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world_n	deny_v	live_v	ungodliness_n	2,303	5	11.2667	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57291	The stage condemn'd, and the encouragement given to the immoralities and profaneness of the theatre, by the English schools, universities and pulpits, censur'd King Charles I Sundays mask and declaration for sports and pastimes on the Sabbath, largely related and animadverted upon : the arguments of all the authors that have writ in defence of the stage against Mr. Collier, consider'd, and the sense of the fathers, councils, antient philosophers and poets, and of the Greek and Roman States, and of the first Christian Emperours concerning drama, faithfully deliver'd : together with the censure of the English state and of the several antient and modern divines of the Church of England upon the stage, and remarks on diverse late plays : as also on those presented by the two universities to King Charles I.	Ridpath, George, d. 1726.	1698 (1698)	Wing R1468; ESTC R17141	128,520	226

of a Divine of the Church of Rome viz. by Father Ca●●aro Divinity Professor at Paris as I find it annex'd to Mr. Motteuxes Play call'd Beauty in Distress Before I come directly to the Point it may not be improper to observe that considering the palpable Influence which the Stage hath had upon the Corruption of Manners so much complained of It seems no very suitable Imployment for one Divine of the Church of England to espouse the Defence of the Stage against another Nor is it very much for the Defendants Honour to make use of Arrows from a Popish Quiver for we have no Reason to think that a Popish Divine will be a Cordial Enemy to the Stage when the Worship of their Church does so much resemble the Pomp of the Theatre The Doctors first Argument is That the Scripture has no express and particular Precept against PLAYS Page 10. Which admitted to be True is an Argument of no Weight for Consequences naturally deduc'd from Scripture have the same Authority with the Text otherwise it could never be a Rule of Faith and Manners there being many thousands of things for which it serves as a Rule that it doth not particularly express So that the Doctors Argument would be equally servic●able to the Great Turk There 's no Express nor particular Precept against receiving Mohome● as a Prophet ergo But it is Naturally and Plainly infer'd from the Scriptures that because we are not to receive any other Doctrine than is there taught us therefore we are not to receive Mahomet as a Prophet By Consequences of like force and every whit as plain we shall find Stage-Plays condemned in Scripture I mean not only those that are guilty of Immorality Profaneness Blasphemy c. which the greatest Patrons of the Stage will not offer to defend but even Stage-Plays in general whose Business they will have it to be to recommend Vertue and discountenance Vice which I think will be very plain by the following Argument That which God hath appointed sufficient Means to Accomplish It is Unlawful for Men to appoint other Means to Accomplish But Go● hath appointed sufficient Means for Recommending Vertue and Discountenancing Vice without the STAGE Ergo It is Unlawful for Men to appoint the Stage for Recommending Vertue and Discountenancing Vice All t●e Controversie will lie about the first Proposition but I think there 's no Man who has a serious Impression of the infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness of God upon his Mind that will call it in Question seeing he must necessarily by so doing cast a Reflection upon all those Attributes and prefer the Wisdom Power and Goodness of Man to the Wisdom Power and Goodness of GOD. The second Proposition is clear from express Texts of Scripture The Apostle tells us That Magistracy is the Ordinance of God That Rulers are ordained by him to be a Terror to evil Works and to Praise those that do good And that they are the Ministers of God continually attending upon this very thing Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4 5. Whence it is evident That the Original End and Design of Magistracy is to Encourage Vertue and to Punish Vice And hence it is equally clear That seeing Commending is a Species of Reward and Lashing and Exposing a sort of Punishment the pretended Service of the Stage for those Ends is wholly needless God having sufficiently provided for that by appointing Magistrates This being so the Patrons of the Stage have no other Pretences left them but such as Mr. Collier enumerates briefly in his Introduction viz. That the Stage is useful to shew the uncertainty of Humane Greatness The sudden turns of Fate and the unhappy Conclusions of Violence and Injustice To expose the Singularities of Pride and Fancy To make Folly and Falshhood Contemptible And to bring every thing that is Ill under Infamy and Neglect But we are infinitely better provided for those Ends by the Word of GOD and the Ordinance of the Ministry We are taught That the former is able to make us wise unto Salvation I● given us by Inspiration of God for Doctrine Reproof Correction and Instruction in Righteousness that we may be perfect and throughly furnished unto all good Works 2 Timoth. 2. So that we have no need of the Instruction of the Stage for any of the Ends above● mentioned Are any of our Authors for the Theatre able to give such a Description of the Uncertainty of Humane Greatness and the Vanity of all Sublunary Things as Solomon hath given in his Ecclesiastes Can any of them give us more surprizing Instances of the sudden Turns of Fate and Revolutions of Providence than the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah of Pharaoh and his Host Sennacherib and his Army and many others related in the Scriptures with reference not only to the Publick but to particular Persons Nay are we not i●finitely better accommodated with real Instance● of that Nature ev'n from profane History than we possibly can be from their forged ones on the Stage Can our Poets shew us more unhappy Conclusions of Violence and Injustice than those that attended Pharaoh and the other Tyrants that persecuted the People of God Are they able to give us Instances of the Singularity of Pride and Tyranny equal to those of that same Pharaoh who said Who is the Lord that I should obey Him Of Nebuchad●nezzer who ●or his Pride was turn'd a grazing with the Beasts of the Field Or of Herod who for his Fantastical Apparel and Pride was eat up of Worms Are they able to expose Folly and Falshhood to more Contempt than the Sacred Scripture does which tells us That a Poor and a Wise Child is better than an Old and a Foolish King Eccl. 4. 13. And that tho' the Bread of Deceit and Falshood be sweet to a Man yet afterward his Mouth shall be fill'd with Gravel Prov. 20. 17. Hath not God appointed the Ministry To teach all Nations to observe whatsoever he hath command●d Matth. 28. 19. To distinguish betwixt the Precious and the Vile Jer. 15. 19. To use sharpness according to the Power that God hath given them 2 Corinth 13. 8 9 10. To be instant in Season and out of Season To Reprove Reb●ke Exhort To Teach us to deny Ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present Evil World Tit. 2. 12. Thus the second Proposition is plainly proved That God hath provided sufficient Means for Recommending Vertue and Discountenancing Vice without the STAGE Ergo it is Unlawful to Appoint the Stage for Recommending Vertue and Discountenancing Vice It may perhaps be objected That by this Argument the Exhortations and Reproofs of Parents Masters and Neighbours are also prov'd to be needless To which the Answer is ready That those Duties are enjoyn'd by the Scriptures on Parents Masters and Neighbours therefore 't is the Ministers Duty to urge them and the Magistrates Duty to see them perform'd but no such thing can be said of

ought to ●ntertain against the real practice of Uncleanness Cruelty and the other Vices there represeated This may be likewise prov'd by a very familiar Instance Butchers tho' but accustomed to the killing of Beasts have less horror generally for Murder than other men and Soldiers who are accustomed to behold Slaughter and Blood-shed are not generally so compassionate and tender-hearted as those who never were in a Field I must observe one thing by the way before I go any further viz. that Mr. Dennis and the Author of the Review contradict one another in this matter The Reviewer maintains against Mr. Collier that the Representations of the Stage don't impress the same Passions upon the Audience whereas Mr. Dennis asserts it and thinks it the Glory of the Theatre that it does so seeing raising the Passions is the only way to make a man happy I must declare my Agreement with Mr. Dennis as to the influence of those Representations upon the Spectators but at the same time must tell him that the Iniquites there represented especially irregular Amours have so strong a party in every man's corrupt Nature that those Lascivious Representations Intrigues of Courtship and Amorous Speeches have ten to one odds against our Virtue which taking in Religion to its assistance is often found too weak and many times foil'd by corrupt Nature as appears by the Instances of David and Solomon the holiest and wisest of men and therefore it is that the reproofs and punishments allotted to Vice by the Stage have never been able to obtain those Ends which its Patrons pretend to viz. the Incouragement of Virtue and discountenancing of Vice but hath always produc'd the contrary Effect But to take a further View of Mr. Dennis's Notion that we are made happy by Pleasures let 's examine it a little by Sacred Writ There we find Solomon who had made the largest Experiment of it declaring that all the Pleasures this World can afford even those refined ones of Wisdom and Knowledge not excepted to be nothing but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit If we take in the Suffrage of the New Testament there we find our Saviour and his Apostles condemning this Passion for worldly Pleasures as the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life they expresly forbid us to make any Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof command us to set our Assections on things above and not on things below and to mortifi● inordinate Affections tells us that those that are Christs crucifie the Flesh with its Lusts and Affections condemn those that are Lovers of Pleasure● more than Lovers of God number those who serve their Lusts and Pleasures among Fools and Rebels to Heaven tell us that our Prayers are denied because we ask things to consume upon our Lusts or Pleasures as it 's read in the Margin and inform us that the Word of God is choa●ed by the Pleasures of the World So much as to Pleasure in general and then if we come to Particulars Inordinate Pleasure in Riches or Covetousness is condem● as Iaolatry a Lustful Look after a Woman is censur'd as Adultery If we consider our Apparel there we are commanded to be modest If we look to our Dyet the Scripture informs us that a Glatton shall come to Poverty and strictly forbids us Rioting and Drunkenness If we consider our Discourse there 's no corrupt Communication to proo●●d out of our Mouth but our Speech ought always to be with Grace and s●asoned with Salt foolish Iesting and filthy Talking is also discharged And in the whole the Apostle tells us expresly That those who live in Pleas●res are dead while they live which tho' spoken particularly of Widows does by parity of Reason extend to all Christians We are commanded to rejoyce as if we rejoyced not to use this World as not abusing it to behave our selves as Strangers and Pilgrims in the World and to avoid all Bitterness Malice and Evil-speaking * Then seeing it is so how can any Christian indulge themselves in Passion or Transports of Pleasure in any sublunary Thing How can they allow themselves in those foolish Jests filthy Discourses and immoderate Laughters that are occasioned by Comedies or in that Wrath Clamour Malice and Revenge which breath forth every where in Tragedies How can they that are call'● to Mourn over their own Sins and those of others laugh at the Follies and Lewdness of Whoremongers represented on the Stage or how can they in Conscience take pleasure in the Representations of those things to the Eye in Publick that they ought to be ashamed to hear spoken of as committed in Secret How dare they that are commanded to work out their Salvation with fear and Trembling delight in such Wantonness Jollity and Revelling With what Conscience can they that are commanded to redeem their time mispend it so unconscionably in the lew'd Theatre or with what Peace of Conscience can they lavish out Money in such needless Pleasures when so many of the poor Saints and Servants of God are starving for want of Necessaries Mr. Dennis in the latter part of his first Chapter seems to recant his Epicurean Lecture in the rest of it and tells us the Passions must be rais'd in such manner as to take reason along with them which how he will reconcile to his former Positions that Reason often afflicts and makes us miserable hinders our Pleasures and Combates our Passions and that nothing but Passion in effect can please us and nothing but Pleasure can make us happy Let him see to it Perhaps he was exalted to his own Heaven and wrote those Contradictions when he was deliver'd from his Mortal Organs and his Reason had left him And if it was so he had as good have conceal'd his Ex●atical Raptures for any great Feats they are like to do in the World they may perhaps make Quakers but sure I am they can never make Christians Aud thus I leave it to the Judicious Reader to consider whether he hath prov'd that the Stage is Useful to the Happiness of Mankind In his Second Chapter he attempts to prove That the Stage is more particularly Instrumental to the Happiness of Englishmen and the Argument he makes use of is That the English are the most Splenetick People in Europe of a gloomy sullen Temper uneasie to themselves and dangerous to the Government This is enough in all Conscience to give them a fit of the Spleen were they never so good Natur'd but to alleviate our Anger he tells us it 's the fault of Heaven the reigning Distemper of our Clime and to oblige us further he directs us to the Drama as our Remedy I am afraid our Author is neither a Traveller Historian nor Polititian else he would scarcely have v●ntur'd on such a Reflection Let him but waft himself over