The Players Scourge, Part 1 · Act 6 · Scene 20
SCENA VICESSIMA.
THe last effect of Stage-playes, which ariseth as a necessary consequent from all the former, is this; That without sincere repentance *Quomodo enim cū Christo & Angelis ejus regnabunt in caelis, qui cum Diabolo & ministris ejus societatem habent in terris? Quomodo gaudebunt in convivio perenni sanctorum, qui non respuunt convivia nefanda Paganorum? Aut quomodo in luce perpetua possunt laudes Deo dicere cum Angelis, qui hic Diabolo exhibent funestos ludos in idolis? HRabanus Maurus. Homil. Contra Paganicos Errores. Tom. 5.they eternally damne mens soules. A fruit, a consequent with a witnesse, which should cause all Players, all Play-poets, all Play-haunters to looke about them. And this must needs be so: hRom. 6.23.For, if the wages of sinne be death; iHebr. 2.2. Eccles. 12.14. Matth. 12.36, 37.and if every unrepented, unlamented, duplicate page duplicate page duplicate page duplicate page idle, vaine, or sinfull action, word and thought, shall rec…ive a iust recompence of reward: If k1 Cor. 6.9, 10. Gal 5.19, 20, 21. Ephes. 5.4, 5, 6.the unrighteous, the adulterous and unchaste, shall not inherite the Kingdome of God and of Christ: If lPsal. 9.17.the wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the people that forget God, then c…rtainely the wages of Stage-playes, (which mSee Act 3. thorowout.abound with many idle sinfull speeches, actions, and representations, directly sinfull in sundry different respects, as I have manif…sted by the premises; and therefore cannot but exclude their unrighteous, adulterous, unchast Actors and Spectators out of Heaven, and tumble them headlong into Hell for all eternity, unl…sse they prevent this danger by sincere repentance) must be eternall death. Stage-playes, (as not onelyonly the best, nOvid. Tristium. l. 1. and the Pagan Emperours, States & Authors quoted here, in Act 6. Scene 3.4, 5, & 6.but even the worst of men confesse,) are the oSee here, Act 3. Scene 1. & Act 6. Scene 5. accordingly.very sinkes, the seminaries, food, and treasures of all wickednesse and lewdnesse whatsoever: they are the very pChrysostom. Hom. 6. & 7. in Matth. See here, Act. 1.2. & Chorus: & Act 6. Scene 12. accordingly.baites, the snares, the engines, the sweet Syrenean enchantments of the Devill, with which he sweetly allures men to destruction; by which he insinuates all kinde of viceousnesse into their soules; and steales away their hearts from God and heavenly things: qSee Act 6. Scene 3, 4, 5, 6, 12. & 19. accordingly.they are the principall instruments to intice, to enthrall men unto sinne, to enamor men with sinne; to detaine men under the commanding power of sinne; and to keepe …em off from all true contrition for sinne: Needs therefore must they drowne their Actors, their Composers and Spectators in everlasting perdition both of soule and body, if they repent not of, and utterly renounce them as they have vowed in their baptisme. Hence is that memorable passage of Hippolitus an ancient Martyr, in his *Bibliotheca Patrum Tom. 3. pag. 16.17.Oration, De Consummatione mundi & Antichristo, about the yeere of our Lord, 220. where he informes us; that Christ shall say thus to Play-haunters and wicked men, at the last day: Depart from me yee workers of iniquity, I know you not: you are become the workemen of another Master, that is, of the Devill. Possesse with him darknesse and fire, which is not put out, and the worme that sleepeth not, and gnashing of teeth, &c. *Aures vestras condidi ut audiretis Scrip…uras; at vos parastis eas a… cantica Daemonum, cytharas & ridicula. Oculos vestros creavi, ut prospiceretis lumen praeceptorum meorum, ea que exequeremini: at vos exercistuis stupra & impudicitias, & ad reliquam immundiciam istos aperuistis. Os vestrum composui ad glorificandum & laudandum Deum, & Psalmos cantionesque spiritales pronunciandas lectionisque continuam meditationem, &c. Pedes vestros ordinavi ut ambularetis in praeparatione Evangelij pacis, tum in Ecclesijs, tum in domibus sanctorū meor…m…at vos docuist…s currere ad adulteria, stupra, spectacula, saltationes… in sublime jactationes. Iam solutus conventus publi…us, spectaculū desijt mundi hujus, praeterij… species & deceptio illius. Discedite a me, &c. Ibidem.For I have made your eares that you should heare the Scriptures; but you have prepared them for the songs of Devils, for harpes and ridiculous things. I have created your eyes that you might behold the light of my precepts and thorowly performe th…m; but you have called for whoredomes and uncleanesses, and have opened them to all other filthinesse: I have made your mouthes to glorifie and praise the Lord, to sing Psalmes and spirituall Songs, and to utter the continuall meditation of what you read: but you have applyed it to rayling, to swearing, to blaspemies, whiles you did sit and backbite your neighbours. I have formed your hands that you should stretch them out to prayers and supplications; but you have reached them forth to rapines, murthers, and mutuall slaughters. I have ordain…d your feet, that you should walke in the preparation of the Gospell of peace, both in Churches and in the houses of my Saints; but you have taught them to runne to adulteries, whoredomes, Stage-playes, dances, vaultings. Now the publike assembly is dissolved; the spectacle of this world is ended; the fashion and deceit of it is passed away, &c. Depart therefore into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels. And then alas poore wretches, what will become of them… when as Christ sha…l thus upbraide and charge them with their resort to Playes and Play-houses, and their imploying both of their eyes, their eares, their hands, their feet, their mindes and times about them, at the last? Perish they must, and that irrecoverably, for all eternity. This sundry Fathers testifie. rProfessio Iudorum, altera via est mundi, quae ducit ad Diabolum, generalem viam perditionis. Chrysost…m Hom 41. in Matth. Tom. 2. Col. 882 B.The profession and following of Stage-playes (writes Chrysostom) is a way of the world which leads unto the Devill, the generall way of perdition: Therefore he exhorts his sHom. 7. in Matth. Tom. 2. Col. 60. B. See here, pag… 46. H.Auditors, to avoyd the pestiferous Fish-pond of the Theater; for this is that, which drownes its Spectators in the fiery Sea of Hell, and kindles the very bottome of its fire. tHom. 27. pag. 212. See here, pag. 45. Z.Macarius AEgyptius writes expresly: that those who are delighted with Spectacles and Stage-playes, shall never enter into Heaven without repentance, paine, and fighting, because the way to Heaven is narrow and full of affliction. Saint Cyprian, and Tertullian in their Bookes, De Spectaculis. Lactantius De Vero Cultu. c. 20. Clemens Romanus Constit. Apostol. lib. 2. cap. 66. Augustine De Civitate Dei. lib. 2. cap. 29. & uPl…ce…ne tandem vitam aeternam peti aut sperari à dijs poeticis, Theatricis, ludicris, scenicis? Absit; imò avertat Deus verus tam immanem sacrilegamque demétiam. Nunquid ab ijs Dijs quibus haec placent, & quos haec placant, cum eorum illic crimina frequentantur vita aeterna poscenda est? Nemo, ut arbitror, usque ad tantum praecipitium furio…ssimae impietatis insanit. Nec fabulosa igitur nec civili theologia sempiternam unquam adipiscitur vitam: Illa enim de dijs turpia …nge…do festinat, haec favendo metit, &c. Ambae turpes, ambaeque damnabiles. Hin…cinè vita aeterna sperabitur unde ista brevis temporalisque polsuitur? An vero vitam polluit consortium nefariorum hominum si se inserunt affectionibus & assentionibus nostris, & vitam non polluit s…cietas Daemonum qui coluntur criminibus suis? Si veris, quam mala… si falsis, quam male. Ibidem.lib. 6. cap. 6. De Symbolo ad Catechumenos. lib. 2. cap. 1.2. & l. 4. cap. 1. Confessionum. lib. 3. cap. 1.2. & lib. 6. cap. 7.8. Salvian. De Gubernatione Dei. lib. 6. write as much: Yea *Se… Act 7. Scene 2…all those Fathers and Councels which excommunicated Players and Play-haunters from the Church, till they had repented, renounced the acting, the beholding of all Theatricall Enterludes, affirme the same, since those can never be deemed worthy the society of the Saints in Heaven, who are not fit to communicate with the Saints on earth. Certainely yMatth 16.19. Ioh. 20.23.that which the Church doth lawfully binde on earth is bound in Heaven; those therefore who are justly excluded out of, cōdemned by the militant Church, zSee Act 7. Scene 2.as Players and Play-haunters ought to be, are excluded likewise out of Heaven, are condemned in Heaven, unlesse they doe repent. This all the moderne Christian Authors, together with aM. Gosson, and the Author of the 3. Blast of Retrait from Playes.two penitent relenting Play-poets of our owne who have aSee here, Act 7. Scene 5.written against Stage-playes, doe likewise joyntly testifie: And indeed they should all have written in vaine against these Enterludes, did they not bring perdition to mens soules. There are but three things that have moved all the Fathers, Councels, and Christian Authors which I shall here recite, to write against Stage-playes so frequently, so abundantly as they have done. cSee Act 1.2. & Chorus. Act 3. Scene. Act 6. Scene 3.4, 5, 12, 14, 17, 18.The first is the dishonour, the injury that Stage-playes doe to God: dSee Act 6. Scene 5.6.The second the prejudices, mischiefes, and inconveniences they bring upon the Church and State: eSee Act 6. Scene 3.4, 17, 18, 19.The third, the guilt, the sinnes, the damnation they procure to mens soules: the last of which is a necessary consequence from the former, which are meerely false, if this be not true. Since therefore it is evident by the Confession of all these Fathers, Counsels and Christian Writers, who have censured Stage-playes: fSee Act 6. Scene 12. & Act 7. Scene 2.by excommunicating Players and Play-haunters in the Primitive Church till their sincere repentance; by all the foregoing Acts and Scenes; and by the practise of Players, Play-poets, Play-haunters of ancient, of moderne times, (gAct 6. Scene 12. & 14. accordingly. who alwayes upon their true co…version and repentance have utterly discarded, and renounced Playes and Play-houses) that Stage-playes without sincere repentance damne mens soules: Let this *Act 7. Scene 2.teach all Players, Play-poets, and Play-haunters whatsoever, as they tender the eternall welfare of their soules and bodies; as they desire to avoyd hIsay 33.14. Psal. 16. Psal. 90.11. Isay 2.20, 21. Ioel 2.11. Mal. 3.2.the unsupportable wrath of God, the *Habet nunc consilium omnis iniquus praesentia appetere, aeterna deserere, injusta agere, justa deridere: sed cum judex justorum injustorumque venerit, suo unusquisque impius consilio praecipitatur, quia per hoc quod hic appetere pravis cogitation…bus elegit, in aeterni supplic…j tenebras mergitur. Greg. …agnus. Moral. lib. 4. cap. 4.everlasting torments of Hell; and to participate of the eternall joyes of Heaven, even seriously to *Vnusquisque ergo nostrum ad paenitentiae lamenta confugiat, dum f…ere ante p…rcussionem vacat… Revo…mus ante oculos mentis quicquid errando …ommisimus, & quod nequiter …gimus, …en…o puniamus, Greg Mag. Epistolarum. lib. 11. cap. 2. fol. 452. B.bewayle, and cordially to repent their former penning, acting, and beholding of all forepast Stage playes and for ever to abandon all such Enterludes for time to come, as the certaine contrivers, the infallible consummators of their just damnation, unlesse they seriously repent. Yea let this lesson all them when ever they are tempted to Playes or Play-houses by any lewde companions, by Satan, or by they owne sinfull lusts, to answer these temptations, with this 45. Play-confounding Argument,Argument 45. from which there is no evasion.
Those things which without sincere repentance bring eternall destruction and damnation on mens soules and bodies, must needs be sinfull, abominable, and eternally execrable unto Christians.
But this doe Stage-playes; as all the premises testifie.
Therefore they must needs be sinfull, abominable, and eternally execrable unto Christians.
Damnation, iRom. 6.23. Iohn 3 18. Marke 16.16. 2 Thes. 2.12. Matth. 25.41, 42, 43.as it is a fru…t of sinne, so it is that which every man should labour to avoyd, though it were with the losse of his very dearest members, much more of his unprofitable and sinfull pleasures, kIam. 5.1, 5. Rev. 18.6, 7. Prov. 14.12, 13. Luke 6.25. Qui nunc malè se in voluptatibus dilatat, eum post in supplicijs paena co…ngust…t. Qui hic in volup…ate laetatus est, illic perpetua ulti…ne laet…tur. Gregor. Magnus. Mo…al. lib. 14. cap. 4which alwayes end in griefe. Our Saviour Christ himselfe hath given us this advice, lMatth. 5.29, 30. cap. 18.8. Mark. 9.47.48 See Chrysost. Hom. 17. in Matth. & Opus imperfectum in M…tth. Homil. 12.that if our right hand, or our right eye offend us, we should cut off the one, and plucke out the other: for it is profitable for us, that one of our members should perish, rathe… then that our whole bodies and soules should be cast into Hell; where the worme dyeth not, and the fire is not quenched: If a man to avoyd damnation must thus offer *Mortem morte dissolvere, occisione occisionem dispargere, tormentis tormenta distutere, supplicijs supplicia evaporare, vitam auferendo conferre; carnem saedendo juvare, animam eripiendo servare; perversitas quam putas ratio est, quod saevitiam existimas gratia est. Errorem operis fructus excusat. Tertul. Adversus Gnosticos. Tom. 2. pag. 425.426.violence to, and even with indignation cut off, pull out, and cast away, his right hand, his right eye, the usefullest, the profitablest, the dearest, be…t-beloved of all his other members; should he not much more abandon, abominate these unprofitable, expensive, and pernicious Stage-playes, that so he might escape it? Alas, who would be so desperately prodigall of his owne salvation; who would so vilifie, so undervalue Heaven, or his owne immortall Soule, (mMatth. 16.26. See Chrysostom. Hom. 55. in Matth. the losse of which cannot be recompenced with the gaine of all the world,) as to set to hazard, to forfeit them for a Stage-play? and yet how many thousands daily doe it? O that such men would consider but a while, *See Gregor. Mag. Moral. li… 15. cap. 14 M…tth. 25.41.what damnation, what eternall, eternall damnation, accompaniedoDn. 12.2. Matth. 18.8. cap. 25.41, 46. Ma…k. 9.48. Ioh. 3.36. c. 5.29. Isay 66.24. with the everlasting wrath and vengeance of an Almighty provoked pIsay 13.11. Exod. 3.4.7. Nahum. 1.3.sinne-revenging God, is! this certainely would cau…e them, as it …hould cause us all, for ever to detest these sugered soppes of Satan, which without sincere repentance prove nought else but eternall qProv 5 4. Ier. 2.19. 2 Sam 2.26. Dulcia se in bilem ver…unt, &cbitternesse both to soule and body. rMark. 16 16. Iohn 3.18, 36. Propterea de gehenna jugiter audiamus, ut ex huius minis & tumore multum emolumenti capiamus Nam si Deus peccantes in eam dejecturas hujus min…s non praemisisset, in eam multi cecidis…nt. Si nunc enim timore animas nostras concutiente sunt aliqui tam facile peccantes, ta…quam nec ips… sit: si nihil horum dictum fuisset, neque intentatum quid mali non fecissemus? …r…s…st. Ad Pop. Antioch. Hom. 55. Tom. 5 Col. 318. ADamnation is in truth the onelyonly argument to rouse voluptuous and secure persons, who lie rotting in the dregges of sinfull pleasures: O that the terror, and alarum of it would now at last awaken those miserable gracelesse Play-poets, Actors, Play-haunt…rs, who lie sleeping in the very brinke of Hell, without any suspition or feare of danger; that so it might cause them with care a…d conscience perp…tually to divorce them…elves from Stage-playes; which as sSee Act 1. 2. & Cho…us.they had their originall beginning, growth, and progresse from the Devill; so they tIob …1.11, 1…, 13. Isay 5.11, 12, 13. Iam 5.1, 5. Rev. 18.7. Chrysost. Hom. 6. & 7. in Matth.alwayes have their end in Hell, damnation, and eternall torments with the Devill, unlesse Gods infinite mercy, and mens true repentance interpose. A su…ficient motive to withdraw all men, all Christians from them: and with that holy Father Saint Augustine in his most pious Confessions (where he *Confessionum. lib. 3. c. 1.2. & 14. l. 4. c. 1.2. l. 6. c. 7.8.oft bewailes with teares his running unto Stage-playes before his true conversion) for ever to renounce them.
CHORVS.
YOu have seene now Christian Readers, the severall bitter fruits, and pernicious effects of Stage-playes, most copiously anatomized in the precedent Act: and certainely uMatth 7.16.17, 18, 19, 20.if ever any tree were discovered to be evill by its evill fruits, then Stage-playes, (whose variety of evill products surmounts all others) must be as bad, if not farre worse, then any. The fruits of Stage-playes (as is evident by the premises) are bad in respect of God, whom they sundry wayes dishonour: bad, in regard of Church and State, whom they exceedingly prejudice and corrupt; *See Act 6. thorowout.bad in regard of the Composers. Actors, Spectators, and upholders of them, whose sinnes they multiply, whose manners they corrupt, whose time they wast, whose mindes they effeminate and deprave, whose hearts they harden, whose soules they contaminate, whose repentance they anticipate or deferre, whose lusts they foster, whose damnation they hasten, whose everlasting torments they accumulate, and without repentance really procure. As therefore we tender the honour, love, and worship of our gracious God; the happinesse, the welfare of our Church and State, the purity, tranqnility, salvation of our owne poore soules, of the soules of our brethren, our posterity… which succeede us: Let us henceforth passe in irrepealable sentence of condemnation against all popular Stage-playes, and bid an everlasting farewell to them; *Citius ad precem judex flectitur, si à pravitate sua petitor corrigatur. Imminente ergo t…ntae animadversionis gladio nos importunis flectibus insi…tamus. Qui simul omnes peccavimus, simul omnes mala quae fecimus, deploremus; ut districtus Iudex dum culpas nostras nos punire considerat, ipse à sententiae propositae damnationis parcat. Greg. Magnus. Epist ex Registro. lib. 11. cap. 3. Indict. 6. fol. 252. C.D.that so wee may avoyd these severall cursed fruits, and dangerous con…equences which they alwayes constantly produce, together with all these imminent plagues and judgements which now without your speedy repentance they are likely to pull downe on us, both to our temporall and eternall ruine.