heare: They are the aaCol. 1.25, 26, 27, 28. 1 Cor. 2.1, 2, 4, 13. 2 Pet. 1.16.Col 1:25Col 1:26Col 1:27Col 1:281 Cor 2:11 Cor 2:21 Cor 2:41 Cor 2:132 Pet 1:16Ministers, the mouth of Christ, therefo…e they must onelyonly preach and speake his language: They have no other Commission, bbMatth. 28.19, 20. Mark. 16.15, 16. Ephes. 3.8, 9. Col. 1.25. to 29.Matt 28:19Matt 28:20Mark 16:15Mark 16:16Eph 3:8Eph 3:9Col 1:25–29but to goe and preach the Gospell, (not Histories and Poets) unto men: They are the cc1 Cor. 4.1, 2. 1 Pet. 4.10… …1. Luke 12.42.1 Cor 4:11 Cor 4:21 Pet 4:10Luke 12:42Stewards of the misteries, and manifold graces of the Gospell, of the milke and bread of Gods holy Word; and these alone they must dispence: They are sent out by God for no other purpose, but onelyonly ddActs 26.18.Acts 26:18to open mens eyes, and to turne them from darkenesse to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgivenesse of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified through faith that is in Christ Iesus: therefore they must come unto them, not with the dimme lights of human learning, ee2 Cor. 4.3, 4, 5, 6.2 Cor 4:32 Cor 4:42 Cor 4:52 Cor 4:6but with the light, the brightnesse of the glorious Gospell of Iesus Christ: **1 Cor. 2.1, 4.1 Cor 2:11 Cor 2:4not with entising words of mans wisedome (which never yet converted or saved any one soule,) but in demonstration of the spirit and of power: gg1 Cor. 2.6, 7.1 Cor 2:61 Cor 2:7not with the wisedome of this world, which human Authors teach, but with the wisedome of God in a mistery, which the holy Ghost teacheth: hhCol. 2.8.Col 2:8not with philosophie and vaine deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ: but with the Word and Gospell of Christ, the iiRom. 1.16. Iam. 1.21.Rom 1:16Jas 1:21mighty power of God unto salvation, which is able (yea onelyonly able) to save mens soules. Hence kkEpist. 2. c. 10. See cap. 4. & Epist. 22. c. 15.Saint Hierom writes thu… to Nepotianus, Docente te in Ecclesia non clamor populi, sed gemitus suscitetur. Lachrymae auditorū laudes tuae sint. Sermo Presbyteri Scripturarum lectione conditus sit. Nolo te declamatorem esse & rabulam, garrulum que sine ratione, sed mysteriorum peritum, & sacramentorum Dei tui peritissimum. Verba voluere, & celeritate dicendi apud imperitum vulgus admirationem facere, indoctorum p. 937hominum est, &c. Hence llDe Vita Contempl. lib. 1. cap. 23.24, 25. See Hierom, Ambrose Theodoret, Theophylact, …eda, Haymo… Occu…enius, Anselme, Remigius, Primasius, and others, in 1 Cor. 2.1. to 7. accordingly.1 Cor 2:1–7Prosper Aquitanicus positively affirmes, Quod non se debeat Ecclesiae doctor de accura…i sermonis ostentatione jactare, ne videatur Ecclesiam Deinon velle aedificare, sed magis se quantae sit eruditionis ostendere. Non igitur in verborum splendore, sed in operum virtute totam praedicandi fiduciam ponat: non vocibus delectetur populi acclamantis sibi, sed fletibus, nec plausum à populo studeat expectare sed gemitum. Hoc specialiter doctor Ecclesiasticus elaboret, quò fiunt qui audiunt …um sanis disputationibus meliores, n…n vana assentatione fautores. Lachrymas quas vult à suis auditoribus fundi, ipse primitus fundat, & sic e…s compunctione sui cordis accendat. Tam simplex & apertus, etiam si minus Latinus, disciplinatus tamen & gravis sermo debet esse Pontificis ut ab intelligentia sui nullos, quamvis imperitos, excludat: sed in omnium audientium pectus cum quadam delectatione descendat. De…i que alia est ratio declamatorum, & alia debet esse doctorum. Illi elucubratae declamationis pompam totis facundiae suae viribus concupiscunt: isti sobrio usitato que sermone Christi gloriam quaerunt. Illi rebus inanibus pretiosa verborum induunt ornamenta, isti veracibus sententijs or…ant, & commendant verba simplicia. Illi affectant suorum sensuum deformitatem tanquam velamine quodam phaleràti sermonis abscondere; isti eloquiorum suorum rusticitatem student pretiosis sensibus venustare. Illi totam laudem suam infavore vulgi, isti in virtute Dei constituunt. Illi plausibiliter dicunt, & nihil auditoribus suis declamando proficiunt: isti usitatis sermonibus docent, & imitatores svos instituunt; quia rationem suam nulla fucatae compositionis affectatione corrumpunt. Isti sunt ministri verbi, adjutores Dei, oraculum Spiritus sancti. Per tales Deus placatur populo, populus instruitur Deo. Hence mmEpist. lib. 1. Epist… 62.63. Bibl Patrum. Tom. 5. pars 2. pag. 483. See Iuo Carnotensis. Decret… pars 4. cap. 160. to 168.Isiodor Pelusiota writes thus sharply to Theopompus and Talelaeus two preaching Monkes. Quis te comicis salibus non perstringat? Quis te non commiseretur, qui cum in …hilosophiae discipulorum Domini tranquillitate sedeas, Gentilium historicorum & poetarum tumultum at que aestum p. 938tecum trahas? Quid enim dic quaeso, apud illos est, quod religioni nostrae sit praeferendum? Quid non mendacio ac risu scatet ex ijs quae magno studio consectantur? An non divinitates ex vi…iosis affectionibus? An non fortia facinora pro vitiosis affectionibus? An non certamina pro vitiosis affectionibus? Quamobrem ipsam quo que faeditatis & obscaenitatis lectionem fuge (nam & …a miram ad aperienda vulnera jam cicatrice obducta vim habet:) ne alioqui vehementiori cum impetu spiritus improbus revertatur, ac deteriorem ac perniciosiorem tibi priore ignorantia aut negligentia clad…m inferat. Sermo, qui ad audientium utilitatem habetur, potens sermo est, qui que optimo jure sermo appelletur, imitationem que ad Deum habeat. At qui voluptate sola ac plausu terminatur, aeris sonitus est, magno strepitu aurem personans. Quare aut sermonem tuam gravitate moderare, ac sermonis fastui ac pompae mediocritatem antepone, aut te cymbalum theatrorum scenae accomodum esse scito. And hence is that lamentable complaint of nnOnus Ecclesiae. cap. 18. sect. 8.9, 10.Episcopus Chemnensis: Modernis autem temporibus in academijs publicis scientia duntaxit mun…ana invaluit, scientia Dei non est in terra. Sacrarum literarum doctrina ubi que prorsus perijt, doctores scientia inslati docent suum chere, circumferuntur omni v…nto doctrinae. Sicut gentes, ambulant in vanitate sensus sui, tenebris haebentes obscuratum intellectum, propter caecitatem cordis ipsorum. Caeci speculatores educunt discipulos caecos in viam quam nesciunt, ponunt tenebras in lucem, & prava in recta, & nox nocti indicat scientiam. Et sic ubi que suos seducunt oratores. Extollunt doctrinam Aristotelis, Averrois, & aliorum Gentilium Scribarum, ad excogitandum profunda & voraginosa dogmata, obscurantia solem sapientiae Christianae ac Evangelicae vitae, ac purum aerem religiosi status suis fastuosis verbis, acutis que disputationibus, ac sophisticis garrulitatibus maculantia. Modo equidem cernimus omnia fere gymnasia ubi olim tradebatur theologica doctrina, poeticis figmentis, vanis nugis, ac fabulosis portentis esse impleta. Vbi est literatus? Vbi legis verba ponderans? ubi p. 939est doctor parvulorum? videbis populum alti sermonis, ita ut non possis intelligere disertitudinem linguae ejus, in qu… nulla est s…pientia. Atqui praedicatores concionary student, non ut syncero affectu, sed gratia propriae laudis & verbis ornatis & politis aures auditorum demulceant. Meliores autem s…nt sermones veriores quàm disertiores. De talibus doctoribus disertis inquit Salvator. ooMatth. 15.9.Matt 15:9In van…m m… colunt, docentes doctrinas & praecepta hominum: relinquentes enim mand…ta Dei, tenetis traditiones hominum. All which recited passages, are sufficient testimonies, that poeticall streines of wit and Playerly eloquence… are no wayes tolerable, much lesse then commendable in a preaching Minister. Therefore the acting, the penning of Playes, is no wayes necessary or usefull for Clergie men to further them in their ministry. All the benefit that Schollers reape by acting Playes, is this; that it makes **See M. Bernard his Faithfull Shepheard. cap. 13. p. 89. & D. Raino…ds Overthrow of Stage-playes. p. 119. to 127.them histrionicall, antique, unprofitable verball, Preachers, more fit for a Play-house then a Pulpit. The acting and penning therefore of Stage-playes is no wayes helpefull either for an Orator or a Preacher, as the Objectors dreame, Lastly, men may learne boldnesse, eloquence, action, elocution by farre readier, easier, and and more laudable meanes then the penning or acting Playes; as by frequent Declamations, and often repetitions of eloquent Orations, and the like; the onelyonly meanes ppInstit. Orator. lib. 2. cap. 8.Quintilian prescribes, and the ordinary method that all Schoole-masters & Tutors use, to make men perfect Orators: no need therefore of penning, of acting Playes, for these pretended ends, which it cannot effect. We never read that the Apostles, Prophets, and elegant Fathers of old, (as Cyprian, Basil, Nazianzen, Chrysostome, Ambrose, Hierom, Augustine, Leo, Gregory the Great, Chrysologus, Bernard, and such other unparaleld Christian Preachers; that Demosthenes, Cicero, or Quintilian, the most accomplished Heathen Orators for action, phrase, and elocution that the world hath knowne,) did ever attaine to their perfectiō of Oratory by acting Playes: neither p. 940have we heard of any Orators of latter times who hve trod this unknowne path to elocution, to perfect rhetoricke by acting Playes; yea I have not read to my remembrance of any one common Actor or Play-poet, that was an exquisite Orator: The acting therefore of Playes is but a preposterous Spurious course, to traine up youthes to an oratoricall grave comely action or elocution, who should rather be qqEphes. 6.4. Gen. 18.19. Deut. 6.7.Eph 6:4Gen 18:19Deut 6:7educated in the feare and nurture of the Lord, in the Grounds and Principles of Religion, in the knowledge and study of the Scriptures; in honest callings, Sciences, Arts, imployments, which might benefit themselves and others, then in penning or acting Stage-playes, which hath alwayes beene condemned as infamous, both by Christians and Pagans too.

Object. 3.The 3. Objection for the composing and acting of Playes, is this: rrSee Thomas Lodge, his Play of Playes; and Haywoods Apology for Actors accordingly.That they dilucidate and well explaine many darke obscure Histories, imprinting them in mens mindes in such indelible Characters, that they can hardly bee oblitterated: Therefore they are usefull and commendable.

Answ. 1.To this I answer first, that this Objection extends not unto feined Comedies or Tragedies, which are now most in use, but unto such reall tragicall Histories onelyonly as are brought upon the Stage, which Play-poets and Players mangle, falsifie, if not obscure with many additionall circumstances and poeticall fictions; they doe **See M. Gosson his Playes confuted. Action 2. & I.G. his Refutation of the Apologie for Actors, accordingly.not therefore explaine, but sophisticate, and deforme good Histories, with many false varnishes and Play-house fooleries. Secondly, these Histories are more fully, more truely expressed, more readily and acurately learned in the originall Authors who record them, then in derivative Play-house Pamphlets, which corrupt them; all circumstances both of the persons, time, occasion, place, cause, manner, end, &c. being commonly truely registred in the story, which are either ttSee Gosson his Playes confuted. Action 2.altered or omitted in the Play. Thirdly, if this Objection be true, Historians p. 941which we so much magnifie would be of little use or worth; we might then make waste paper of their voluminous workes, and turne all the applauded Histories both of former and future ages into Playes, which better expresse them then our stories, and more deepely imprint them in mens mindes. Lastly, admit the Objection …rue; yet the Histories Playes explaine would not doe the Actors or Spectators halfe the good, nor yet sticke by them halfe so long, as the**Non omnino per hanc turpitudinem verba ista cōmodius discuntur, sed per haec verba turpitudo ista confidentius perpetratur. August Confes. lib. 1. cap. 16. corruptions that accompany them; that being a true rule of uuNoctium Attic. l. 12. c. 2.Aulus Gellius. Adolescentium indolem non tam juvant quae benè dicta sunt, quàm inficiunt quae pessime. Since then the good they bring to men is no way equivalent to the hurt, as **Confes. l. 1. cap. 16.17.S. Augustine himselfe long since a…firmed, the penning and acting of them cannot be lawfull. xxAristotle Topic. lib. 3. cap. 2. sect. 1.Id enim magis est eligendum, cui majus bonum, vel minus malum est consequens, as a very Heathen hath truely taught us.

The 4. Objection for the penning and acting of Playes is this:Object. 4. That both our Vniversities, and long continued custome approve them: therefore they are good.

To this I answer first;Answ. 1. that the Objection it selfe is false, since yyD. Gager in D. Rainolds his Overthrow of Stage-playes. pag. 151.152.both our Vniversities condemne all popular Enterludes, and the best, the gravest in our Vniversities, all academicall Stage-playes too: as I have already prooved: Act 6. Scene 5. pag. 489.490, 491. Secondly, though the dissoluter & yonger sort in our Vniversities, (being zzSee here, pag. 491.but Youthes or Children, who are apt to dote on spectacles of vanity, and unable to judge of good or evil) approve perchance of Stage-plaies in their practise; yet the holiest, the gravest in our Vniversities condemne them in their judgements, if not their practise to. And here by the way, in case of examples, we must ever learne to judge of the lawfulnesse or unlawfulnesse of things, not so much by the actions, as by the judgements and selfe-condemning aaRom. 2.1, 2…14, 15, 21, 22, 23, 27, 29. Magna vis est conscientae. Cicero Orat. 3. in Catilinam. Quos diri conscia facti Mens habet attonitos & surdo verbere caedit, Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum? Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem. Hi sunt qui trepidant, & ad omnia verbera pallent. Iuvenal. Satyr. 13. pag. 123.Rom 2:1Rom 2:2consciences of men, by which they p. 942shall at last bee judged. There is never a Drunkard, Whore-maste…, Lyer, Hypocrite, Thiefe, that lives or wallowes in these sinnes approving them as lawfull by his continuall practise, but doth secretly passe sentence against them in his conscience; As therefore we must not argue, that drunkennes, whoredome, adultery, lying, hypocrisie and theft are lawfull, because they are commonly committed, & sometimes applauded, since the very committers do condemne them, no more may we argue, that the acting or beholding of Stage-playes is lawful, because Schollers and Vniversity men do sometimes act and see them; since if they will but seriously examine their checking consciences, they shal …inde them passing a secret doome of cōdemnation against them, what ever 3their practise be. Thirdly, bbSee Doctor Rainolds Overthrow of Stage-playes. pag. 91.Christians must not live by examples, but by precepts: if therefore the rules of Religion and Christianity allow them not, no matter though the whole world approve them; they will be evill & unlawfull still, and so much the worse because so many justifie them. Lastly, admit the Objection true; yet ccHierom. Epist. 85. Tom. 2. pag. 311.Si auctoritas quaeritur, orbis major est urbe: The authority of the **See Part. 1. Act 7. thorowout.Acts 7whole Church of God from age to age, of 71. Fathers, 55. Councels, above 150. moderne Christian Authors, of diuers Christian & Heathen Nations, Magistrates, Emperours, States, &c. of 40. Heathen Writers, and of our owne Church and State, **See her…, pag. 483. to 497.714. to 717. accordingly.who condemne the penning, acting, and seeing of Stage-playes, is far greater then the custome or exemplary Authority (not the sad and serious resolution after full debate, which Stageplayes never had as yet) of both our Vniversities: This Objection therefore is too light to sway the ballance of this present controversie; **Quintilian Instit. l. 1. c 11. pag. 56.Consuetudo enim si ex eo quod plures faciunt nomen accipiat, periculosum dabit exemplū, non orationi modò, sed (quod majus est) vita. Ergo consuetudinem vivendi vocabo consensum bonorum, sicut sermonis, consensum eruditorum. And thus much for the chiefe Objections, both for the compiling and acting of Stage-playes.