Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	lord_n	sing_v	song_n	3,082	5	9.7277	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

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

and vanities of Satan and the humility of our super-celestiall Saviour that men might serve and follow them both together Now Stage-playes are the very Devils owne peculiar pompes Play-houses his Synagogues Players his professed Masse-●riests and Choristers Play-haunters his devoted servants as himselfe professeth and Origen with others largely prove Those therefore who thus serve the Devill in Playes and Play-houses its impossible for them to serve the Lord sincerely in prayers and Churches Thirdly No man can drinke the Cup of the Lord and the cup of Devils nor yet partake of the Lords Table and of the table of Devils But Stage-playes are the cup and table of Devils the very Devils meate his drinke those dishes and repasts wherewith he was solemnely feasted by his idolatrous worshippers in his owne Idoll-temples It is not possible therefore for any Christian to feed his eyes his eares with these diabolicall banqvets and yet worthily to participate of Christs Body and Blood the spirituall Sweet-meates of a Christian soule Fourthly the very acting and beholding of Stage-playes drawes downe a selfe-condemning guiltinesse and so by consequent a certaine secret terror of appearing in Gods presence on mens soules There is scarce a man of any grace or ingenuity but would even blush and feare to be de●rehended by any good man at a Play-house Yea the very Heathen Romanes stood so much in awe of Cato his vice-condemning presence that they durst not call for their ●loralian Enterludes whiles he was neere the Theater And will not the consideration of Gods all-seeing presence thinke yee strike much more feare into the hearts and consciences of such who are deprehended by him at lewde lascivious Stage-playes then any Christians any Catoes eye or face could strike into these Heathen Romans which have no such soule-confounding Majestie in them as is in the very smallest frowne of God If therefore those who resort to Stage-playes by reason of their selfe-convincing consciences can never approach with boldnesse to Gods Throne of Grace its certaine they cannot serve or worship him as they ought Fiftly hee who perjures himselfe in the highest degree breaking that very origall covenant which he made to God at fir●t in Baptisme and afterward ratified at every receiving of the Sacrament can never questionlesse serve the Lord in any acceptable pious manner the performance of this vow and covenant at least-wise in the desire the endeavour of his soule being that alone which makes him a Christian and so a man capable of serving God But he who acts or resorts to Stage-playes violates that very originall covenant which he made to God at first in baptisme and a●terwards reconfirmed at every receiving of the Sacrament as I have else-where largely proved therefore he can never serve the Lord in any acceptable or gracious manner according to his will And alas what Christian is there who would frequent or harbour any such sinfull pleasures as will quite disable him to serve his God to please his blessed Saviour who hath bought him even at the dearest rate What contentment can a man take in any thing in all the riches honours pleasures contentments of this world whiles his soule can draw no comfort no heavenly refreshment from his God Better can the inferiour world subsist without the light and influence of the Sunne or the body of a man without the heart then the soule of any Christian without the satisfactory soule-inlivening presence of his God his Saviour which is never found but in those broken humble spirits who se●ve him in syncerity and tremble at his Word As therefore we ever desire to please to serve our blessed God according to his will or to enjoy the heart-ravishing consolations of his most blisfull presence let us presently abandon Stage-playes which as they hinder us in the service so they utterly deprive us of the face and favour of our God which are able to make us more then happy in the middest of all our deepest miseries The pleasures the refreshments that men reape from Stage-playes as they shut out better contents so they abide no longer then the Playes are acting and sometimes scarce so long and then they oft-times leave a sting behinde them which gaules and prickes the soule for ever after If then that love of Christ which constrained holy Paul to bid adue to all carnall pleasures will not enforce us to say thus to Stage-playes as David sometimes did to his lewde companions Depart from me yee wicked yee workers yee producers of iniquity for I will keepe the Cōmandements of my God yet let the comfort that Gods service wil bring unto our soules and this consideration joyned with it that we cannot serve God with any s●ncerity of heart as long as we delight in cursed Stage-playes now at last enforce us to bid this farewell to them that so we may be enabled to please that holy blessed God who created redeemed us at first and hath evermore preserved us since that we might doe him service Secondly as Stage-playes indispose men to so they likewise withdraw and keep them from Gods service especially on Lords-dayes Holy-dayes and solemne Festivals which should be wholy and onely consecrated to his more speciall worship and spent in duties of devotion in lawding and blessing him for his more speciall favour● And doth not our owne experience beare witnesse to this truth Are not our Play-houses oft-times more crowded more coached and frequented then many of our Churches and are they not full oft-times when our Churches are but empty Are there not many hundreds serving the Devill daily in our Theaters even then when as they should be serving God in his Temples Doe not more commonly resort to Playes then Lectures which is ill yea doe not too too many neglect to come to Sermons that they may runne to Stage-playes which is worse Indeed our Church of England out of the great respect it yeelds to Preaching and the absolute necessity of it to salvation enioynes God-fathers and God-mothers to call upon their God-children to heare Sermons which some prophane ones now begin to loath and speake against as if we had too much preaching that so they may the better forsake the Devill and all his workes mortifie all their unholy corrupt affections and daily proceed in all vertue and godlinesse of living Yea the Saints of God in ancient times were quickning and calling upon one another in this manner O co●e let us sing unto the Lord let us make a ioyfull noyse unto the Rock● of our Salvation Let us come b●fore his presence with Thankesgiving and make a ioyfull noyse unto him with Psalmes c. O come let us worship and fall downe and kneele before the Lord our maker O sing unto the Lord a new Song sing unto the Lord all the earth Sing unto the Lord blesse his Name shew forth his

that you have received He that defiles this garment let him wash it with teares let him seperate himselfe from the wicked let him confesse his sinnes to God and having reformed his life let him not returne as a Dog to his vomit What fellowship hath light with darknesse or what part hath he that believeth with an Infidell You who are the Sonnes of the Church ought not to be depraved in the vanities of Stage-playes The Church will not indure you stinke she cannot be defiled with your entrance she mou●nes and sighes to God because she seeth her Sonnes to be such Tremble every day lest God wax angry and so you perish from the right way Acknowledge the very signes of his displeasure because the Heaven is made Brasse and the Earth Iron The very Elements proclaime the wrath of God O yee Sonnes of Men how long will you be slow of heart why doe you love vanity in Stage-playes and seek after leasing in Stage-players Know ye that the Lord hath made admirable the soule of all such who depart not out of the Church The soule is heard when she cryes unto God whiles she departs not from God Be not ye luke-warme lest ye be spued out of the heart of God He himselfe hath spoken by his Prophet Because thou art neither cold nor hot and I would thou wert either cold or hot but because thou art neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of my mouth We performe our duty who speake true things of the truth You if you have entred into the Physicians house that you might cure your wounds lament your wounds The medicines being layd on let the corruptions be purged out let h●alth increase that so the Church seeing your ●mendment may reioyce o● her Sonnes becaus● where sinne hath abounded grace hath superabounded In his Homily upon the 140. Psalme an excellent disswasive from ill company who keepe men from repentance and harden them in their sinnes he hath this passage Many are captivated of fornication and have kindled a fire of lust whiles they have followed feasts and Theaters having much iniquity in them A pregnant evidence for our present purpose In his first Homily on Esay 6.1 I saw also the Lord sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up c. he descants thus of Play-haunters and the fruits of Stage-playes which I would our Players and Play-frequenters would consider There are among those here present whom I thinke are not unknowne to your charity who contemning God and accounting the oracles of the Spirit as vulgar and prophane utter confused word and carry themselves no better then mad men keeping a stir and turning about with their whole body demeaning themselves so as misbeseemes a Spirituall meeting O miserable and unhappy wretch Thou oughtest to sing the Angelicall glorification or Hymne with trembling and reverence and to confesse to the Creator with feare and by this to crave pardon of thy sinnes But thou here comes the fruit of Stage-playes in bringest in hither the manners of Players and Dancers whiles thus evidently throwest about thine hands skippests about with thy feet and whirlests about with thy whole body And how comes it to passe that thou fearest that thou tremblest not whiles thou darest doe thus against such sacred oracles Doest not thou thinke that the Lord himselfe is here invisibly present who measureth every ones motion and takes an account of his conscience Doest thou not thinke that the Angels stand round about his dreadfull Table and compasse it about with r●verence But thou thinkest not of these things and why pray marke it because those things which thou hast heard and seene at Stage-playes have clouded thy minde and therefore those things which are done there thou bringest in among the rites of the Church therefore thou doest utter thy incomposed minde in insignificant clamors How then wilt thou aske pardon for thy sinnes how wilt thou receive the Lord into thy house when as thou prayest to him so contemptuously Thou sayest God have mercy upon me and yet thou declarest such manners as are contrary to mercy Thou cryest save me and yet expressest such a gesture as is a stranger to salvation Why doest thou stretch out thine hands to pray which are alwayes tossed up on high which are wheeled up and downe unseemely and make a confused noyse with their veh●ment clapping and beating Are not these things verily partly the practises of common Bawdes and Strumpets partly the examples of those who cry out aloud in Play-houses How then dost thou dare to mix the sports of Devils with the Hymnes of Angels praysing God Yea why dost thou not feare this speech which there thou utterest saying ● Serve the Lord with feare and rejoyce unto him with trembling Is this to serve with feare to be so loud and clamorous that thou thy selfe knowest not what thou speakest with the confused bellowing of thy voyce This verily savors of contempt not of feare of arrogancy not of modesty this is rather a part of such who are playing then confessing c. The Prophet saith Rejoyce in the Lord all the earth make a joyfull noyse unto God all yee lands Neither doe we prohibit the voyce of prayse but the voyce of absurdity and confusion the vaine and rash lifting up of the hands into the ayre the tinckling of the feet unseemely and effeminate songs which are the proper sports of those who sit idle in Play-houses From thence these pernicious ensamples are brought in among us from thence are irreligious and vulgar voyces from thence the absurdity of the hands contentious combates disorderly manners For nothing doth bring the oracles of God into so great contempt as the admiration of those Stage-playes and Spectacles which are there proposed Wherefore I have oft exhorted you that not one of those who come hither and enioy the divine doctrine and are likewise partakers of the dreadfull and mysticall Sacrament should goe unto these Stage-playes nor yet entermixt these divine mysteries with demoniacall Notwithstanding some have growne so mad that even then when they carry about a shew of Religion and are growne very white with extreame old age they runne to them notwithstanding neither regarding our words nor respecting their owne outward shew But as oft as we inculcate this speech unto them and exhort them to respect their old age and religion how great then is their coldnesse how ridiculous their speech They say that these things are an example of the victory and crownes which shall be in the world to come and we reape much profit from thence What sayest thou man This is a rotten speech and full of deceit From whence canst thou reape any profit thence From innumerable contentions from the rash oathes of evill speakers Or from t●e abuses the revilings the scoffes with which the Spectators besprincle one another But from these there is no

themselves as nigh as they could to the Curtesans to present them Pome-granates to play with their garments and waite on them home when the sport was done In the Play-houses at London it is the fashion of Youthes to goe first into the Yard and to carry their eye thorow every Gallery then like unto Ravens where they spy the Carrion thither they fly and presse as neere to the fairest as they can In stead of Pome-granats they give them Pippins they dally with their Garments to passe the time they minister talke upon all occasions either bring them home to their houses on small acquaintance or slip into Tavernes when the Playes are done He thinketh best of his painted Sheath and taketh himself for a ●olly fellow that is noted of most to be busiest with women in all such places This open corruption is a pricke in the eyes of them that see it and a thorne in the sides of the godly when they heare it This is a poyson to t●e behold●rs and a Nursery of idlenesse to the Players Thus far Master Goss●r who in his Schoole of Abuse hath much more to this purpose The third of them is Master Iohn Brinsly an eminent worthy Divine who writes thus of Stage-playes But to passe over these also with all other unlawfull flockings and lewde sports upon the Sabbath by euery of which the worke of the Lord is hindred as every one must needs acknowledge What defence can we make for that concourse that is ordinary to those wanton Playes in such places even upon that day In which are the continuall sowings of all Ath●isme and throwing the very firebra●ds of all filthy and noysome lusts into the hearts of poore simple soules the stirring up and blowing the ●oales of concupiscence to kindle and increase the fire thereof to breake out into an ●ideou● fl●me untill it burne downe to Hell Aske but your owne hearts as in the presence of the Lord and you will need no further witnesse And how can it be otherwise how can you take these fireb●ands of Hell into your bosomes and not be burnt Is not every filthy speech euery whorish gesture such a firebrand cast by Satan into the heart of every wanton beholder as a brand cast into a bundle of Tow or into a barrell of Gun-powder to set all on fire of a sudden Thy● pro●ection is gone whosoever thou art that adventurest hither for thou art out of thy wayes These are not the wayes of the Lord and much lesse upon his Sabbath when thou shouldest be amongst his people and doing his worke where his Angels waite for thee his owne presence expects thee How then shouldest thou possibly escape when tho● wilt offer thy heart naked unto these fiery darts of Satan how canst thou thinke to be delivered from that flame in thy soule that fire in the infernall lake that river of brimstone that shall never be consumed nor quenc●ed when thou wilt desperately cast thy selfe headlong into the middest thereof how can it be but that such must needs bring fagots and firebrands to set in the Gates of our Hierusalem The fourth of them is M. Robert Bolton a reverend learned Minister of our Church now living who writes thus of Stage-playes Lastly let those examine themselves at this marke who offer themselves to these sinfull occasions breeders of many strange and fearefull mischi●fes I meane prophane and obscene Playes Pardon me beloved I cannot passe by these abominable Spectacles without particular indignation For I have ever esteemed them since I had any understanding in the wayes of God the Grand ●mpoysoners of Grace ingenuousnesse and all manly resolution Greater plagues and infections to your soules then the contagious pestilence to your bodies The inexpiable staine and dishonor to this famous City The noysome Wormes th●t canker and blast the generous and noble Buds of this Land and doe by a slie and bewitching insinuation so empoyson all Seeds of Vertue and so weaken and emasculate all the operations of the soule with a prophane if not an unnaturall dissolutenesse that whereas they are planted in these worthy houses of Law to be fitted and enabled for great and honourable actions for the publike good and th● continuance of the glory and happinesse of this Kingdome they licentiously dissolve into wicked vanities and pleasures and all hope of ever doing good either unto God the Church their Country or owne soules melteth as the Winter Ice and floweth away as unprofi●able waters These infamous Spectacles are condemned by all kinde of sound learning both divine and humane Distinctions devised for their upholding and defence may g●ve some shallow and weake contentment to partiall and sensuall affections possest with preuidice but how shall they be able to satis●ie a conscience sensible of all appearance of evill How can they preserve the inclinablenesse of our corrupt nature from the in●ection of these SCHOOLES OF LEVVDNESSE AND SINCK●S OF ALL SINNE as to omit Divines Councels Fathers Moralists because the point is not directly incident even a Politician calls them Alas are not our wretched corruptions raging and fiery enough being left to themselves dispersed at their naturall liberty but they must be united at these accursed Theaters as in a hollow glasse to set on fire the whole body of our naturall viciousnesse at once and to c●rage it further with lust fiercenesse and effeminatenesse beyond the compasse of nature Doth any man thinke it possible that the power of saving Grace or the pure Spirit of God can reside in his heart that willingly and with full consent feeds his inward concupiscence with such variety of sinfull vanities and lewd occasions which the Lord himselfe hath pronounced to be an abomination unto him how can any man that ever felt in his heart the love or feare of so dreadfull a Maiesty as the Lord of Heaven and Earth e●dure to be present especially with delight and contentment at Oathes Blasthemies Obscenities and the abusing sometimes of the most precious things in the Booke of God whereat we should tremble to most base and scurrill ●ests Certainely every Child of God is of a most noble and heroicke spirit and therefore is most impatient of he●ring any wrong indignity or dishonor offered to the Word Name or Glory of his Almighty Father c. Thus this grave reverend Divine in proofe of my Assumption If any man deeme all these or any of the fo●e-quoted Fathers and Councels over-pa●tiall in the case of Playes let him then attend unto some Pagan Authors who concurre in iudgement with them Not to recite the fore-mentioned Story of the Syracusian with his Boy and Trull who acting Bacchus and Ariadne as Xenophon relates it enflamed the fleshly lusts of all the Spectators in a strange excessive measure a sufficient exp●riment to confirme my Minors ●ruth Aristotle himselfe records it That those who behold the motions and actions of

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

salvation from day to day Declare his goodnesse among the Heathen his wonders among all people Give unto the Lord O yee Kindreds of the people give unto the Lord glory and strength Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his Name bring an Offring and come into his Courts O worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse feare before him all the earth Come yee and let us goe up to the Mountaine of the Lord and to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach us of his wayes and we will walke in his pathes c. But now alas in stead of calling upon one another to heare Sermons and of these encouragements to goe up to the house of the Lord to blesse and prayse his Name which is now no better then a brand of Puriranisme we heare nought else among many who professe themselves Christians but come let us goe and see a Stage-play let us heare such or such an Actor or resort ●o such and such a Play-house and I would I might not say unto such a Whore or Whore-house where we will laugh and be merry and passe away the afternoone As for any resort to such or such a Lecture Church or pious Preacher it s a thing they seldome thinke much l●sse discourse of Alas that any who prosesse themselves Christians should be thus strangly that I say not atheistically infatuated as to forsake the most sacred Oracles the soule-saving Word the most blessed Sacraments house and presence of their God to runne to Playes and Play-houses the abominable Spectacles Lectures Pompes and Syn●gogues of the Devill as thus to leave the pather of uprightnesse to walke in the wayes of darknesse reioycing to doe evill and delighting in the frowardnesse of the wicked even then when as they should solace their very soules in God Yet this is the most desperate deplorable condition of many hundred prophane ones in this age of light who admire who respect the very basest Stage-players more then the devoutest gravest Preachers and would rather heare the most lascivious Comedy then the best soule-searching Sermon their very practise proclaiming as much unto the world if not their words they being oftner weekely in the Play-house then in the Church reading over three Play-bookes at the least for every Sermon for every Booke or Chapter in the Bible O that the execrable sinfulnesse of this prodigious profanesse would now at last awake us then those who thinke a Stage-play once a day at leastwise three aweeke too little a Sermon once or twice a weeke a moneth too much would change their tune for shame thinking one Play a yeere to much one Sermon a weeke a moneth to little for Christians concluding in the words of that blessed Martyr of our Church Iohn Hooper Bishop of Glocester who constantly preached in his Dioces most times twice or at leastwise once every day thorowout the weeke without faile in the Confession and protestation of his Faith Dedicated to King Edward the sixt and the whole House of Parliament in the yeere of our Lord 1550. where we writes thus What Realme soever will avoyd the evill of Sedition and contempt of Godly Lawes let them provide the Word of God to be diligently and truely preached● and taught unto the Subjects and Members thereof The lacke of it is the cause of sedition and trouble as Salomon saith Where Prophecy wanteth the people are dissipated Wherefore I cannot a little wonder at the opinion and doctrine of such as say a Sermon ONCE IN A VVEEKE IN A MONETH OR IN A QVARTER OF A YEERE is sufficient for the people Truely it is injuriously and evill spoken against the glory of God and the salvation of the people But se●●ng they will not be in the whole as good unto God as before they have beene unto the Devill neither so glad to remove false doctrine from the people and to continue them in the true where as they did before occupie the most part of the forenoone the most part of the afternoone yea and a great part of the night to keepe the estimation and continuance of dangerous and vaine superstitions were it much now to occupie ONE HOVRE IN THE MORNING AND AN OTHER HOVRE TOVVARDS NIGHT to occupie the people with true and earnest prayer unto God in Christs Blood and in preaching the true Doctrine of Christ that they might know and continue in the true Religion and faithfull confidence of Christ Iesu Fifteene Masses in a Church daily were not too many for the Priests of Baal and SHOVLD ONE SERMON EVERY DAY BE TOO MVCH FOR A GODLY BISHOP AND EVANGELICALL PREACHER I wonder how it can be too much opened unto the people If any man say labour is lost and mens businesse lyeth undone by that meanes Surely it is ungodly spoken for those that beare the people in hand of such a thing knoweth right well that there was neither labours cares needs necessity nor any things else that heretofore could keepe them from hearing of Masse though it had beene said at 4. a clocke in the morning Therefore as farre as I see people were content to lose more labour and spent more time then to goe to the Devill then now to come to God as our common Players and Play-haunters doe But my faith is that both Master and Servant shall fin● gaine thereby at the yeeres end THOVGH THEY HEARE MORNING SERMON AND MORNING PRAYERS EVERY DAY OF THE VVEEKE Thus farre this reverend Bishop whose words and practise I would the grosse and shamelesse perverters of his doctrine in the points now controverted he being a professed Anti-Arminian and Anti-Pelagian and that in terminis as his printed Workes most positively demonstrate however some pervert them together with our constant Play-haunters would now seriously consider especially in these our dayes wherein Stage-playes almost cry down Sermons and Play-books finde so quicke a sale that if Stationers doe not misinforme me there are at least a dozen Play-bookes vented for one printed Sermon so that I may safely affirme that Stage-playes exceedingly withdraw and keepe men from Gods service especially on Lords-dayes Holi-dayes and solemne Festivals set apart for better purposes which experimentall truth is so visible to the eyes the consciences of all men that it needs no further proofe If any man be so uncredulous as not to believe experience let him then attend to sundry Councels Fathers and other moderne Authors who affirme that Stage-playes withdraw men from the Church and keepe them from Gods service especially on Lords-dayes Holi-dayes and solemne Festivals which were set apart for pious exercises For Councels See the 4. Councell of Carthage Canon 88. with sundry others here recited Act 7. Scene 3. For Fathers Clemens Romanus in the 2. Booke of Apostolicall Constitutions cap. 64.65 complaines That many leaving the Congregation of the Faithfull with the Church and Lawes of God did runne to the

them I doubt not but they would take care of the soules that are like to perish neither would they suffer such things on the holy dayes of the Saints as were not permitted to be done in the Bacchanalia themselves Either therefore they would recall the people by the censure of discipline from such most unworthy obscenities or would compell them to celebrate Festivals with due honesty or if they could not breake the force of pernicious custome they would rather abolish the feasts themselves lest they should bee an occasion of so great wickednesses which as it seemes to agree with the safety of soules according to the variety of manners and times are either to be discharged from observance or else more stricktly to be tied to an honest observance lest they should doe farre more hurt by being ill observed then well omitted c. By all which di●course of this learned Author who hath much more to the selfesame purpose which suites punctually with the practise of our present times wee may easily discerne how Stage-playes and dancing avocate and with-hold men from Gods worship especially on Lords-dayes and the most solemne Christian Festivals which of all other times are most abused to the eternall ruine of many thousand Christians soules To passe by Bucer in Psal. 92. Master Gualther Hom. 88. in Acta Apostolorum cap. 13. Master Iohn Calvin on Deut. 5. Sermo 34. Doctor Bownde of th Sabbath London 1595. p. 135.136 283 284. Master Beacon Hooper Babington Brinsly Perkins Dod Lake Downham Andrewes Williams Ames and most other Writers upon the 4. Commandement and the Sabbath who make the selfesame complaint that the Lords-day and Holi-dayes are prophaned and oft-times spent in Stage-playes Dancing Drinking Masques and Pastimes Which complaint I finde likewise seconded by learned Iohn Gerson Vincentius Bellovecensis and Cardinall Bellarmine himselfe who as they condemne all Stage-playes Enterludes Masques with all mixt lascivious amorous dancing against which Vincentius and Bellarmine have largely written at all times so especially on Lords-dayes Holi-dayes and solemne Festivals on which they are most execrable The Author of the 3. Blast of Retrait from Playes and Theaters is very copious in this point God writes he hath given us an expresse Commandement that we should not violate the Sabbath day and prescribed an order how it should bee sanctified namely in holinesse by calling into minde the spirituall rest hearing the Word of God and ceasing from worldly businesse Whereupon Isaiah the Prophet shewing how the Sabbath should be observed saith If thou tu●ne away thy foote from the Sabbath from doing thy will on mine Holy-day and call the Sabbath a delight to consecrate it as glorious to the Lord and shalt honour him● not doing thing owne wayes not seeking thine owne will nor speaking a vaine word then shalt thou delight in the Lord and I will cause thee to mount upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Iacob thy Father for the mouth of the Lord hath spo●en it Here we see how the Lord requireth that this day should be observed and what rest hee looketh for at our hands But alas how doe wee follow the order which the Lord hath set downe Is not the Sabbath of all other dayes most abused which of us on that day is not carried whether his affections leades him unto all d●ssolutenesse of life How often doe we use on that day unreverend speech which of us hath his heart occupied in the feare of God who is not led away to the beholding of those Spectacles the sight wher●of can bring but con●usion to our bodies and soules Are not our eyes there carried away with the pride of vanity our eares abused with amorous that is lecherous filthy and abominable speech Is not our tongue which was given us onely to glorifie God with all there imployed to the blas●eming of Gods holy Name or the commendation of that is wicked Are not our hearts through the pleasure of the flesh the delight of the eye and the fond motions of the minde withdrawne from the service of the Lord and meditation of his goodnesse So that albeit it is a shame to say it yet dovbtlesse whosoever will marke with what multitudes these idle pl●ces are replenished and how empty the Lords Sanctuary is of his people may well perceive what devotion wee have We may well s●y we are the servants of the Lord but the slender service wee doe him and the small regard we have of his Commandements declares our want of love towards him For if yee love mee saith Christ keepe my Commandements Wee may well bee Hir●l●ngs but wee are none of his Houshold Wherefore abuse not the Sabbath day my Brethren leave not the Temple of the Lord sit not still in the quagm●re of your owne lusts but put to your strength to helpe your selves before your owne waight sincke you downe to Hell Redeeme the time for the dayes are evill Alas what folly is it in you to purchase with a penny damnation to your selves why seeke you after sinne as after a banket None delight in those Spectacles but such as would bee made Spectacles Account not of their drosse their treasures are too base to be laid up in the rich Coafers of your minde Repentance is farthest from you when you are nearest to such May-games All of you for the most part doe lose your time or rather wilfully cast the same away contemning that as nothing which is so precious as your lives cannot redeeme I would to God you would bestow the time you consume in these vanities in seeking after vertue and glory For to speake truely whatsoever is not converted to the use wherefore it was ordained may be said to bee lost For to this end was man borne and had the benefit of time given him that hee might honour serve and love his Creator and thinke upon his goodnesse For whatsoever is done without this is doubtlesse cast away Oh how can you then excuse your selves for the losse of time doe you imagine that your carelesse life shall never bee brought into question Thinke yee the words of Saint Paul the Apostle were spoken in vaine when hee saith We must all appeare before the Iudgement Seate of Christ that every man may receive the things which are done in his body whether it be good or evill When that account shall bee taken I feare me your reckoning will bee to seeke c By such infamous persons as Players much time is lost and many dayes of honest travell are turned into vaine exercises Youth corrupted the Sabbath prophaned c. It was ordained in Rome by the Emperour Trajan that the Romanes should observe but 22 Holi-dayes thorowout the whole yeere For hee thought without doubt that the gods were more served on such dayes as the Romans did labour then on such dayes as they rested because

second Anno Dom. 1270. it was the custome of the English to spend their Christmas time in Playes in Masques in most magnificent and pompous Spectacles and to addict themselves to pleasures dancing dicing and other unlawfull prohibited games which then were tolerated and permitted contrary to the usage of most other Nations who used such Playes and wanton pastimes not in the Christmas season but a little before their Lent about the time of Shrovetide What therefore Salvian writes of Sodomie and publike stewes from which the Popes Exchequer receives no small revenue Haec ergo impuritas in Romanis et ante Christi Evangelium esse caepit et quod est gravius nec post Evangelium cessavit the same may I say of Stage-playes and unruly Christmas-keeping they had their first originall from heathen Rome I meane from their Saturnalia Bacchanalia Floralia c. before the Gospell preached to her and they have beene since revived continued propagated by Antichristian Rome even since the Gospell preached which should cause all pious Protestant Christians eternally to abandon them conforming themselves to the most ancient practise of the primitive Christians who celebrated this festivall of our Saviours Nativitie in a farre different manner For when as the Angel of the Lord appeared to the shepheards abiding in the fields not feasting and playing in their houses and keeping watch over their flockes not dancing dicing carding drinking or keeping Christmas rout by night and said unto them feare not for behold I bring unto you tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for to you is borne this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord What Christmas mirth and solace was there made but this which St. Luke hath recorded for our everlasting imitation Sodainly saith hee there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly hoast praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest on earth peace good will towards men This is the onely Christmas solemnity which the holie Ghost which Christ himselfe the whole multitude of the heavenly hoast and the very best of Christians have commended to us from heaven this I am sure is the ancientest and the best patterne of Christmas-keeping that we reade of why then should we be unwilling or ashamed for to imitate it When our Saviour was borne into the world at first we heare of no feasting drinking healthing roaroaring carding dicing Stage-playes Mummeries Masques or heathenish Christmas pastimes alas these precise puritanicall Angels Saints and shepheards as some I feare account them knew no such pompous pagan Christmas Courtships or solemnities which the Divell and his accursed instruments have since appropriated to his most blessed Nativitie Here we have nothing but Glory be to God on high on earth peace good will towards men this is the Angels the shepheards only Christmas Caroll which the Virgin Mary in the former chapter hath prefaced with this celestiall hymne of prayse My soule doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour and Zacharias seconded with this heavenly sonnet Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people And hath raised up an horne of salvation for us in the house of his servant David This was the only sport and mer●iment these the soule-ravishing Ditties with which men and Angels celebrated the very first Christmas that was kept on earth yea this is the onely Christmas solemnity that the blessed Saints and Angels now obserue in heaven why then should we so earnestly contend for any other If we reflect upon the Christians in Tertullians Clemens Alexandrinus Philo Iudaeus Minucius Felix Plinie the seconds Chrysostomes and Theodorets times wee shall finde them banishing all gluttony drunkennesse health-quaffing intemperance dancing dicing Stage-playes fidlers jesters baudie songs and lewd discourses from their feasts and Christian Festivals which they celebrated in this manner First of all they assembled themselves together into one companie that so they might as it were assault and besiege God with their united prayers after that they did feed their faith erect their hope settle their confidence inculcate their discipline with the Scriptures and holy conferences and with the often inculcations of divine precepts using withall exhortations corrections and ecclesiasticall censures after which they kept their Agape or feasts of Love wherein no immodesty was admitted at which feasts they never sate downe to eate till they had first praemised a solemne prayer unto God and then falling to their meat they did eate no more than would satisfie their hunger and drinke no more than was fit for chast persons satiating themselves so as that they remembred they were to worship God in the night discoursing like such as those who knew that God overheard them After the bason and ewer and lights are brought in every one as he was able was provoked to sing a psalme unto God out of the holy Scriptures or out of his owne invention and by this it was manifested how he had drunke And as prayer began so it likewise concluded their feasts after which every one departed not into the routs of roaring swashbucklers nor ●et into the company of riotous ramblers nor into the lashings out of lascivious persons but to the same care of modesty and chastitie like those who had not so much repasted a supper as discipline Yea such was the puritanicall rigidnesse of the primitive Christians on the solemne birth-dayes and Inaugurations of the Roman Emperors when as other men kept revel-rout feasting and drinking from parish to parish making the whole Cittie to smell like a taverne kindling bonefires in every street and running by troopes to Playes to impudent prankes to the enticements of lust c. accounting their licentious deboistnesse at such seasons their chiefest piety and devotion as our Grand Christmas keepers now doe that they would neither shadow nor adorne their doores with laurell nor diminish the day-light with bonefires and torches nor yet drinke nor dance nor runne to Play-houses which they wholly abandoned but kept themselves temperate sober chast and pious celebrating their solemnities rather with conscience and devotion than lasciviousnesse whence they were reputed publike enemies as Tertullian Philo Iudaeus and Clemens Alexandrinus most plentifully informe us Hence Theodoret writes That the Christians of his time in stead of solemnizing the festivals of love and Bacchus did celebrate the festivities of Peter Paul Th●mas Sergius Marcellus Leontius Antoninus and other holy Martyrs and that in stead of that ancient pompe that filthy obscenity and impudency that the Pagans used on their festivals the Christians instituted holy-dayes full of modesty chastity and temperance not such as were moistned with wine lascivious with riotous feasts dissolute with shoutes and laughter but such as resounded with divine songs as were spent in hearing