The Players Scourge, Part 1 · Act 3 · Scene 8
SCENA SEPTIMA.
LAstly, admit the stile or subject matter of Stage-playes be no wayes such, as I have …erto demonstrated it to be; yet at the very best it is *Ociosum verbum est, quod sine vtilitate loquentis dicitur, & audientis: ut si omissis seri…s de rebus frivolis loquamur, & fabulas narremus antiquas. Hierom. Co…. in Matth. l. 2. cap. 12. v. 36.37. See Theophilact. Ibidem.but idle, frothy, superfluous, unprofitable; as vaine, as e…pty, as vanity it selfe. From whence I raise this eleventh dispute.
That whose stile and subject matter, in its very best acception, is but vaine, but frivolous, and ridiculous, bringing no glory at all to God, nor good to men; must needs be sinfull and unlawfull unto Chri…tians.
But such is the stile and subject of most Stage-playes, as *Hoec etiamsi non essent simulachris dicata, obeunda christianis fidelibus non essent, quae & si non haberent crimen, habent in se & maximam, & parum congruent…m fidelibus, vanitatem, &c. Fugienda itaque sunt ista Christianis fidelibus, ut jàm frequenter diximus tàm vanatam pernitiosa sachtilega spectacula; & oculi nostri sunt, & aures custodiendae. Cyprian. de spectac. lib.Saint Cyprian excellently writes.
Therefore they must needs be sinfull and unlawfull unto Christians.
The Major is uncontroulable; since God himselfe inhibits Christians, rIob 15.2.3. Reijce verbum quod non aedificat audientes. Vanusenim sermo citò polluit mentem, & vanae conscientiae est index. Bernard de In…eriori Domo cap. 43.to utter vaine knowledge; to reason with unprofitable talke, or with speeches which will doe no good, sIerem. 2.5.8. c. 16.19.to walke in vanity, or things that will not profit; and t1 Sam. 12.21. Nimirum sapere est abiectis vtile nugis. Horace, Epist. lib. 2. Epist. 2. p. 292.to follow after vaine things which will not profit, because they are but vaine. Christians vIsay 55.2.must not lay out their money for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which satisfieth not, xEccles. 5.7. & 6.11.12.…hey must not delight in vanitie, or in things that increase, vanity, and make not man the better; but they must pray with David; yPsal. 119.37.Turne away mine eyes from beholding vanity: since the Scripture is expresse; zPsal. 4.2. Psal. 10.7. Psal 12.2. Psal. 24.3.4. 2 Kings 17.15that the speaking, loving, or lifting up of the soule to vanity, folly, and unprofitable things, is an aMores hominis lingua pandit, & qualis sermo ostenditur, t… lis animus comprobatur; quoniam ex abundantia cordis os loquitur. Bernard. de interiori Domo. cap 43. Col. 1082.undoubted character of such wicked men, who shall not ascend into Gods holy hill; not any property of Gods children: Who as b1 Tim. 4.7.they must abandon all idle, fabulous, unprofitable discourses; cMat. 2.36.37. V…nus sermo non eri… absque iuditio, quia ab omni rectitudinis statu deperiunt qui per verba vana dilabuntur. Bernard De Interiori Domo c. 43.Because that for eueryevery idle word that men shall speake they shall give account at the day of judgement: so they must likewise direct even all their actions, speeches, recreations d1 Cor. 10.31, 32, 33.to Gods glory; eCol. 3.16.17. Iude 20.the edification of others, and fIsay 55.2.3. 1 Sa…. 12.21. 1 Tim. 6.18.19.their owne spirituall good; to which Stage-playes, no wayes tend. Therefore the Major is vnquesti…nable.
For the Minor; Th… the stile and subject matter of Stage-playes is in its very best acception, but vaine, but frivolous and ridiculous, bringing no glory at all to God, nor good to men: is most apparant. First, by the concurring testimony of sundry Fathers, and other learned Writers, Hence Hilarie, Ambrose, Chrysostome, Augustine, Bruno and others, in their Commentaries and expositions on the 118. alias the 119. Psalme verse 37. Turne away mine eyes from beholding vanity: together with Iohn Salisbury, lib. 1. De Nugis Curialium, cap. 8. Master Gosson, Doctor Reinolds, Master Northbrooke, and others in their Treatises against Stage-playes; interpret this fAverte oculos meos videant vanitatem: hic notantur illi… qui diversis spectaculis & …udis Theatralibus occupantur, &c. Hilari.vanity in the Psalmist. of Stage-playes, and such like spectacles, which they gVtinam hac interproetatione possimus revocare ad diversa Circensium ludo…rum atque theatralium spectacula fe…tinantes. Vanitas est illa quam cernis. Pantominum aspicis? vanitas est, &c. Ambros. Enar. in Psal. 118. Octon. 5. Tom. 2. p. 430. F.condeme as vanity. Hence Clemens Alexandrinus writes of playes; hSpectacula verbis obscenis & vanis tem… r… prosusis plena sunt. P…dagogi l. 3. c. 11.that they are fraught with obscene and vaine speeches, rashly uttered: Hence Gregory Nazianzen stiles Playes; iVit… vanitates, voluptatum Hydra. Ad Seluchum Epist. p. 10…3.the vanities of life, and the hydra of pleasures. Hence Chrysostome writes of Playes: kIn Theatro …isus, ineptitudo, verba multae fatuitatis ac stultitiae plena, &c. Homil. …2… in Acta Apost. Tom. 3. Col. 612. A. homil. 92. ad populum Antioch…ae. Tom. …. Col. 3…7. A…that they are fraught with laughter, wantonnesse, and words …ull of folly and vanitie. Hence Anastatius Sianita writes of the Severiani: lVestra dogmata magis sunt ridicula quam quae in omnibus s…nicis Orchestris, & Thylemicis ludis aguntur. In his Viae duae. …ibl. Patrum. Tom. 6. pars 1. p. …04.That their positions were more ridiculous, absurd and foolish, then those things that are acted in any Stage-playes. Hence Bernard writes, mMimos, fabulatores, scurrilesque cantilenas, & …udo…um spectacula milites Christi, tanquam vanitates & insanias falsas respuunt & abominantur. Ad Milites Templi Sermo. Col. 8…2. LThat the true souldiers of Christ, reject and abominate Players and Stage-playes, as vanities and false frenzies. Hence Iohn Salisbury stiles Playes, nSpectacula & tyrocinia vanitatis. De N…gis Curialjum. l. 1. c. 7.8.the spectacles and rudiments of vanitie. Hence Cyprian, Lactantius, Cyril of Hierusalem, Augustine, Basil, Salvian, Macarius AEgyptius, and others, oSee …2.formerly quoted, have utterly condemned Stage-playes, as the very pompes and vanites of this wicked world, which Christians hauehave abjured in their Baptisme. If then we beleeve these severall Fathers, together with pAsina…ia. Prologus.Plautus, qDe somno Scipionis. l. 1. pag. 20. & Sa…urnal. lib. 2. cap. 7.Maecrobius, rFloridorum lib. 4.Apuleius, three Heathen Authors; or Master Gosson, Master Northbrooke, Master Stub…, and Doctor Reinolds, in their bookes against Stage-playes: or the third Blast against Stage-playes and Theaters, together with Caesar Bulingerus De Theatro, lib. 1. cap. 11. de Ludis p. 141. We must needs acknowledge, both Playes themselves, together with their stile and subject matter, to be meere idle uselesse vanities; Since all these repute and stile them such.
Secondly, our owne experience, will readily subscribe unto it as an undoubted truth. For what are all our Stage-playes, but the frothy excrements of superfluous idle braines; which being impregnated with some s2 Pet. 2.18. Proijcit ampullas & sesquipedalia verba. Horace, De Arte Poet… ca. p 300.swelling words, or high-towring conceited plots of vanitie, (which they secretly adore with highest admiration, as being worthy the most suparlative Stage-applause,) doe travell in paine untill they have brought forth their long-conceived issues on the Theater, wch prove but tQuid dignum tanto ferit hic promissor hiatu? Parturiunt montes, nascitur ridicul…s mus. Horac… De A…te Po… tic…. p. 300.ridiculously vaine at best? Wha… are they, but meere miscelanies of over-studied, well-expressed vanities? Their subiect, their action, their circumstances; what else are they but vanitie of vanities, but ridiculous follies or frensies in the highest degree, unworthy of a vNunquid tibi videtur sapiens, qui oculos vel aures istis expandit? Ioannes Salisburiensis l. 1. De Nugis Curialium c. 8.wise-mans sight, much lesse his approbation? Their Actors, their ordinary Spectators, what are they but ridiculous, foolish, vaine, fantasticke persons, who delight in nothing more then toyes and vanities? Their very fruits, their ends, what are they else, but either the nourishing, or the increase of sinne and vanitie? If we survay the good, the profit which accrues from Stage-playes, we shall find, that they are good for naught; that they bring no glory at all to God, no benefit, no comfort unto men; xVa…um enim est quod ad nihil vtile est. Vana illa sunt omnia qua bonum nullum habent finem. Chrysost. Hom. 12. in Ephes. Tom. 4. Col. 963. Dtherefore they must needs be vaine. If we respect Gods glory; where shall we finde God more dishonoured, more provoked then in Stage-playes? which had the ySee Act. 1. accordingly.Divell himselfe for their author, subject, and composer, who proves sometimes their Actor too. Where are Gods Name, his Word, his Attributes, his Ministers, his Saints, his Substitutes, his Children, his Wor…hip, his Graces, more blasphemed, prophaned, traduced, or derided, zSee the third Blast of Retrait from Playes and Theaters. The Preface to the Practise of Piety; Salvian de Gubernatione Dei lib. 6. The Schoole of Abuses; and Scene 5. before.then in Stage-playes? Where is God more offended, more affronted with swarmes of crying sinnes, then in the Play-house? And how can it bee otherwise? We know it was the received opinion of the ancient Pagans; that their aVos persuasum habetis Theatralibus ludis Deos delectari & a… fici, irasque aliquando conceptas …orum satisfactione molli…i. Honorantur his Dij, & si quas ab hominibus con…inent offensionum memorias illatas, abijciunt, excludunt, redduntque s… nobis redintegrata familiaritate fautor…s, &c. Mimis nimirum Dij gaudent, & illa vis praestans, neque vllis hominum comprehensa natu…is libentissimè commodat audiendis his aures, quorum symplegmatibus plurimis intermixtos se esse derisionis in materiam no…unt? delectanturut res est salpictarum sonitu ac plausu factis & dictis turpibus, fascinorum ingentium rubore. Iam verò si viderint in Foemineas mollitudines enervantes se viros, vociferari hos frustra, sine causa alios cursitare, amicitiarū fide salva contundere se alios, & crud…s mutilare se caestibus, certare hos spiritu, buccas vento distendere, votisque inanibus concrepare, manus ad coelum tollunt, rebuꝰ admirabilibus moti prosiliunt, exclamant, in gratiam cum hominibus redeunt. Haec si dijs immortalibus oblivionem afferunt simultatum; si ex Comaedijs, attellanis, mimis ducunt laetissimas voluptates, quid moramini, quid cesiatis, quin & ipsos dicatis Deos ludere, lascivire, saltare, obscaenas compingere cantiones, & clunibus fluctuare crispatis? Quid enim differt, faciantue haec ipsi, an ab alijs fi…ri in amoribus ac delicijs ducant? Arnobius adversus Gentes. l. 7. p. 232, 234, 236.Devill-Idols (to whose *See Bullingerus De Theatro, lib. 1. c 17.solemne honour and worship, all Stage-playes were at first devoted) were so well pleased with these Theatricall Enterludes, that if they did but honour and adore them with them, they would forthwith pardon, yea, forget their sinnes against them, and of enemies, become propitious, kinde, and friendly to them. And can any Christian then conceive such base conceits of God, or bItane, istud non est Deorum imminuere dignitatem, dica…e & consecrare turpissimas res ijs quas censor animus respuat, & quarum actores inhonesto… esse ius vestrum, & inter capita computa…i indicavit infamia? Arnobius Ibidem. p. 233.so farre derogate from his Majestie, his purity, his Deitie, as to deeme him honoured or delighted, not grieved, not offended with such Stage-playes cSee Act 2, accordingly.wherewith Devill-Idols were attoned? Doubtlesse, that which the Devill himselfe hath invented, appropriated to his owne honour and advantage, dSee 1 Cor. 6.14.15.can never bring any praise or glory unto God: therefore our Stage-playes cannot doe it. If we reflect upon the good they bring to men, alas, what is it? eSee here p 68, 69. and Act. 6. Scene 4, 5, 6. Bodinus de Republica l. 6. c 1. The third Blast of Retrait from Playes, and Master Boltons Discourse of true happinesse, p. 73, 74… accordingly.Where doe they sucke in more poyson, more corruption; where doe they mere blunt their virtues, or make greater shipwracke of all their Christian graces, then a… Stage-playes, the grand-empoysoners of mens soules? I have knowne, heard, and read of thousands, who have wrackt their credits, their estates, their virtues, yea, their very bodies and soules at Playes, at Play-houses: but never could I yet heare or read of any who have beene meliorated or reclaimed by them. I have read of sundry pestiserous …ff…cts, and sinfull fruits of Stage-playes, of which you shall heare at large fAct. 6 throughout.heereafter: but never could I finde in all the Fathers, in any mod…rne Writers, so much as any one necessary virtue, grace or reall benefit that hath resulted from them. I have read of gSee Act. 6. S…ne 5. & 10 accordingly.divers Republicks, Emperours, Magistrates, and Authors of all sorts, who have suppressed Stage-playes, as intollerable evils in a Christian or well-ordered Commonweale; they being the Seminaries of all kinde of vices; the chiefe corrupters of mens minds and manners: But never could I meet with any, who affirmed them to be good or use…ull in a State. Since therefore it is evide…t by all the premises; that Stage-playes in their best condition, are but hHae Nugae s…ria ducunt in mala. Horace de Arte Poetica p. 312.meere Nugatorie, ridiculous, superf…uous van ties, which lead… to serious evils; and bring no glory at all to God, nor good to men; we may conclude them to be not onelyonly incongruous, but unlawfull unto Christians, iQui igitur in Chri…to est, quomodo pote…t vanitates aspicere, cum Christus in carne sua omnes mundi hujus crucifixerit vanitates? Ambros Enar. in Psal. 118. Octon. 5. Tom. 2. pag. 430. F.who must not cast their eyes upon the vanities of this wicked world, since Christ himselfe hath crucified them in his flesh, that we for ever might abandon them.
You have seene now, Christian Readers, the common stile and subject matter of popular Stage-playes, and I dare confidently averre, that there is scarce one Stage-play this day acted (our kLibenter veter…s spectant fabulas, Nam nunc nov…e quae prodeunt Comaediae multò sunt nequiores. Plauti Casina, Prologus. p. 166.moderne Playes being farre more lewd then those of former times.) whose subiect, parts and pass…ges are not reducible to all, to some, or one at least of these recited particulars: therfore we must needs passe sentence of condemnation against them, even in this respect.