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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	devil_n	father_n	liar_n	1,960	5	10.7881	5	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

to honour wealth or fame especially in declining vi●ious turbulent or discontented times Wherefore since obsolete unknowne sinnes are alwayes freest from imitation and more ●asily avoyded then sinnes divulged though with shame disdaine or punishment whence wise Lawgivers have rather chosen to inact no publike Lawes against vnnaturall rare-committed crimes then to prohibit them by publike Edicts vnder the severest punishments for feare the publike knowledge of them by meanes of knowen Edicts should make them more frequent in mens practise it were farre more commodious lesse dangerous lesse pernitious that those vnparalleld forgotten villanies whose memory is revived on the Stage were for ever drowned in oblivion then re-imprinted in mens mindes by Vice-perpe●uating Stage-playes ne exempla fiant quae iam esse facinora destiterunt least our depraved times should make those moth-eaten wickednesses the patternes of their imitation which all-devouring antiquitie had expunged out of the much enlarged Catalogue of moderne sinnes Lastly if Stage-playes doe onely discover Vices for to make them odious then those lascivious Pagans who most delighted in them should have beene meliorated and mor●alized by them But the best Christian and Pagan Authors vnanimously agree that Theatricall Playes and Poems were the chiefe corrupters of their mindes and manners the most effectuall propagators of all kinde of vice there being none so vitious and lascivious as those Pagan Greekes and Romans who most frequented Stage-playes Therefore the acting of such vices doth daily propagate and diffuse them not decrease them Since therefore the subiect matter of Stage-playes is thus heathenish vitious and prophane consisting of the fabulous histories ceremonies vices names and execrable wickednesses of Pagan gods and men which should not once be named among Christians we may hence also conclude them to be sinfull and utterly unlawfull unto Christians SCENA QVARTA FOurthly the subject matter of our stage-Playes is for the most part false and fabulous consarcinated of sundry merry Iudicrous officious artificiall lies to delight the eares of carnall Auditors From whence I forme this eight Argument That whose subject matter consists of sundry forged Fables of artificiall merry affected lies must needs be odious and unlawfull unto Christians who must abandon lies But such is the subject matter of most Comicall of many Tragicall Enterludes Therefore they must needs be odious and unlawfull unto Christians The Minor is evident not onely from experience and the concurrent suffrages of sundry Fathers and Pagan Authors who stile Stage-playes fabulous artificiall sporting lies from whence they take occasion to condemne them but likewise by the copious testimony of sundry ancient Play-Poets who stile their Playes by the very name of Fables Lies and figments The Maior needes no large dispute For since every lye is diametrally contrary to the God of Truth ●ince it proceedes originally from the very Devill who is a Lyer and the Father of lies since it is dir●ctly opposite to the Spirit and Word of Truth which enjoyneth every man especially the children of God to speake no lies to put away lying to refuse prophane and Oldwives fables with all idle fabulous tales and babblings to hate all such who delight in lying vanities and to speake nought else but truth because whosoever loveth and maketh a lie shall be excluded the new Ierusalem and have his portion in that lake which burnet● with fire and brimstone for ever Since sundry of the Fathers recorded in the margent have abundantly condemned all sorts of lies as well officious fabulous and sporting as pernicious And since divers Paga● Authors haue positi●ely c●nsured all ●udicrous lies and poems composed onely for delight we cannot but sub●scribe unto the Maior as an undoubted truth and so by consequence to the Conclusion too Since therefore Stage-playes are but merry lies and since Saint Ambrose informes us that all those who loue a lie are the children of the Devill the Father of lies let this cause us to detest all fabulous lying Stageplayes as the very snares and traps of Satan ●or feare we prove the Divels of-spring who hath no inheritance but Hell to leave us SCENA QVINTA FIftly the subject matter of Stage-playes is oftimes impious sacrilegious blaspemou● and that in sundry respects First in that the sacred names of God the Father Sonn● and holy Ghost which ought n●t to be mentioned but with reverence and holy feare are frequently recited on the Stage too prophane too impious a place for such dreadfull holy names to come into and that in a sacrilegious blasphemous ridiculous impious sporting manner to their great dishonour and pollution Hence was that passionate exclamation of Clemens Alexandrinus against the Gentiles O impietie you have made the Theater heaven you have made God himselfe an Act that which is holy haue you also derided under the person of Divels you have lustfully and fili●ily polluted Religion and the true worship of God with the superstitions of Devils Hence was it that Tertullian in his booke De spectaculis cap. 28. Chrysost. homilie 38. on Matthew Salvian De Gubernatione Dei lib. 6. the third Councell of Carthage Canon● 11. with sundry others did long since stile all Stage-players Blasphemers because they did not onely deride abuse and personate their owne Idol-gods upon the Stage for which the Christians taxed them but likewise blasphemously prophane satyrically traduce the very sacred names of God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost in their publike Enterludes whence the Fathers laid no lesse then blasphemy to their charge A sinne to frequent in our moderne Stage-playes where these dreadfull names to our shame Playes ruine be it written are most desperately prophaned most Athei●tically blasphemed Witnesse our owne late religious Statute of tertio Iacobi chapter 21. Where our Soveraigne Lord the King together with the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and Commons in that Parliament ●ssembled for the preventing and auoyding ●f the great abuse of the holy name of God in Stage-playes and Enterludes which then grew common enacted this pious Law which is seldome or never put in execution because few else but such who delight in blasphemy and therefore are unlikely to prove informers against it resort to Stage-playes That if at any time or times after that Session of Parliament determined any person or persons in any Stage-play Enterlude May-game or Pageant should jestingly or prophanely speake or use the holy Name of GOD or of Christ Iesus or of the holy Ghost or of the Trinity which are not to be spoken but with feare and reverence● that for every such offence by him or them committed he or they should forfeit ten pounds The one moitie thereof to the Kings Majestie his Heires and Successors the other moitie thereof to him that will sue for the same in any Court of Record in

Graecos Of Theophilus Antiochen●s aduers. Autolicum lib. 3. Of Clemens Alexandrinus Oratio Exhort ad Gentes fol. 8 9. Of Tertullian De Spectaculis cap. 5 6 7. Of Cyprian De Spectaculis lib. Of Arnobi●s aduersus Gentes lib. 7. Of Lactantius Diuinarum Instit. Epit. cap. 6. De vero Cultu cap. 20. Of Saint Chrysostome Hom. 38. in Mat. Hom. 3. De Dauide Saul Of Saint Hierom. Comment in Ezech. lib. 6. cap. 20. Epist. 9. cap. 5. 10. cap. 4. 13. cap. 2. 23. cap. 1. Of Saint Augustine De Ciuit. Dei lib. 1. cap. 32 33. lib. 2. cap. 6.8.10 11. lib. 4. cap. 1. Of Theodoret. Contr. Graecos Infideles lib. 7. Of Saluian lib. 6. De Gub. Dei Of Orosius lib. 3. Historiae cap. 4. Of Isiodor Hisp. Etymolog lib. 18. cap. 27. Of Cassiodorus Variarum lib. 1. cap. vel Epist. 27.30 lib. 3. cap. 51. lib. 7. cap. 10. with other Fathers Of Iohn Mariana Master Northbrooke Doctor Reinolds and Master Gosson in their Bookes against Stage-Playes Of Ludouicus Viues Comment in lib. 1. 2. August De Ciu. Dei Of Alexander ab Alexandro Gen. Dierum lib. 5. cap. 26. Of Polydor Virgil. De Inuentor Rerum lib. 1. cap. 10. Of Coelius Rhodiginus Antiq. Lect. lib. 8. cap. 7. Of Alexander Sardi● De Inuent Rerum lib. 1. Of Master Godwins Roman Antiquities lib. 2. Sect. 3. cap. 1. to 12. with many other Moderne writers who all giue punctuall vnanimous and vncontrouleable testimonie That Stage-Playes were at first inuented and celebrated to the honour and for many hundred yeeres together appropriated to the solemne worship and seruice of these Idole-Gods who oft times called for them to attone their anger diuert their iudgements demerit their protection or reward their fauours The originall end and primary vse of Stage-Playes then was odious and Idolatrous as all these Authours testifie Therefore these Playes themselues as the recited Fathers and Christian Writers doe from thence inferre must needes be sinfull and vtterly vnlawfull vnto Christians I confesse that since ●he natiuitie and birth of Stage-Playes they haue beene sometimes wrested by the Heathen to some other distorted and Vnchristian ends besides the worship or pacification of their Idole-Gods Sometimes they haue beene instituted and performed by way of Victory and Triumph and that commonly in execution of a preuious solemne vow made to some Deuil-God by the victorious Generall before the Battell ioyned of which wee haue frequent examples in the Roman Histories whose chiefe Commanders did vsually vow some solemne Playes and Sacrifices to their Gods if they would be so propitious towards them as to giue them the honour of the Field and chasing of their Enemies which vowes they did performe accordingly vpon their wished successe Other times they haue beene purposely celebrated to bee a kinde of Pander to mens lusts Witnesse the Playes that Romulus made to betray the Sabine Virgines to the Rape and Lusts of his vnmarried Souldiers vpon whose Rauishment there arose a bloody warre to which end and vse they serue as yet Other times they haue beene Acted for Lasciuiousnesse delight and pleasure sake the onely vse which men pretend for Stage-Playes now Hence Polidor Virgil obserues that Comedies tooke their denomination from the Greeke words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to play the Wanton or Lasciuious person Others deriue their name from Comus the God of wantonnesse and riot others from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they were Lasciuiously Acted heretofore in wayes being fraught with petulant and wanton words all of them concurring in this that their end is nothing else but Lasciuious Carnall and Vnchristian mirth and therefore euill and vnlawfull If then this bee yeelded to mee as of necessitie it must be that Stage-Playes were originally destinated yea appropriated to the fore-recited Idolatrous and vnlawfull ends but more especially to the honour and seruice of abominable Idoles to whose solemne worship they were actually deuoted for many hundred yeeres together and that by their owne speciall command which makes them wholly theirs I shall hence inferre a third argument That inuention which was primarily ordained yea for many hundred yeeres together appropriated and deuoted to the immediate worship and solemne gratification of Deuil-gods must of ne●essitie be pernicious vnseemely and vnlawfull vnto Christians especially if it be not necessary or vsefull vnto men But Stage-Playes were primarily ordained yea for many hundred yeeres together appropriated and deuoted to the immediate worship and solemne gratification of Deuil-gods and they are no wayes necessary nor vsefull vnto m●n Therefore they must of necessitie be Pernicious Vnseemely and Vnlawfull vnto Christians The Maior is euident by the cloud of witn●sses recited in the premises by those seuerall Historicall authorities recorded in the first Act and Scaene of this Tragedie to prooue the Deuill the Author of these Enterludes and by the generall acknowledgement of all Learned writers so that I may spare all further proofe The Maior no Christian can or dares denie vnlesse hee will turne professed Proctor for the Deuill If any bee so Heathenish or Atheisticall as to gaine-say it I shall easily euict the trueth of it by these ensuing reaso●s First it must bee acknowledged that those things which euery Christian doeth solemnely renounce in his very Baptisme must needs be pernicious vnseemely and vnlawfull else why should he renounce them But euery Christian doeth seriously abiure in his very Baptisme all such Inuentions which were primarily ordained and for many hundred yeeres together appropriated to the solemne worship and gratification of Deuil-gods as Stage-Playes were for hee couenants by his sureties to forsake the Deuill and all his workes therefore the Maior must be yeelded Secondly that which God himselfe commanded in a more speciall manner to be abolished and reiected that must needes be pernicious vnseemely and vnlawfull vnto Christians But God himselfe hath in a speciall manner commanded all reliques monuments parts and appendices of Idoles especially such as were primarily consecrated and wholly appropriated to their vse to bee vtterly abolished and reiected Hence hee enioynes the Israelites not to follow the customes of the Canaanites nor yet to inquire after them saying how did these Nations worship their Gods that I might doe so likewise Hence hee commanded them to burne the Groues the Images with all the appurtenances of Idole-gods with fire to destroy their Altars pull downe their Temples cut off their Priests and worshippers abolish their memories abandon their ceremonies and not s● much as ●o saue or reserue any remnant of them but vtterly to abhorre and detest them as an accursed thing Yea hence hee obligeth them to destroy euen the very names of their Idoles not to make mention of the names of other Gods not to suffer them to be heard out of their mouthes nor yet so much as to participate of any of their

the presence of some godly men at Stage-playes can never make Play-assemblies good in God or mans esteeme When good and bad men ioyne together in Religious duti●s the goodnesse of the lesser part denominates the whole and makes it good in Gods in m●ns account because the end the cause of this convention is Gods glory But when good and bad confederate themselues together in any delights of sinne God lookes not on the goodnesse of the good but upon the wickednesse of good and bad condemning all for a Congregation of euill doers because the obiect the end of these their conventicles are unlawfull When gracious and gracelesse persons shall fit promiscuously together in a Play-house beholding some prophane lascivious Enterlude with delight not onely God himselfe but even Saints and Angels frowne upon them as a fraternitie of evill doers and a Satanicall unchristian assembly as the Fathers testifie because the most of thē are such the end for which they meet is such Wherefore since the whole Conventicle of Play-haunters in Gods in Angels in holy mens esteeme is alwayes evill notwithstanding the pres●nce of some few godly ones these Playes themselves must certainely be execrably odious to all good Christians who must abandon all lewde companions even in this respect ACTVS 5. SCENA PRIMA FIftly Stage-playe● must needs bee abominable unlawfull unto Christians both in regard of their manner of Action and of all those severall parts concomitants and circumstances that attend them From whence I raise this fifteenth Argument That whose manner of action parts concomitants and severall circumstances are sinfull must certainly be abominable and u●lawfull unto Christians 1 Thess. 5.22 But such are the manner of action parts concomitants and severall circumstances of Stage-playes Therefore they are certainly abominable and unlaw●ull unto Christians The Major needs no confirmation because such as the forme the parts and circumstances are such questionlesse is the whole The Minor I shall evidence by a particular discussion First of the very manner of acting Stage-playes wherein I shall examine First the hypocrisie Secondly the obscenitie and lasciviousnesse Thirdly the grosse effeminacy Fourthly the extreame vanitie and follie which necessarily attends the acting of Playes Secondly of the severall parts that are usually acted in Stage-playes which are as sinfull as various Thirdly of the ordinary apparell wherein Playes are acted which is First of all womanish belonging ●o the female Sex Secondly costly fantasticall strange lascivious whorish provoking unto lewdnesse Fourthly of the severall concomitants or circumstances of Stage-playes which I shall reduce to these foure Heads Lascivious da●cing Amorous obscene songs Effeminate lu●t-exciting Musicke Pro●ufe inordinate lascivious laughter and vaine theatricall applauses omitting all other adjuncts shewes and circumstances of Playes which Horace and some others mention as not so pertinent to our present purpose To begin with the first branch of the first particular to wit the hypocrisie faining or dissimulation that is exercised in acting Stage-playes If we seriously consider the very forme of acting Playes we must needes acknowledge it to be nought else but grosse hypocrisie All things are counterfeited feined dissembled nothing really or sincerely acted Players are alwayes counterf●iting representing the persons habits offices callings parts conditions speeches actions lives● the passions the affections the anger hatred cruelty love revenge dissentions yea the very vices sinnes and lusts the adulteries incests rapes murthers tyrannies thefis and such like crimes of other men of other sexes of other creature● yea oft-times of the Divell himselfe and Pagan Divell-gods They are alwayes acting others not themselves● they vent notorious lying fables as undoubted truthes they put false glosses upon Histories persons virtues vices all things that they act representing them in feined colours the whole action of Playes is nought else but feining but counterfeiting but palpable hypocrisie and dissimulation which God which men abhorr● there●ore it must needs be sinfull If any here obiect That the acting of Playes is no hypocrysie no dissimulation it being onely done in sport in imitation with no sinister intent at all to hurt to cheate or circumvent men I answer First that admit it be but a meere ●mitation of other mens persons parts and vices yet it must needs bee sinfull because the very imitation of wicked men of Pagans of Idols of Idolaters especially in their lewdest wickednesses the most vsuall subject of our Enterludes is without all question evill as the Scriptures plainly teach us Secondly I answer that by the ●eining used in our Stage-playes many of our Spectators are deceived all cheated Deceived with forged fabulous histories instead of truthes with false represen●ations of true stories with palliated vices in lei● of virtues with virtues vizarded under the names of vice with bad Playes oft-times which all dislike instead of good as some in some respects account them Cheated with shadowes instead of substance with sinfull heathenish unchristian spectacles in place of honest recreations These Stage-hypocrisies which at the very best are pure vanity and so not valuable doe cheate many of their hon●sty their civility their chastity their estates their reputation their virtues their salvation● most of their money● all of their time too deare a price for so fruitlesse so wretchlesse a purchase Besides they involve men in the guilt of sundry sinnes which they little feared or suspected to the eternall hazzard o● their soules which is a great deceit Yea the very end why Players act their Enterludes is onely to cheate mens money out of their purses by dishonest meanes not giving quid pro quo The very ground-worke therefore of this objection is but forged Thirdly admit that no man were cheated or prejudiced by that counterfeiting which accompanies the acting of all Stage-playes yet the meere acting of the persons parts gestures offices actions passions especially of the Sexes Vices Anger Furie Love Revenge and Villanies of other men be it in sport in representation onely is hypocri●i● For what else is hypocrisie in the proper signification of the word but the acting of anothers part or person on the Stage or what else is an hypoc●ite in his tru● etimologie but a Stage-player or one who acts anothers part as sundry Authors and Gramarians teach us Hence that common epithite in our Latine Authors Histrionica hypocrisis And hence is it that not onely divers moderne English and Latine Writers but likewise sundry Fathers here quoted in the Margent s●ile Stage-players hypocrites Hypocrites Stage-players as being ●ne and the same in substance there being nothing more familiar with them then to describe an hypocrite by a Stage-player and a Stage-player by an hypocrite If therefore we give any credit to the Fathers or Authors here alleadged we must needs acknowledge the very acting of Stage-playes to be hypocrisie and Players themselves to be meere hypocrites their very profession

ingenuous witty comely youthes devoted vnto God in baptisme to whom they owe themselves their service are oft-times by their gracelesse Parents even wholy consecrated to the Stage the Divels Chappell as the Fathers phrase it where they a●e trained up in the Schoole of Vice the Play-house as if their natures were not prone enough to sinne unless● they had the helpe of art to backe them to the very excesse of all effeminacy to act those womanish whorish parts which Pagans would even blush to personate And is this a laudable as many a triviall veniall harmelesse thing as most repute it Is this a light a despicable effeminacie for men for Christians thus to adulterate emasculate metamorphose and debase their noble sexe thus purposely yea affectedly to vnman vnchristian vncreate themselves if I may so speake and to make themselves as it were neither men nor women but Monsters a sin as bad nay worse than any adultery offering a kinde of viol●nce to Gods owne worke and all to no other end but this to exhilerate a confluence of unchaste effeminate vaine companions or to become competent Actors on a Stage the greatest infamy that could befall an ancient Pagan Roman or a Christian Is this a meane a pardonable wickednesse to violate the Lawes of God of Nature to educate those in the very discipline and schoole of Satan who should be trained vp in the admonition feare and nurture of the Lord that so they may be more deepely enthralled to the Devils bondage all their dayes since custome is another nature it being as difficult a thing for such who are accustomed to evill to doe good as for an AEthiopian to change his skin or a Leopard his spots and be made more sure partakers with him in his eternall torments at their deathes O therefore let vs now at last consider with our selves the execrable effeminacy which attends the very acting of our Stage-playes together with the danger accompanying this sinne which is no lesse without repentance then the eternall losse of heavens and then we shall we cannot but abhorre all Stage-playes even in this regard SCENA QVARTA FOurthly as the grosse effeminacie even so the palpable vanitie the ridiculous folly of acting Playes doth manifest them to be evill as this nineteenth Play-affronting Argument will evince That whose very action in its best acception is but ridiculous folly and vanity must certainly be vnseemely yea unlawfull unto Christians But such is the very action of Stage-playes Therefore they must certainly be unseemely and unlawfull unto Christians The Major is evident First because the Scriptures condemne all vanity and follie together with all vaine all foolish actions persons speeches words gestures as dangerous and pernicious evils which draw men by degrees to greater sinnes to serious mischiefes commanding men with all not to returne againe to folly there being wickednesse and madnesse in it to abandon-folly and vanities which promote not the eternall beatitude of their soul●s to depart from the presence of a foolish man when as they perceive not in him the lips of knowledge Secondly because vanitie and folly are the very matter seminaries and seeds of sinne of wickednesse there being nothing worse then they The Minor as it is evident by the concurrent testimony of the fore-quoted Fathers Acts 3. Scene 7. so it is such an experimentall knowne truth that it were lost labour for to prove it For what else is the personating of the Clownes the Fooles the Fantastickes the Lovers the Distracted discontented lascivious furious angry persons part but professed vanitie or ridiculous affected folly Yea what else is the whole action of Playes but well personated vanity artificiall folly or a lesse Bedlam frenzie He who shall seriously survay the ridiculous childish inconfiderate yea mad and beastly actions gestures speeches habits prankes and fooleries of Actors on the Stage if he be not childish foolish or frentique himselfe must needs deeme all Stage-players children fooles or Bedlams since they act such parts such pranks yea use such gestures speeches rayment complements and behaviour in Iest which none but children fooles or mad-men doe act or vse in earnest There is ●o difference at all betweene a fool● a fantastique a Bedlam a Whore a Pander a Cheater a Tyrant a Drunkard a Murtherer a Divell on the Stage for his part is oft-times acted and those who are such in truth but that the former are farre worse farre more inexcusable than the latter because they wilfully make themselves that in sport to foment the more then childish folly of some vaine Spectators which these others are perchance from naturall necessity or at least from colourable grounds Flendas dixerim an ridendas ineptias The foolery the ridiculousnesse of acting Playes is such that I know not whether men should more bewaile it or deride it Sure I am though ●ew Spectators can finde teares to deplore the sin●ulnesse yet most of them can afford laughter to deride the vanity the folly of acting Playes Since therefore vanitie and folly are the genuine proper objects of derision and mens voluptuous smiles the laughter Playes occasion which is their chie●est end is a sufficient evidence of their excessive folly and so ground enough for Christians for all men to condemne them as vanities as fooleries as Clemens Alexandrinus and other Fathers doe at large declare And thus much for the first considerable thing in the manner of acting Stage-playes SCENA QVINTA THe second circumstance considerable in the forme of acting Playes is the severall parts and persons sustained in them which suggests this twentieth Play-oppugning Argument Those Playes whose very parts and persons are sinfull yea abominable are certainly unseemely unlawfull unto Christians But such are the parts the persons most frequent in all Stage-playes Therefore they are certainly unseemely unlawfull u●to Christians The Maior is irrefragable because such as the parts are such is the whole which is composed of them If the parts then be evill the intiretie that springs out of them must bee such The Minor I shall evidence by this Induction In all our Stage-playes we have most vsually the parts and persons of Divel-gods and Goddesses of Iupiter Mars Apollo Venus Vulcan Saturne Cupid Neptune Mercurie Esculapius Hercules Pluto Bacchus Ceres Minerva Diana Iuno Proserpina Flora Priapus and others yea sometimes the very part and person of the Divell himselfe whose workes whose pompes and vanities all Christians have renounced in their Baptisme Adde we to these the parts and representations of Satyres Silvanes Muses Nymphes F●ries Hobgoblins Fairies Fates with such other heathen vanities which Christians should not name much lesse resemble Together with the parts the persons of Whores Whoremasters Adulterers Bawdes Panders Tyrants Traitors Theeves Murtherers Paricides Drunkards Parasites Prodigals Hypocrites Fooles

or Players by contributing to their Boxes or resorting to their Theaters for the fore-named reasons Since therefore it is abunndantly evident by the premises that Stage-playes are the occasions of much vaine much sinfull prodigall expence and that the very contributing to Players Boxes of which every common Spectator must be alwayes culpable is not onely apparant prodigality but a Giant-like sinne which brings much danger to mens soules It must needs cause us to abominate to abandon Stage-playes even for this effect which alwayes necessarily attends them SCENA TERTIA. THe third effect or fruit of Stage-playes is the irritation the inflamation the fomentation of divers sinfull lusts of many lewde unchaste adulterous affections both in the Actors and Spectators hearts From whence this 29. Play-oppugning Argument will ebulliate That which doth ordinarily if not alwayes defile the eyes the eares and soules both of the Actors and Spectators by ingendring by exciting meretricious lustfull lewde adulterous desires and affections in their hearts or by instigating by preparing by inducing them to actuall uncleanesse must needs be abominable and unlawfull unto Christians But this doe Stage-playes as I shall here make manifest Therefore they must needs bee abominable and unlawfull unto Christians The Major is irr●fragable because all polluting objects all unchaste affections and unruly carnall lusts which are no lesse then adultery then uncleanesse it selfe in Gods account doe not onely contaminate and war against mens soules but likewise deprive them of Gods favour disable them to every holy duty inthrall them unto Satan exclude them out of Heaven and without repentance plunge them into Hell for all eternity Since therefore the Scripture calls upon us to cleanse our selves from all pollution of flesh and spirit to mor●ifie our carnall lusts and earthly members to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof the fruit of which is eternall death to abstaine from fleshly lusts which war against the soule and to make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Since it expresly informes us that none but Idola●rous Heathen Gentiles in whom the Devill raignes none but unregenerate carnall gracelesse persons who have no part in Christ doe wallow with delight doe foster harbour or take pleasure in such lusts as these And that all who are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof because the carnall minde is enmity against God neither is it nor can it be subiect to his law There are none but Whores and Panders or foule incarnate Devils who dare controll my Minors truth which all Christians must subscribe to because they are no longer debtors to the flesh to live after the flesh but sworne Servants and Spouses unto Christ alone to whom they have resigned both their soules and bodies to be at none but his disposall The Minor is notoriously evident not onely by experience but likewise by the concurring suffrages of sundry Fathers Councels and Authors of all sorts Who as they stile Play-houses The Temples of Venery the Schooles of Bawdry the De●s of Lewdnesse the Si●kes of Filthinesse and Stage-playes the Lectures of Ribaldry the Meditations of Adultery the Nurseries of Vncleanesse the Fomentations of Lechery the Fuell the Incendiaries of lust and the very Devils Forge or Bellowes to excite and blow up flames of carnall Concupi●cence both in the Actors and Spectators hearts a su●ficient ratification of our present Assumption So they likewise positively a●firme and copiously testifie the truth of this proposition in expresse words Witnesse Clemens Alexandrinus who informes us that Comedies and amorous moderne Poems teach men adultery that they defile mens eares with incests and fornications therefore he tells the Gentiles that not onely the use the sight and hearing but likewise the very memory of Stage-playes yea of the fabulous Poems pictures and representations of their uncha●te libidinous Idol-gods ought utterly to be abolished because their eares had committed whoredome their eyes had played the harlots with them and which is more strange that their very sight had committed adultery before any actuall embracement by reason of these obscene Pictures● and filthy Enterludes Hence he instructeth Christians that his Paedagoge must not lead them unto Playes or Theaters which may not be unfitly called the Chaire of Pestilence because these Conventicles where men and women meete promis●uously together to behold one another are the occasion of lewdnesse here they give or plot wicked counsell For while their eyes are lasciviously occupied their lusts waxe warme and their eyes being accustomed to glance more impudently on those who sit next them having liberty and leisure granted to them intend their lusts These Spectacles therefore saith he which are fraught with wickednesse with obscene and vaine speeches with the representations of filthy deeds with impudent and unchaste discourses which provoke laughter the Idaeaes of which men carry away with them to their houses there more deepely imprint them in their mindes are utterly to he prohibited Witnesse Tertullian who records that Tragedies and Comedies are the augmenters of villanies and lusts being both cruell and lascivious impious and prodigall That they defile mens eyes and eares with uncleanesse and blow up the sparkles of their Lusts. Hence he stiles the Play-house the Chappell of Venery the House of Lechery the Consistory of Incontinency Hence he informes us that all the Christians in the Primitive Church had utterly relinquished the uncleanesse of the Theater Hence he comforts the close imprisoned Martyrs of his time with this consideration that by meanes of their imprisonment their eyes were kept from the sight of Theaters the places of publike lust and lechery Neither were their eares o●fended with the clamors or uncleanesse of Stage-players And hence hee doubles this Assertion That Stage-playes are absolutely prohibited by the inhibition of incontinency Witnesse Origen who instructeth us that Christians must not lift up their eyes to Stage-playes the pleasurable delights of polluted eyes as he there stiles them lest their lusts should be inflamed by them What then writes he in another place shall we say of these who with the troopes of the Gentiles make haste to Stage-playes and defile their eyes and eares with unchaste words and motions It is not our part ●o passe sentence upon such for they themselves may perceive and see what part they have chosen to themselves Thou therefore who hearest these things Be ye holy for I am holy Wisely understand what is spoken seperate thy selfe from terrene actions seperate thy selfe from the lusts of the world and from the contagion of every sinne Witnesse Saint Cyprian who stiles Theaters b The Stewes of publike chastity and Mastership of obscaenity which teach those sinnes in publike that men may more usually commit them in private What doth a

Amphitheater in Hierusalem after the Roman manner to advance Idolatry and Paganisme and suppresse Religion was thus smitten by Gods Angell in the Theater it selfe where hee sate beholding these Playes and Spectacles which hee had then provided for Caesars honour and the peoples recreation whose deifying acclamations were the cause of this his fearefull death and since these Stage-playes were the chiefe occasion of drawing both himselfe and the people into the Theater wee may justly behold him as a ●ad fatall Spectacle of Gods avenging judgement as wel for his instituting and beholding Stage-playes and erecting publike Theaters as for his proude ambition Not to speake of Herod the great whom the Iewes conspired to murther in the Theater which hee had built at Hierusalem whiles he was beholding Stage-playes for that hee had brought in Stage-playes into Hierusalem contrary to Moses Law and the discipline of the Iewish Nation Nor yet to mention the Emperour Nero whose acting and beholding of Playes was one chiefe occasion that stirred up Subrius Flavius with others to conspire his death Herodian informes us that Commodus his excessive delight in Actors Gladiators Playes and Enterludes and his unworthy comming on the Stage in person to play the Actor and Gladiator before the people from which base shamefull act his friends together with Martia his best beloved Concubine did earnestly disswade him ne Romanum Imperium contumelia a●ticeret c. was the originall ground of his untimely death hee being poysoned by his Martia whom he resolved to murther for this her good advice and Trebellius Pollicarpus records that Gallienus the Emperour was murthered by Martianus Heraclianus and Claudius for this very cause lest by his lewde example in frequenting Stage-playes and favouring Stage-players with which hee had fild his Palace hee should bring both himselfe and the Republike unto utter ruine These severall Kings and Emperours Stage-delights being thus the iust oecasions of their untimely deathes A sufficient Item for all Christian Princes for ever to abandon Playes and Actors as fatall and pernicious evils both to their owne persons and their subjects too To passe from Kings and Emperours to some of meaner quality Tertullian a Father of good credit among Schollers informes us That a certaine Christian woman in his time going to a Play-house to see a Stage-play returned thence possessed with a Devill as too too many now a dayes doe at leastwise in a spirituall sence iustly● in meo enim eam inveni for I have found her in my owne Iurisdiction If therefore you will neither believe the forequoted Fathers and Authors that the Play-house is the Devils Chappell yet now believe the very Devill himselfe who claimes it for his owne together with all such persons who frequent it The same Father relates that another Christian woman who went to see a Tragedy had the very same night a linnen sheet presented to her in a dreame the Tragedian himselfe being likewise named to her with an exprobration for this act of hers after which she lived not above fiue dayes To which two examples writes he I might adde some fearefull precedents of others who by communicating with the Devill at Stage-playes have fallen quite away from God A dreadfull Apostasie and judgement indeed To these two former precedents I shall annex the parallel example of a late English Gentlewoman of good ranke who daily bestowing the expence of her best houres upon the Stage and at last falling into a dangerous sicknesse of which she died her friends in her extremi●y sent for a Minister to comfort counsell and prepare her for her end who comming to instruct her and advising her to repent and call upon God for mercy she made him no reply at all but cryed out Hieronimo Hieronimo O let mee see Hieronimo acted calling out for a Play in stead of crying unto God for mercy and so closed her dying eyes O tragicall O fearefull death answerable to her former wicked life Not to relate the various tragicall ends of many who in my remembrance at London have beene slaine in Play-houses or upon quarrels there commenced Nor yet to recite the sudden fearefull burning even to the ground both of the Globe and Fortune Play-houses no man perceiving how these fires came together with the visible apparition of th● Devill on the Stage at the Belsavage Play-house in Queene Elizabeths dayes to the great amazement both of the Actors and Spectators whiles they were there prophanely playing the History of Faustus the truth of which I have heard from many now alive who well remember it there being some distracted with that fearefull sight I shall confine my selfe onely to such printed examples of Gods judgements upon many Players and Play-haunters together which I finde scattered here and there in sundry Authors To begin first at home I read in Hollingshead that in the eighth yeere of Queene Elizabeths Raigne there were three Schollers at Oxford slaine outright and divers others hurt and mained with the unexpected fall of a wall whiles ●hey were beholding a Stage-play About the yeere 1582. many people being assembled together at the Theaters in London to see the bawdy Enterludes and other fooleries there practised God caused the earth on a sudden mightily to shake and tremble as though all would have fallen to the ground where at the people sore amazed many of them leapt downe from the top of the Turrets Pinacles and Towers where they stood to the ground whereby some had their legges broken some their armes some their backes some were hurt one where● some another where and many sore crusht and bruised but not any but they went away sore afraid wounded in conscience And yet writes my Author can neither the one nor the other fray men from these devillish exercises untill the Lord cōsume them all in his wrath The Lord of his mercy open the eyes of the Magistrates to plucke downe these places of abuse that God may be honoured and their consciences discharged Vpon the 13. of Ianuary Anno 1583. being the Lords-day an infinite number of people men women and children resorted unto Paris Garden to see Beare-bayting Playes and other pastimes and being alltogether mounted aloft upon their Scaffolds and Galleries and in the middest of all their iollity and pastime all the whole building not one sticke so much as standing fell downe miraculously to the ground with much horror and confusion In the fall of it fiue men and two women were slaine outright and above one hundred and fifty persons more sore wounded bruised whereof many died shortly after some of them having their braines dashed out some their heads all to quasht some their legges broken some their armes some their backes some one hurt some another there being nothing heard there but wofull shreekes and cryes which did even pierce the skies children bewayling there the death and hurts of their Parents Parents of their Children Wives

without but poysons onely within Thirdly though all these good things are in Stage-playes now and then yet they are there onely as good things perverted which prove worst of any Nothing is there so pernicious as good parts or a good wit abused as wit art eloquence and learning cast away upon an amorous prophane obscene lascivious subject on which whiles many out of a vaine-glorious humour have spent the very creame and flower of their admired parts I may truly affirme with Salvian Non tam illustrasse mihi ipsa ingenia quàm damnasse videantur they seeme to me not so much to have illustrated as damned their much applauded wits and parts in being acutely elegant in such unworthy sordid theames which modest e●es would blush to reade and chast tender consciences bleede to thin●e of As therefore Ovids transcendent poetry Martials prophane and scurrilous pande●ly wit Catullus Tibullus and Propertius their eloquence made their obscene lascivious poëms farre more pernicious not more chast and commendable so the elegancy invention stile and phrase of Stage-playes is onely an argument of their greater lewdnesse not any probate of their reall goodnesse What therefore Vincentius Lerinensis writes of Origen and Tertullian that their transcendent abilities of eloquence learning and acutenesse made their erronious Tenents farre more dangerous the same wee may conclude of Playes and Poets the more witty and sublime their stile or matter the more pernicious their fruites for then Viperium obducto pot●mus melle venenum We drinke downe deadly poyson in a honey potion which proves honey onely in the pallate but gall in the bowells death in the heart as the most delightfull amorous Stage-playes alwayes doe SCENA SEXTA THE 6. Objection in the defence of Stage-playes is this which is as common as it is prophane That Stage-playes are as good as Sermons and that many learne as much good at a Play as at a Sermon therefore they cannot be ill To this I shall answer first in the words of Mr. Philip Stubs and of I. G. in his Refutation of the Apologie for Actors p. 61. Oh blasphemy intollerable Are obscene Playes and filthy Enterludes comparable to the word of God the foode of life and life it selfe It is all one as if they had said Baudry Heathenry Paganisme Scurrilitie and Divelry it selfe is equall with Gods word or that Sathan is equipollent with the Lord. God hath ordained his word and made it the ordinary meanes of our salvation the Divell hath inferred the other as the ordinary meanes of our destruction God hath set his holy word and Ministers to instruct us in the way of life the Divell instituted Playes and Actors to seduce us into the way of death And will they yet compare the one with the other If he be accursed that calleth light darknesse and darknesse light truth falshood and falshood truth then à fortiori● is hee accursed that saith Playes and Enterludes are equivalent with Sermons or compareth Comedies Tragedies with the word of God whereas there is no mischiefe almost which they maintaine not Thus they But if Stage-playes be as good as Sermons as many prophane ones who heare and reade more Playes than Sermons deeme them then Players certainly by the selfesame argument are as good as Preachers and if this be so what difference betweene Christ and Belial Play-houses and Churches Ministers and Actors yea why then doe we not erect new Theaters in every Parish or turne our Churches into Play-houses our Preachers into Actors since they are thus parallels in their goodnesse But what prodigious and more than stygean profanesse is there in this comparison Who ever paralleld hell with heaven vice with vertue darknesse with light Divels with Angels dirt with gold yet there is as great a disparity in goodnesse betweene Playes and Sermons as there is in these the one being evermore reputed the chiefest happinesse the other the greatest mischiefe in any Christian State But this part of the objection is too grosse to confute since the very naming of it is a sufficient refutation I come therefore to the second clause That many learne as much good at Playes as at Sermons And I beleeve it too for had they ever learn'd any good at Sermons which would be altogether needles if so much goodnesse as is objected might be learn'd from Playes they would certainly have learned this among the rest never to resort to Stage-playes The truth then is this most Play-haunters learne no good at all at Sermons not because Sermons have no goodnesse for to teach them but because they are unapt to learne it partly because they seldome frequent Sermons at leastwise not so oft as Playes partly because their eares are so dull of hearing and their mindes so taken up with Play-house contemplations whiles they are at Church that they mind not seriously what they heare partly because the evill which they learne at Playes overcomes the good they learne at Sermons and will not suffer it to take root within them and partly because Playes and Sermons are so incompatible that it is almost impossible for any man to receive any good at all from Sermons whiles hee is a resorter unto Stageplayes Well therefore may they learne as much goodnesse from Playes as Sermons because they never learned ought from either but much hurt from both the very word of God being a stumbling blocke a meanes of greater condemnation yea a savour of death unto death to such unprofitable hearers who reape no grace nor goodnesse from it But to passe by this if there be so much goodnesse learn'd from Playes I pray informe me who doe learne it If any then either the Actors or Spectators For the Actors their goodnesse verily is so little that it is altogether to be learnt as yet and if ever they chance to attaine the smallest dram of grace as they are never like to doe whiles they continue Players it must be then from Sermons onely not from Playes which make them every day worse and worse but cannot possibly make them better For the Spectators they can learne no good at all from Playes because as Isiodor Pelusiota long since resolved it Players and Stageplayes can teach thē none Never heard or read I yet of any whom Stage-playes meliorated or taught any good all they can teach them all they learne from th●m is but some scurrill jests some witty obscenities some ribaldry ditties some amorous wanton complements some fantastique fashions some brothel-house Courtshippe to wooe a strumpet or to court a whore these are the best lessons these schooles of vice and lewdnesse teach or these their schollers learne I shall therefore close up this objection with that of Mr. Stubs and I. G. in their forequoted places If you will learne to doe any evill skilfully cunningly covertly or artificially you neede goe no other where than to the Theatre If you will learne falshood