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death_n	cast_v	glorious_a	great_a	97	3	2.1030	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10187	Histrio-mastix The players scourge, or, actors tragædie, divided into two parts. Wherein it is largely evidenced, by divers arguments, by the concurring authorities and resolutions of sundry texts of Scripture ... That popular stage-playes ... are sinfull, heathenish, lewde, ungodly spectacles, and most pernicious corruptions; condemned in all ages, as intolerable mischiefes to churches, to republickes, to the manners, mindes, and soules of men. And that the profession of play-poets, of stage-players; together with the penning, acting, and frequenting of stage-playes, are unlawfull, infamous and misbeseeming Christians. All pretences to the contrary are here likewise fully answered; and the unlawfulnes of acting, of beholding academicall enterludes, briefly discussed; besides sundry other particulars concerning dancing, dicing, health-drinking, &c. of which the table will informe you. By William Prynne, an vtter-barrester of Lincolnes Inne.	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1633 (1633)	STC 20464A; ESTC S115316	1,193,680	1,258

lives that we may learne to feare the Lord and to keepe and doe all the workes and Statutes of his Law which was King 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 to 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 believe these sacred precepts to which I might adde two more Pray 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. 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 deinde 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 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 quoque 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 ne 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 of 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 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 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 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 onely 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 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

with much murther and bloodshed in all ages these have caused the Husband to murther his Wife the Wife to poyson her Husband one Whore-master to murther his Corrivals to the selfe-same Strumpet yea these have caused unnaturall Mothers to murther their owne spuri●us Issues to conceale their l●wdnesse as Authors as our owne Statutes and experience teach us therefore they must needs be crying● because they are bloody sinnes Fiftenthly they are such sinnes which offer an high indignity to the whole Trinity First to God the Father not onely in taking those bodies that are his which were made for himselfe alone not for fornication and giving them up as prof●ssed instruments of sinne to lust to lewdnesse to Satan to all uncleanesse but likewise in contaminating oblitterating and casting dirt yea sinne upon his most holy Image stamped on them Secondly to Iesus Christ our Lord in taking those bodies which are his members purchased with his most precious blood that they might be preserved pure and chaste to him and making them the members of an Harlot Thirdly to God the holy Ghost in defiling those bodies which are the Temples of the holy Ghost which is in us who cannot indure any pollution especially in his Temples which should be alwayes holy as he is holy And who is there so desperately wicked that dares thus affront the whole Trinity it selfe by these cursed filthy sinnes Sixteenthly they are sinnes of which men very seldome repent A Whore saith Salomon is a deepe Ditch and a strange woman is a narrow Pit out of which men can hardly recover themselves None that goe into her returne againe neither take they hold of the pathes of Life And who then would ingage his soule upon such irrecoverable irrepenitable sins as these Seventeenthly these sinnes are the very high-way to Hell the beaten rode to eternall death the end of them is bitter as wormwood sharpe as a two-edged sword Wherefore Salomon exhorts his Sonne to remove his way farre from a strange woman and not to come nigh the doore of her house a place well worthy their observation who feare not for to run to Whore-houses or to cast themselves upon the temptations the enticements of Strumpets as too many doe For her house inclineth unto death and her pathes unto the dead her feet goe downe to death her steps take hold of hell her house is the way to hell going downe to the chambers of death None that goe into her returne againe neither take they hold of the path of Life Eighteenthly they are sinnes against the very bodies and soules of men Against the bodies of men as the Apostle witnesseth Flee fornication every sinne that a man doth is without the body but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his owne body that is in defiling it in dishonouring it in impayring it in destroying it Against the soules of men as Salomon testifieth Who so saith he committeth adultery with an woman lacketh understanding he that doeth it destroyeth his owne soule And who would be so inhumanely so atheistically desperate as to destroy both soule and body for ever to enjoy the momentany bitter-sweetnesse of these filthy sinnes Nineteenthly they are sinnes which disable men to performe any holy duty acceptable to God Sinnes into which few fall but such as are abhorred of the Lord and given up to a reprobate sence to worke all wickednesse even with gre●dinesse Sinnes which devoure to destruction and roote out all a mans increase Sinnes which cause the earth to rise up against men and the fire not blowne to devo●re them Sinnes which draw downe the temporall the eternall wrath of God upon the children of disobedience These were the sinnes that destroyed the old worldwith water which consumed the Citties of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from Heaven Which caused three and twenty thousand of the Isralites to fall in one day These were the sinnes that caused God in the yeere of our Lord 1583. even in our Citty of London to destroy with ●ire from Heaven two Cittizens the one leaving his Wife the other her owne Husband whiles they were in the very act of adultery on the Lords day their bodies being left dead and halfe burnt up for a Spectacle of Gods avenging Iustice unto others These are the sinnes but adultery and incest mor● especially which God himselfe hath commanded to be punished with death yea with stoning to death the most vile and shamefulest death of all others Yea these are such sinnes that not onely the Iewes in ancient times but even meere Pagans from the very light of nature did punish with death it selfe Hence Drac● enacted that the adulterer taken in adultery might without any danger to the party be lawfully killed The selfe-same Law was enacted by Solon and Plato Hence Romulus among those lawes which he wrote in brasse and placed in the Capitol enacted That the convicted adulteresse should be put to death according as her husband or his friends should thinke meete Which act was afterwards confirmed by the Iulian Law Hence among the Lacedemonians it was lawfull for a man to kill him who was taken in adultery with his wife Hence the Corinthians used to drowne those who prostituted themselves to the lust of others The Vestel Virgins among the Romans b●ing convicted of fornication were buried alive In ancient Ti●es among the Turkes the adulterer and adulteresse were both stoned to death and at this day they are both most ignominiously punished The Arabians and Tenedians punish adultery with death reputing it a farre greater crime then periury or sacriledge and therefore worthy of a severer punishment The AEthiopians account adultery treason and therefore they make it capitall In Peru whoredome is punished with the death of both parties The Brasilians prosecute adultery with capitall hatred in so much that he whose wife is taken in adultery may lawfully kill her if he please The Indian Bramanes may lawfully poyson their unc●aste wives In old Saxony women who were convicted of adultery and ravishers of maides were first hanged and then burned In S●a● adultery is death the Fathers of the Malefactors or the next Kinsmen being the Executioners In Palmaria adulterous Priests are punished with cruell death In Hispaniola unchaste Priests are either drowned or burnt I● Bantam Mexico and China adultery is punished with death The Tartars taken in adultery are put to present death for feare of which they live very chaste If then the very judiciall Law of Moses together with these Heathens and Pagan Nations have deemed these sinnes capitall punishing adulterers and adulteresses with death as being the publike enemies of mankinde needs must these sinnes bee execrable yea dangerous unto Christians Twentiethly these sinnes are prejudiciall both to the Church and State in

Euasions First that these Idoles are Inuocated Adiured Named Imprecated and sworne by in sport and merriment onely not seriously or in earnest Secondly that they are vttered by way of Proxie or representation onely not as the Words or Oathes of the Actors but of some feined persons whose Parts they represent so that they are not with in the compasse of the Scriptures and reasons fore-alleadged To the first of these I answere First that the Heathen Poets did Nominate Inuocate Adiure Adore and Supplicate these Idoles and discourse of all their Genealogies Villanies and Obscenities but in a Fabulous and sporting manner and that in Theatricall Enterludes and Poemes as we now doe yet this the fore-recited Fathers taxe in them as grosse Idolatrie as an abominable and filthie crime If then this were detestable and Idolatrous in them who knew not God must it not bee much more so in vs who not onely know him but professe him too Certainely if their fabulous and iesting discourses of these Idoles were a notorious crime ours cannot be lesse then an abominable and transcendent wickednesse Secondly the Scriptures know no such distinction betweene iest and earnest they enioyne vs peremptorily not to make mention of the names of Idoles not to Inuocate or Adiure them not to Sweare by them but vtterly to abolish both their memories names and reliques which precepts being vniuersall Negatiues admit of no euasion If then we may not Name them Implore them or Sweare by them at all much lesse may wee doe it by way of Sport or Merriment since it is more tolerable lesse hainous to sinne in earnest vpon some pretended necessitie though no necessitie can once authorize or force vs for to ●inne then thus to sinne in iest Thirdly if this distinction of breaking Gods Commandements in iest or earnest should bee warrantable then euery man as many doe would dayly violate them by way of sport and merriment not in earnest and yet they should bee no sinners because they sinne in iest and so all Gods Lawes should bee euacuated Religion vndermined and sinne made a iest Fourthly this Inuocating Naming and Swearing by these Heathen Gods in iest is farre more odious and sinfull then to doe it in good earnest out of ignorant Superstition or blinde Deuotion He that sinnes thus in iest and merriment sinnes more wittingly wilfully contemptuously and presumptuously then hee that sinnes in earn●st he contemnes and slights both God and these his precepts more hee loues and approoues sinne more hee feares and hates it lesse hee sinnes vpon fewer and lesse weightie prouocations then those who sinne in earnest therefore his sinne is farre more hainous and abominable then theirs is or this his owne had beene had hee committed it with greater seriousnesse as the Pagans did Fiftly King Solomon informes vs that it is the propertie of Fooles to make a mocke of sinne and a pastime to doe wickedly that hee who deceiueth his Neighbour much more then hee who thinkes to deceiue God yea deceiues himselfe and saith Am I not in iest is as a mad-man who casteth abroade Fire-brandes Arrowes and Death If then wee make a mocke and sport of the Names and Oathes of Idoles wee prooue our selues but fooles and mad-men and cast abroade Fire-brandes Arrowes and Death to our owne Eternall ruine Sixtly these Lusorie and sporting Oathes and Imprecations by or Discourses of these Idole-gods may now as well ingender Heathenisme and Idolatrie or foment a secret Atheisme in mens Hearts as they did in former times Yea they doe as really reuiue the names the reliques and memories of cursed Idoles which ●hould putrifie and perish in obliuions Lethe and as effectually propagate all prophanenesse as if they were vttered in the most serious earnest This iesting distinction therefore of iest and earnest can neither palliate nor salue this festered sore nor iustifie these Pagan and Infernall Oathes and passages which Christians must abominate vnlesse they meane to Deifie the Deuill and adore these Idoles Lastly the taking of Gods name in vaine is simply euill yea so euill that God will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his Name in vaine But the attributing of a Diuinitie to these Idoles the stiling of them Gods the Supplicating and Adiuring of them together with the swearing by them as God with approbation and delight and that by way of Sport and Merriment onely without any necessary or vrgent cause which is frequent in our STAGE-PLAYES is the highest taking of Gods Name in Vaine since both the M●rriments Passages Idoles O●thes Imprecations yea the very Actors Spectacles and Enterludes themselues are wholly vaine therefore it must needes be sinfull in despite of this euasion To the second that they are vttered by way of Proxie or Representation onely not as the Words the Oathes and Imprecations of the Poets or Actors but of those feined persons whose parts they represent I answere First that it is sinfull to vtter yea to heare and read such Heathenish discourses Oathes and Imprecations as these with Approbation and Applause because the fore-quoted Scriptures doe condemne them Secondly it is infallibly true that euery man shall beare his owne iniquitie and answere for his sinne it is likewise as vnquestionably true that these Pagan Oathes and Passages● are sinnes and that they shall be● imputed as sinnes to some men because no sinne can euer subsist without its proper subiect If then all this bee granted on whom shall all these Oathes these Heathenish discourses and Imprecations light on the persons whose parts they helpe to fill Why these are eith●r feined or long since departed or suppose they are aliue yet they giue no allowance to them therefore they cannot rest on them nee●es then must they rest vpon the Poets Actors and Spectators heads their Soules shall answere for them all at last and then this vaine Euasion will not helpe them Thirdly this absurd Delusion hath neither colour ground nor warrant in the Scripture which giues commission vnto none to Act an oth●rs part or p●rson on the Stage much lesse to personate anothers sinne which is it selfe an hainous sinne well worthy of a thousand Deathes Suppose that God should enter into Iudgement with any Play-Poets or Actors for these Idolatrous Imprecations Prophane and Pagan Oathes or Heathenish Stage-Plaies as he will surely doe at last what answere could they make Can they say that all was done in sporting mirth or in the part and person of some other who gaue no such commission to them Alas this Plea will not a●aile them then let it not therefore g●ll and cheate them now Questionlesse all such incarnate Deuills who dare to Countenance Admit Applaude or Act these Idoles persons Parts Names or Oathes in iest shall bee Damned for them in good earnest As it was wittily and truely said of Nonresidents and Pluralitie Ministers

the Lord thy God that is a man who shall put on a womans garment But I suppose that it speakes this not so much of cloathes as of manners or of our customes and actions wherein one act may become a man another a woman Whence also the Apostle saith as an interpreter of the Law Let the woman keepe silence in the Church For it is not permitted to them to speak but to be in subiection as the Law saith But if they will learne any thing they may aske their Husbands at home And to Timothy Let the woman learne in silence with all subjection for I suffer not a woman to teach nor to domineere over her Husband But how unseemely a thing is it for a man to doe womanish workes Therefore also may they bring forth children therefore may they ●ravell of child-birth who crispe their haire like women And yet those are veiled these make war But they may haue an excuse who follow the customes of their Country which yet are barbarous as the Persians as the Goathes as the Armenians Verily nature is greater then our Country What doe we speake of others who adde this to their luxury that they keepe in their service men wearing frizled haire and golden chaines themselues having long beards their servants long shag haire Deservedly chastity is not there kept where a distinction of six is not observed In which the euidences of nature are so many tutorships the Apostle himselfe saying Is it a seemely thing that a woman pray unto God uncovered Doth not nature it selfe teach you that if a man have long haire it is a shame unto him But if a woman have long haire it is a glory to her for her haire is given her for a covering These are the things which thou maist answer to those who inquire of thee Farewell Thus doth this Father descant on this Scripture S. Augustine resolves us That those are rightly accounted infamous and unable to beare witnesse who shew themselves in womans apparell whom I know not whether I should rather call false women or false men Yet we may stile them true Stage-players and true infamous persons without any doubt And withal he informes us that it is a great Questiō whether a man may put on womans apparell to deceive an enemy with it for the delivery or safety of his Country because in this he becomes a woman perchance to appeare a truer man And whether a wise man who hath some kinde of assurance that his life will be necessary for the good of men would rather die with cold then clothe himselfe in womans apparell if he can ge● no other But of this saith he we shall consider more in another place For verily thou seest how much examination it requires to consider how far these things ought to be proceeded in lest men fall into certaine unexcusable uncleannesses And so he leaues the Question undecided Iulius Firmicus Maternus De Errore Profanarum Religionum lib. c. 4. Bibl. Patrum Tom. 4. p. 108.109 writing of the effeminate Sodomiticall Male-Priests of Venus who clad themselues in womans apparell and were afterwards put to death by Constantine the Great for their unnaturall lewdnesse as Eusebius De Vita Constantini lib. 3. cap. 53. lib. 4. cap. 25. records hath this notable passage The Assyrians who worship the Aire under the name of Venus have verily effeminated this Element being moved I know not with what Veneration Whether because the Aire is interposed betweene the Sea and Heaven doe they worship it with the effeminate voyces of their Priests Tell me is this the cause that they seeke a woman in a man whom the Quire of their Priests cannot otherwise serve vnlesse they effeminate their countenance polish their skin and disgrace their masculine sex with womanish attire c They effeminately adorne their long nourished haire and being clothed in delicate garments they scarce support their head with their wearied necke Afterwards when they have thus estranged themselves from being men ravished with the musicke of Pipes the● call upon their Goddesse c. What Monster or what Prodigy is this They deny themselves to be men and yet are such They would be reputed women but the quality of their body confesseth the contrary Consider what deity it is which is thus delighted with the entertainment of an impure body which adheres to unchaste members which is attoned with the filthy pollution of the body Blush O ye wretches at your sottishnesse another God hath made you When your company shall appeare before the Tribunall of God who iudgeth you shall bring nothing along with you which God who hath made you may acknowledge Cast away this error of so great calamity and now at last relinquish the practices of a prophane mind Doe not ye damne that body which God hath given you with the wicked law of the Devill So pathetically inveighed he against mens putting on of womens apparell S. Chrysostome as hee expresly condemnes the putting on of womans array to act a Play a thing too common in his dayes So in his 26. Homil. in Epist. 1. ad Corinthios cap. 11. Tom 4. Col. 453. B.C. where he recites this Text of Deuteronomy and notably censures men for nourishing women for cutting and laying out their haire he hath this excellent speech There are certaine signes given both to a man and woman to him verily of command and principality to her truly of subiection and among these this also that the woman should have her head covered but the man his head uncovered and bare If these therefore are signes both of them sinne when as they confound this good order and the constitution of God and transgresse their limits he in falling downe to the humility and deiection of the woman she in rising up against the man by her apparell and shape For if it be not lawfull for them to interchange their garments neither for a woman to bee clad in a mans Gowne nor for a man to be attired in a womans Gowne or Vaile For he saith Neither shall the ornament of the man be put upon the woman neither shall the man be clad in womans apparell Deut. 22.5 much more are not these things to be changed c. To passe by Damascen Paralellorum lib. 2. cap. 65. together with Beda Expositio in Deuteronom c. 22. Operum Tom. 4. p. 164● who condemne mens putting on of womens apparell from this Text which they recite that elegant Bishop of Marcelles Salvian doth exceedingly tax the Romanes for permitting men to weare womans apparell not onely in ordinary converse but even upon the Stage Who writes he could beleeve or heare that men should have turned into a womanish patience not onely their use and nature but even their countenance pace habit and all whatsoever is in the sex or in the use of a man all things were so turned upside downe

And this I speake not to excuse their fault but that you may learne that you especially are the spring and head of this iniquity who spend the whole day in such ridiculous in such pernicious pleasures proclaiming abrode the honest name of Wedlocke and the reverend businesse in it For he who personates these things doth not sinne so much as thou who commandest them to be done Neither dost thou onely command and call for but thou dost likewise further the things that are acted by thy exultation laughter applause and by all manner of meanes thou maintainest this Diabolicall Shop With what eyes then canst thou now behold thy wife which thou hast there seene prostrated to so great iniury in the person of another How canst thou refraine from blushing as oft as thou remembrest thy wife when thou shalt there see the same sex so filthily made common Neither maist thou reply unto me now that whatsoever is there done is but a fiction or fained argument but not the truth of things For this very ●eining which comes home to our purpose hath made very many adulterers and overthroweth many houses And therefore it grieves me most that this so great an evill is not believed to be an evi●● but that which is farre the worst of all both ●avour and clamor and applause and laughter are expressed when so beastly adultery is committed to the publike hurt What then sayest thou is this onely feining not a crime Well therefore are these worthy of a thousand deaths because what all lawes command men to shun those things are these not afraid to imitate For if adultery it selfe be evill doubtlesse the imitation of it must be evill And I doe not yet report how many and great adulterers they may make who personate such adulteries in an histrionicall fiction and how impudent likewise they make their spectators For there is nothing more filthy nothing more lascivious then that eye that can patiently that I say not willingly behold such things Moreover what a thing is this that when as thou wilt not so much as looke upon a naked woman in the street yea nor yet at home but if such a thing fall out by accident thou thinkest it done to iniure thee that yet when as thou goest up to the Play-house that thou maist violate the chastity of both Sexes and maist likewise incestuously defile thine owne eyes thou believest that no dishonest thing befalls thee For thou canst not say thus that she is an harlot that is thus uncovered because it is nature it selfe and there is the same body of an whore and of a free woman For if thou thinkest that there is no obscenity in such a fight for what cause when as thou shalt see the same thing in the street doest thou step backe againe from thy intended walke and most severely rebuke that immodesty unlesse perchance thou believest the same thing not to be alike filthy when we are severed and when we sit all together But this is meerely derision and shame and words altogether of extreme folly and it is better for one to besmeare his whole face with clay and dirt then with a spectacle of so great filthinesse For dirt is not so noxious to the eyes as that unchaste spectacle and the sight of a naked Harlot Heare therefore what nakednesse brought upon mankinde even from the beginning and even by this meanes feare that filthinesse What then hath made men naked disobedience and the counsell of the Devill so much hath this alwayes pleased him from the beginning But they verily when they were naked were yet ashamed you repute the same thing worthy prayse according to that of the Apostle glorying in your shame After what manner therefore can thy wi●e from henceforth behold thee returning from such a contumely how can she entertaine or speake to one so unworthily defiling the condition and sex of womans nature yea and returning a captive a servant of an whorish woman from such a spectacle If then you grieve when you heare these things I confesse that I give you and owe you the greatest thankes For who is he that doth comfort me but he who is made sorrowfull by me Wherefor cease not to mourne for this licentiousnesse and oft to be grieved for it For this grie●e will be made unto you a beginning of conversion unto better things Wherefore I have more earnestly pressed my speech that I might free you by a more deepe incision from their corruption by whom you are intoxicated and might revoke you to pure holinesse of mind● which verily together with the promised rewards of piety we may all happen to enioy by the grace and mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be glory for ever and ever Amen In his 7. Homely upon Mathew he proceeds thus against Playes and Play-haunters But what doe I speake of the space of the long iourney of the wise men to see Christ when as many women are now growne to such an height of effeminacy of minde that they cannot so much as come a very little distance from their houses to see the Lord in a spirituall manger unlesse they be carried upon Mules But of those also who verily can indure the paine of walking some preferre the tumult of worldly businesse others Theatricall routs or Play-house meetings before holy Assemblies Ver●ly these Barbarians before they had seene Christ overcame so great a iourney for him thou verily no not after thou hast seene him dost like to imitate him For even when thou hast seene him thou so relinqu●shest him that after him thou runnest to Play-houses and dost rather desire both to heare and to see a Stage-player then him And that I may touch the same things againe that I followed before thou verily leavest Christ placed in a Spirituall Manger but thou hastest to see a Strumpet lying on the Stage But of what punishments now at last doe we thinke this worthy Answer I beseech you if any one should promise he would bring thee unto the King and would shew thee him glittering on every side and sitting amidest the severall ornaments of h●s pompe and state dost thou thinke thou shouldest prefer a Stage-play before this courtly dignity though thou expectedst no benefit to accrue unto thee by it Verily out of this Table there flowes a fountaine of spirituall good things and this thou presently leaving runnest to the Theater that thou maist see a swimming woman and thou beholdest that sex exposed to the publike view I say that thou maist see this thou leavest Christ sitting by the fountaine of heavenly gifts For even now he sits not onely upon that one Samaritan Well but speaketh to the whole Citty But perchance even now he speakes onely to the Samaritan woman for even now no man stands by him save onely that some perchance are present onely with their bodies but others truely not

of their Husbands and Husbands of their Wives so that every way from foure of the clocke in the afternoone till nine at night especially over London-bridge many were carried in chaires and led betwixt their friends and so brought home to their houses with sorrowfull heavy hearts like lame Cripples A just though terrible judgement of God upon these Play-haunters and prophaners of his holy day the originall relator of which doth thus conclude And therefore for a conclusion I beseech all Magistrates by the mercies of God in Iesus Christ that by this occasion and example they take good heed to looke to the people committed to their charge that they take order especially on the Sabbath dayes that no Citizen or Citizens servants have liberty to repaire to any of those abused places and that they keepe their stragling wantons in that they may be better occupied And as they have with good commendation so farre prevailed that upon Sabbath dayes these Heathenish Enterludes and Playes are banished so it will please them to follow the matter still that they may be utterly rid and taken away For surely it is to be feared besides the destruction of body and soule that many are brought unto by frequenting the Theater and Curtin● that one day these places will likewise bee cast downe by God himselfe and draw with them an huge heape of such contemners and prophane persons to be killed and spoyled in their bodies Neither was he a false prophet altogether For in the yeere of our Lord 1607. at a Towne in Bedford-shire called Risley the fl●ore of a chamber wherein many were gathered together to see a Stage-play on the Sabbath day fell downe by meanes whereof divers were sore hurt and some killed If these domestique examples together with that of Thales the Philosopher who was smothered and pressed to death at a Play will not move us let us cast our eyes upon some forraigne Tragedies of this nature I read in Munster his Cosmography that about the yeere of our Lord 1380. Lodovicke a Marquis of Nisina a man not very religious was made Arch-bishop of Magdeburge who thereupon invited many Gentlemen and others together with their Wives and Daughters into a Towne called Calven to feast and make merry with him who came accordingly The Bishop for their better entertainement provided the Towne-hall for them to dance in they being much addicted to dancing and singing and to act other vanities and whiles they were busily turning dancing and playing and every one danced merrily at the hands of their Ladies the house being oppressed with the great weight began to sinke giving a great cracke before The Arch-bishop taking the Lady who stood next him by the hand hastned to goe downe the staires with the first and as soone as he begun to goe downe the stony staires being loose before fell downe and miserably crusht to death the Arch-bishop and his consort with divers others It is storied by Froyssart in his Chronicle and by some others since that in the Raigne of Charles the sixt in the yeere of our Lord 1392. at a marriage made in the Kings Court at the hostle of Saint Pauls in Paris betweene Sir Yvan of Foiz Bastard Sonne to the Earle of Foiz and one of the Queene of Erance her Gentlewomen the Tuesday before Candlemas day A Squire of Normandy called Hogrymen of Gensay provided for a Play or Mummery against night● for which purpose he had devised 6. Coates made of Linnen cloth covered with Pitch and thereon cloth and flax like haire and had them ready in a Chamber The King himselfe put on one of these Coates the Earle of Iovy a yong lusty Knight another Sir Charles of Poytiers the third Sir Yvan of Foiz another the Son of the Lord Lanthorillet had on the fift and the Squire himselfe put on the sixt Being thus apparelled and sowed fast on these Coates which made them soone like wilde wode-houses the King upon the advice of Sir Yvan of Foiz commanded an Vsher of his Chamber to enioyne all the Torch-bearers in the Hall where the Ladies were dancing to stand close to the wall and not to come neere the wode-houses for feare of setting them on fire which he did accordingly Soone after the Duke of Orleance who knew nothing of the Mummery or the Kings command entred into the Hall with foure Knights and sixe Torches to behold the dancing and begun himselfe to dance Therewith the King and the fiue other Masquers came in in these their disguises fiue of them being fastned one to the other the King onely being loose who went before and led the device When they entred the Hall every one tooke so great heed to them that they forgate the Torches The King departing from his company went to the Ladies to sport with them as youth required and came to the Dutches of Berry who tooke hold of him to know what hee was but he would not shew his name The Duke of Orleance running to the other fiue to d●scover who they were put one of the Torches his servants held so neere the flax that he set one of the Coates on fire and so each of them set fire on the other so that they were all in a bright flame the fire taking hold of the living Coates their shirts began to scorch their bodies so that they began to bren and to cry out for helpe The fire was so great that none durst come neere them and those that did brent their hands by reason of the heate of the pitch One of them called Manthorillet fled into the Botry and cast himselfe into a vessell of water where they rynsed pots and so saved his life by quenching the fire but yet hee was sore hurt The Countesse o● Berry with her long loose Gowne covered the King and so saved him from the fire two of the other were burnt to death in the place the Bastard of Foiz and the Earle of Iovy were carried to their lodgings and there died within two dayes after in great paine and misery Thus was this Comedy turned into a dolefull Tragedy The King though he escaped was much distracted in minde and his servants distressed with griefe at this unhappy accident so that he could not sleepe quiet that night The next day these newes being spred abroad in the City and every man marveling at it some said how God had sent that token for an ensample and that it was wisedome for the King to regard it and to withdraw himselfe from such yong idle wantonnesse● which he had used overmuch being a King All Lords and Ladies thorow the Realme of France and elsewhere that heard of this chance had great marvai●e thereof Pope Boniface being at Rome with his Cardinals reioyced at it and said that it was a token sent from God to to the Realme of France which had taken part against him Sure I am it was a just judgement of God to teach

I may safelie conclude that these 55 recited Councels have censured and condemned all kinde of Stage-plaies together with their Actors and spectatours And dare then anie Clergie man anie Lay man or Christian whatsoever after all these pious Constitutions these deliberate resolutions of above a double Grand-Iurie of oecumenicall nationall provinciall Synodes and Councels of all times all ages of the Church after the solemne verdict of above 5000 reverend Bishops and Prelates who were present at these Councels and subscribed them with their hands once open his eyes to see his eares to heare his purse to cheerish his mouth to justifie Plaies or Plaiers I hope there is none will be so desperately shamelesse so gracelesse as to doe it now though they did it out of ignorance heretofore To these forenamed Councels I shall accumulate some Canonicall Play-condemning Constitutions to the same effect according to their severall antiquities The first of them if we beleeve Clemens Romanus are the very Canons and Constitutions of the Apostles themselves who decree thus Can. 17. Qui accepit meretricem vel mimam seu scenicam non potest esse Presbyter vel Episcopus vel Diaconus vel omnino in numero sacerdotali Hee who hath married a strumpet or a woman-actor or stageresse cannot be an Elder a Bishop or Deacon nor yet in the number of the Clergy If then the marrying with a woman-actor or Stage-hauntresse who were commonly notorious prostituted strumpets in ancient times disables men from bearing any ecclesiastical function by the Apostles owne verdict how execrable must Stage-plaies themselves and Plaiers be The same Apostles in their Constitutions recorded by the selfesame Clemens will informe us where thus they write David dixit Odi Ecclesiam malignantium et cum iniqua gerentibus non ingrediare Et rursus Beatus vir qui non ambulavit in consilio impiorum et in via peccatorum non sterit et in cathedra pestilentium non sedit sed in lege Domini voluntas ejus et in lege ejus meditatibur die ac nocte Tu vero relicto fidelium caetu Dei Ecclesijs ac legibus respicis speluncas latronum sancta ducens quae nefaria esse voluit non solumque id facis sed e●iam ad Graecorum ludos curris et ad Theatra properas expetens unus ex venientibus eo numerari et particeps fieri auditionum turpium ne dicam abominabilium nec audisti Hieremiam dicentem Domine non sedi in consilio ludentium sed timui à conspectu manûs tuae neque Iob dicentem similia Si verò et cum risoribus ambulavi aliquando appendor enim in statera justa Quid verò cupis Graecos sermones percipere hominum mortuorum aff●atu Diaboli tradentium ●a quae mortem afferunt fidem evertunt ad deorum multitudinem credendam inducunt eos qui ad illos attentionem adhibent Vos ergo divinis legibus invigilantes vitae hujus necessitatibus putate eas praestantiores majoremque ijs honorem deferentes convenite ad Ecclesiam Domini quam acquisivit sang●ine Christi dilecti primogeniti omnis creaturae Ea est enim altissimi filia quae parturit nos per verbum gratiae et formavit in nobis Christum cujus participes facti sacra membra existitis et dilecta non ●abentia maculam neque rugam neque aliquid hujusmodi sed tanquam sancti et irrepraebensibiles in fide perfecti estis in ipso secundum imaginem ejus qui creavit vos Cavete igitur ne conventus celebretis cum ijs qui pereunt quae est Synagoga Gentium ad deceptionē et interitum Nulla est enim Dei ●ocieta● cum Diabolo Nam qui congregatur una cum ijs qui cum Diabolo idem sentiunt unus ex ipsis conn merabitur e●vae habebi● Fugite quoque indecora spectacula theatra inquam et Graecorum ludos c. Propterea enim oportet fidelem fugere impiorum caetus Graecorum et ludaeorum ne ubi unà cum ijs degimus animis nostris laqueos paremus et ne ubi in eorum festis versamur quae in honorem daemonum celebrantur cum ijs habeamus societatē impietatis Vitandi quoque sunt illorum mercatus et qui in ijs fiunt ludi Vitate igitur omnem idolorum pompam speciem mercatum convivia gladiatores denique omnia daemoniaca spectacula David hath said I have hated the congregation of evil doers and have not kept companie with those who doe wicked things And againe Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsell of the wicked and hath not stood in the way of sinners and hath not sate in the seat of contagious persons but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law will he meditate day and night But thou leaving the assembly of the faithfull the Church and lawes of God regardest the dens of theeves accounting those things holy which he reputeth wicked and thou doest not that onely but thou runnest likewise to the Graecian Playes hastests to theaters desiring to be reputed among those who resort thither to be made a partaker of filthy that I say not abominable hearings neither has● thou heard Ieremie saying O Lord I have not sate in the assembly of Players but I have feared because of thy hand nor yet Iob uttering the like And if I have at any time walked with scoffers for I am weighed in a jus● ballance But why desirest tho● to heare the Greeke speeches of dead men delivering those things by the instinct of the Divell which bring in death overturne faith induce those to beleeve a multitude of gods who give attention to those things But you waiting upon the divine lawes esteeme them more excellent than the necessaries of this life and giving them greater honour come together to the Church of the Lord which he hath purch●sed with the blood of his beloved Christ the first-borne of every creature For she is th● daughter of the most high who hath begotten ●s by the word of grace and hath formed Christ in us of whom being made partakers you become holie and beloved members not having spot or wrinkle or anie such thing but as holie and unblameable in faith you are perfect in him according to the image of him who hath created you Beware therefore that you celebrate no meetings with those that perish which is the Synagogue of the Gentiles to deceit and destruction For God hath no fellowshippe with the Divell for hee who is assembled together with those who thinke the same with the Divell shall bee accounted one of them and shall have woe Fly likewise I say the unseemely Spectacles and Theatres of the Gr●cians For therefore ought a Christian to shun the assemblies of wicked men of Greeks and Iewes lest where wee live together with them wee provide snares for our soules and lest whiles wee are

head legge knee or any part of the body unto them as all those do● pray marke it that say with good conscience they may bee suffred in the Church of Christ c. Seeing th●n there is no Cōmandement in any of both Testaments to have Images but as you see the contrary and also the universall Catholike and holy Church never used Images as the writings of the Apostles and Prophets testifie it is but an Ethnike v●rity and Gentile Idolatry to say God and his Saints be honoured in them when as all Histories testifi● that in manner ●or th● space of 500. yeeres after Christs Ascention when the doctrine of the Gospell was most sincerely preached was 〈◊〉 Image used c. Therefore S. Ioh● biddeth us not onely beware of honouring of Images but of the Images themselves Thou shalt finde the originall of Images in no place of Gods Word but in the writings of the Gentiles and Infidels or in such that more followed their owne opinion and superstitious imaginations than the authority of Gods Word Herodorus saith that the AEgyptians were the first that made Images to represent their gods And as the Gentiles ●ashioned their gods with what figures they lusted so doe the Christians To declare God to be strong they made ●im in the forme of a Lion to be vigilant diligent in the forme of a Dog c. So doe they that would be accounted Christians paint God and his Saints with such pictures as they imagine in their fantasies God like an old man w●th a ●orie head as ●hough his youth were past which hath neither beginning nor ending c. No difference at all bet●eene a Christian man and Gentile in this Idolatry saving onely the name For they thought not their Images to be God but supposed that their Gods would be honoured that wayes as the Christians doe I write these things rather in contempt and hatred of this abominable Idolatry then to learne any Eng●ishman the truth c. The third part declareth that it is no n●ed to shew God unto us by Images and proveth the same with 3. reasons First I am the Lord thy God that loveth thee helpeth thee defendeth thee is present with thee be●ieve and love m● so shalt thou have no need to seeke me and my favourable presence in any Image The second reason I am a jealous God and cannot suffer thee to love any thing but in me and for me I cannot suffer to be otherwise honoured than I have taught in my Tables and Testament The 3. reason is that God revengeth the prophanation of his Divine Majesty if it be trans●ribed to any creature or Image and that not only in him that committeth the Idolatry but also in his posterity in the third and fourth generation if they follow their Fathers Idolatry Then to avoyd the ire of God and to obtaine his favour we must use no Image to honor him with all Gods Lawes expulseth and putteth Images out of the Church then no mans lawes should bring them in All which he thus seconds in his briefe and cleare Confession of the Christian Faith in an 10● Articles according to the Order of the Creed of the Apostles London 1581. Artic. 79. 87. I believe write● he that to the Magistrate it doth appertaine not onely to have regard unto the Common-wealth but also unto Ecclesiasticall matters to take away and to overthrow all Idolatry and false serving of God and to advance the Kingdome of Christ to cause the Word of the Gospell every where to be preached and the same to maintaine unto death to chasten also and to punish the false pro●hets which leade the poore people after Idols and strange gods c. I believe also that the beginning of all Idolatry was the finding out and invention of Images which a●so were made to the great offence of the soules of men and are as snares and traps for the feete of the ignorant to make them to ●all Therefore they ought not to bee honoured served worshipped neither to be suffred in the Temples or Churches where Christian people doe meet together to heare and understand the Word of God b●t rather th● same ought utterly to bee taken away and throwne downe according to the effect of the 2. Comma●dement of God and that ought to be done ●y the common authority of the Magistrate and not by the private authority of every particular man For the wood of the Gallowes whereby justice is done is blessed of God but the Image made by mans hand is accursed of the Lord and so is he that made it And therefore we ought to beware of Images above all things This was this Godly Martyrs faith concerning Images this was the faith and doctrine of all our pious Martyrs and Prelates in King Henry the 8. King Edward the 6. Queene Maries and Queene Elizabeths Raignes this is the authorized doctrine both of the Articles and Homilies of our Church which every English Minister now subscribes to and is enjoyned for to teach the people as the undoubted truth Yea this was one of the Articles propounded by Doctor Chambers to which the reverend Bishop Iewell and all other yong Protestant Students in both our Vniversities subscribed in Edward the 6. and Queene Maries Raigne Imagines simulachra non esse in Templis habenda ●osque gloriam Dei imminuere qui vel fuderint vel fabricati fu●rint vel finxerint vel pinxerint vel fabricanda facienda locarint as Doctor Humfries De Vita Morte Iuelli pag. 43. informes us which I wish our moderne Innovators and Patrons of Images would remember Horace his censure of Playes Players p. 370.452 711 834. Hybristica sacra how solemnized p. 204. Hylas the Player whipped p. 459. Hypocrisie a necessary concomit●nt of acting Playes and a damnable sinne pag. 156. to 161. 876. 877. Christ his Apostles the primitive and moderne Christians unjustly taxed of it p. 816. to 821. Hypocrites and Players the same p. 158. 159. 876. Hypolitus his censure of Stage-playes and lascivious Songs f. 565.566 I King Iames his Statute against prophaning Scripture and Gods Name in Playes p. 109.110 his Statutes make Players Rogues and Playes unlawfull pastimes pag. 495.496 expresly condemned the making of God the Fathers Image or Picture p. 901. Iason the first introducer of Heathenish Playes among the Iewes p. 548.549 550 552 553. Ianus the author of New-yeeres gifts c. See Kalends and New-yeeres gifts Idlenesse a dangerous mischievous sinne occasioned fomented by Stage-playes p. 141.471 501 to 504.909 947 951. to 956.480 1002. Idols and Devils parts and stories unlawfull to be acted their Images shapes and representations not to be made p. 75. to 106.141 176 177 f. 550.551 552. pag. 547.865 866 890. to 904. The mentioning of their names and imprecations adjurations or exclamations by them unlawfull p. 32.33 36 77. to 89.891 925. Things originally consecrated to them unlawfull pag. 28. to 42.81 to 90. Stage-playes invented by and