practice of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he loves and takes delight to heaâ—… 〈◊〉 of A Maxim this is of very greâ—…â—…icance and use in matters relating to â—…ane Conversation and such as once allowed will leave no room for those agreeable and insnaring Sentiments which are now the Ground-work and darling Subject of all our modern Compositions for the Stage XIX Another prin ciple of Plato upon this matter Plato by a Principle still more general was Convinced that those Arts and Trades which minister only to Pleasure and have This for their Object are all of them dangerous to Morality and Humane Life Because they make it their business to pick it up any where from good or bad Causes even at the expence of all that is truly Valuable Nay they sacrifice even Virtue and Conscience and Decency and every thing so little are They given to proceed with any Distinction whose end it is to furnish Pleasure if the most scandalous means happen at any time to be necessary for compassing that end And hence this Philosopher fetches a fresh Argument for banishing utterly out of his Re-publick not only Comick and Tragick but even Epick Poets too Nor could he be prevailed upon to extend his Mercy to the Divine Homer himself as he was then styled though his Writings in those days were thought the effect of Inspiration But all this notwithstanding the inexorable Plato sent them all packing together because All agreeing in the same common Design of Pleasure they do all put true or false good or bad Instructions upon the World and without any regard to the Simplicity and Unity of Truth and that it ought always to be the same they vary and shift as occasion serves and aim at nothing but pleasing the Palates and cherishing the Passions of Men. Which being the most complicated and changeable things in Nature they must shuffle and change accordingly This he tells us is the very Reason why there is an old Antipathy between the Philosophers and the Poets The Former conforming themselves to Reason the Latter accomodating their Studies to Pleasure He therefore frames such Laws as dismiss these Latter with an appearance of Respect and crown them with a sort of imaginary Lawrel but at the same time with an inflexible Severity accosting them thus We cannot away with the Exclamations of your Theatres nor bear that any body in our Cities should speak louder or be more heard than ourselves And if these Civil Institutions were so rigorous shall the Christian suffer any to Drown the Voice of the Gospel among us Shall men most zealously Applaud and labour with all their might to Recommend to the World Ambition and Fame and Revenge and those fantastical Notions of Honour which Jesus Christ hath banished from among Them whom he hath commanded to renounce the World Shall we support and cherish those Passions which he hath directed us to subdue and stifile St Iohn calls loudly to all Believers and all Ages and Conditions of men I have written unto you Fathers I have written unto you Old Men I have written unto you Young Men I have written unto you Children That is to all you that are Christians of what Quality soever Love not the World neither the things that are in the World For all that is in the World is the Lust of the Elesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of 〈◊〉 In these words both the World it self and the Stage which is the Image and Picture of it are equally reproved For it is the World with it's Pomps and Vanities and wicked Charms which our Plays represent and recommend to us As therefore in the World which is the Original all things are full of Sensuality and Curiosity Ostentation and Vanity and Pride so in the Stage which is the Copy these things abound and reign And the Effect of the Theatre must needs be to make us Fond of these things because the only End it pursues is to promote Pleasure and render the Representation of these things Entertaining and Delightful to us XX. The Scriptures silent upon this â—…sion and why But after all if Plays be so very Dangerous we are urged to give an Account how it comes to pass that Jesus Christ and his Apostles have never given us warning of so exceeding perillous a Diversion nay that they have not expresly forbidden so great an Evil. This Remark hath likewise been thought worthy a place in the Discourse If you read the Scriptures over and over you will never meet says he with any express and particular Precept against Plays Now the Writers that pretend to Argue at this rate and would draw any advantageous Inferences from this Silence of Scripture may proceed and would do like themselves by Parity of Reason to justify the Gladiators and all the Horror and Brutality of the Heathen Spectacles Since the Scriptures it must be confess'd have no more express Precepts against These than they have against Plays That is in truth they never so much as mention Either But the Holy Fathers who were pressed with the like Difficulties by the Apologists for those Spectacles heretofore have led us the way in this Argument And from Them we may learn that the true and solid Answer to such Objections is this That The Scriptures which forbid and banish vicious Inclinations as unlawful do by necessary Consequence forbid all such Representations which by delighting the Senses do naturally and industriously intangle and uphold men in those vicious Inclinations Thus immodest Pictures are condemned in all those passages of Holy Writ where all immodest and uncomely things are forbidden in general Terms And the Case is exactly the same in the Representations upon the Stage St. Iohn hath included All and nothing can be more full than that of his first Epistle Love not the World neither the things that are in the World if any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him For all that is in the World the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride â—… Life is not of the Father but is of the World Now if this Lust be not of God that delightful Representation which tricks it up and sets it off in all its alluring Charms is not of him neither and if This be of the World as well as the Other then Christians are as much forbidden to love or partake in This as the Other St. Paul hath likewise comprehended all such matters in that solemn and very remarkable Precept Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure or Chast whatsoever things are of good report if there be any Virtue and if there be any Praise think on these things Consequently Whatever takes our Thoughts and Affections off from these things and inspires Thoughts and Affections of a contrary Quality ought by no means to delight us nay ought by all means to be suspected
Plato 59. Chap. XVII That Women were not Suffered to appear upon the Stage of the Antients 60. Chap. XVIII Aristotles Opinion in this Matter 61. Chap. XIX Another Principle of Plato upon the same Subject 63. Chap. XX. The Scriptures silent in the matter of Publick Shews and why No such in use among the Iews 66. How they are condemned in the Holy Scripture Two Passages of St. John and St. Paul Chap. XXI A Reflexion upon the Book of Canticles and Musick in Churches 71. Chap. XXII St. Thomas Aquinas his Doctrine upon this occasion examined and explained 72. Chap. XXIII The First and Second Reflection upon St. Thomas his Doctrine 75. Chap. XXIV The Third Reflection upon St. Thomas his Doctrine Some Passages out of this Holy and eminent Casuist concerning Buffoonery 77. Chap. XXV The Fourth and Fifth and Sixth Reflections An express passage out of St. Thomas in another part of his works and his Opinions here reconciled with that formerly cited 79. Chap. XXVI The Opinion of St. Antonine Arch Bp. of Florence examined 85. Chap. XXVII The Profanation of Festivals and Fasts introduced by the Author of the Discourse And his own Words upon Fastingdays produced against him 88. Chap. XXVIII The Doctrin of the Scriptures and of the Church upon the Subject of Fasting 89. Chap. XXIX A Fresh abuse of St. Thomas his Doctrine 92 Chap. XXX The Profanation of the Lords Day A strange Explication of the Precept for Sanctifying Days set apart for Divine Worship 99. Chap. XXXI Reflections upon that Virtue which Aristotle and after Him St. Thomas have termed Eutrapelia Aristotle opposed by St. Chrysostome in a passage of his Commentaries upon St. Paul 105. Chap. XXXII Some passages taken from S. Ambrose and St. Jerom upon Discourses which provoke Laughter 110. Chap. XXXIII Some Passages of St Basil upon the Seriousness required in a Christians Conversation 116. Chap. XXXIV The Consequence of the Foregoing Doctrin 120. Chap. XXXV The Conclusion of this whole Treatise 122. Maxims and Reflections UPON PLAYS I. THAT Father who is Supposed to be the Author of a late Letter or Discourse in defence of Plays hath given publick Satisfaction to the World by a Recantation as Submissive as it was solemn The Authority of the Church hath exerted it self upon this Occasion And by Her Pious Care Truth hath had right done it sound Doctrine is asserted and preserved And all that now remains necessary to be done is to disabuse and inform the world upon a Subject which great pains have been taken to darken and perplex The Arguments made use of to this purpose are indeed in their own nature but weak and frivolous Such as would deserve only to be despised if we might be allowed to despise any thing which brings unwary and injudicious Souls into hazard And such are these because in their Consequences apt to confound men of worldly minds who are always disposed to be led easily into Errour by any thing that cherishes and flatters their Inclinations The Authority of the Holy Fathers is here very laboriously eluded and That of the Schoolmen and Casuists set up in Opposition against it And some crafty Accommodations have been found out to bring these two seemingly contending Parties upon amicable terms with one another As if Plays in process of time were become more innocent pure and inoffensive in Our days in comparison of what they were in Theirs who inveighed against them with such Holy Vehemence heretofore The sacred names of St. Thomas and other eminent Lights in the Church are produced in their Vindication and even the Confessions of Penitents made to give Testimony to the Lawfullness and Harmless effects of these Diversions The Person concerned in this Apology is a Priest and a Confessor and he gives us his solemn word that he is utterly ignorant of all those Vices and evil Consequences which are charged upon Plays by some over-rigorous and morose Divines The force of Publick Censures and the Authority of Rituals are weakned and disparaged And no Artifice in short is omitted in this little Tract which so narrow a Compass could be capable of For as it's Brevity would render it more generally read so the Composition is of that contrivance which will qualify it admirably for imposing upon the Reader by putting a good face upon a bad Cause Nothing farther could be requisite to abuse the weak and ignorant and to give countenance to that Infirmity of Humane Nature which without such Advocates is but too prone to indulge it self Upon these accounts some Persons eminent for their Piety and Learning and their Station in the Church who are throughly acquainted with the dispositions of Mankind and well aware of the mischiefs which may grow from thus patronizing them have thought it may be a usefull and seasonable prevention to return an answer to this Discourse by some short Reflections which besides the same advantage of Brevity to recommend them to the Readers Perusall may in all points be agreable to the great Principles of Religion By the advice of these Persons it is that I suffer this little Tract to come abroad and make a small Addition to the several Discourses already published upon this subject II. The True Stat of the Question To remove those powerfull Prepoffessions which so considerable an Authority as that of Thomas Aquinas might infect mens minds withal it may possibly be thought the properest course to begin this Tract with discussing the severall Passages produced in favour of Plays from so eminent a Casuist But I rather choose to lead my Reader to the Truth by a shorter Cut and before I engage him in this Examination to lay down some plain principles which will require neither niceness of Judgment nor laborious Reading For thus much is agreed on all hands and no man indeed can pretend to deny it that if St. Thomas and other Holy Persons have tolerated or allowed Plays it was no part of their Intention that such among these as are destructive of Good manners should lay claime to any Privilege or Benefit by such Toleration or be thought in any degree to be approved or protected by them This is the point to which we must keep our Adversaries close and I desire no fairer Advantage to joyn Issue upon not doubting but upon this single Concession I shall be able to overthrow all the Pretensions of this Apology III. Now the First thing which I find fault with upon this Occasion is that One who calls himself a Priest should have the Confidence to affirm that Plays such as are now acted are such as he can see no fault in nay that they are at present so pure upon the French Threatre that there is nothing in them which can offend the chastest Far. It seems then at this rate that either all those impious and scandalous Passages in which the Compositions of Moliere abound must be allowed for Innocent and Unblameable or else that these Plays are not to
they drive at What they call noble Passions are the reproach of our Reasonable Nature The absolute sovereignty of a false and frail Beauty that Usurpation and Tyranny which they set off and trick up in it's best colours flatters the Vanity of One Sex disparages and degrades the Dignity of the Other and brings Both into Subjection to the Dominion of appetite and sense VII The Authors words and the Advantage he makes of Confessions But the most dangerous Passage in this Discourse is that where the Author endeavours to prove the Harmlessness of the Stage by Arguments drawn from Experience There are he tells us Three very easy ways of knowing what is done at the Theatres and I says he acknowledge that I have made use of all Three The First is to inform ones self of it by Men of Parts and Probity who out of that Horrour they have to Sin would not allow themselves to be present at those sort of shows if Sinfull The Next is to judge by the Confessions of those who go thither of the evil Effects which Plays produce upon their minds And this is a surer method than the Former becouse there could be no greater Accusation of them than that which comes out of the mouth of Persons guilty and selfcondemned The Third is the Reading of the Plays which is not forbidden as the Representation of them may have been And I protest proceeds he that I have not by any of these ways been able to discover the least appearance of the Excesses which the Fathers with so much Iustice condemned in Plays Here you have a man urging matter of Fact and appealing not to his own Experience alone but to that of the most and best men nay to almost all Mankind A world of People he tells us of eminent Virtue and of a very nice not to say Scrupulous Conscience have been forced to own that Plays on the French Theatre are at present so pure that there is nothing in them which can offend the Chastest Ear. VIII The open and secret Faults in Plays Dangerous and unseen Dispositions Concupiscâ—…nce Sâ—…attered through all the Senses At this rate if we may credit this Author even Confession which discloses all sins can discover no fault in the Playhouse And he assures us with a Confidence and solemnity that would even make a Good man tremble that he hath never been able to discern any footsteps of that pretended malignity nor of those Vices which are charged upon Plays as their proper Source and Cause It seems those of the Female Singers and Actors and their Keepers and Gallants did not at present recur to his Thoughts and he quite forgot that Precept left us by Solomon to avoid those Women who wear the Attire of Harlots and are Subtle in heart who lye in wait to destroy Souls who cause men to yield with much fair Speech and force them with the flattering of their Lips such as their Discourses their Songs their Rehearsals So that men throw themselves into their Snares as a Bird hasteth to the Net And is there no fault in arming Women that profess Christianity against feeble and unwary Souls to put into their hands those darts which Strike through the heart to Devote and sacrifice them to publick Lewdness after a more dangerous manner than is done even in those Places which Decency will not suffer us to mention What Mother I do not say who hath a due regard to Chrstianity but who is not utterly lost to all sense of Decency and Reputation would not rather choose to see a Daughter in her Grave than upon the Stage What! Hath she been at the Expence of so much Trouble and Tenderness in her Education to see her after all that Care engage in a Livelihood of so much Scandal Hath she kept her night and day under her wings as it were to shelter her from Temptation and is the fruit of all her pains come to this at last to have her made common and set up for a snare to Youth Who does not look upon these wretched Christians if They may be allowed that Title still who live in such barefaced contradiction to their Baptismall Vows who I say looks upon them under any other Character than that of Slaves and Prostitutes and such as have utterly extinguished all remains of Modesty and Shame For such we must esteem them though they were guilty of nothing else but industriously drawing so many Eyes upon them For even This is monstrous and unnaturall in Persons whose very Sex had consecrated them to Modesty and Reserve and whose naturall Weakness requires the safe retreat of a well ordered Family And yet even These expose themselves in a full Play-house with all the pomp of Vanity like those Sirens which Isaiah says take up their Dwelling in the Temples of Pleasure whose Looks are armed with Death and who take back again the Poyson scattered by their Voices returned in the Applauses which the Company give their Performances And is there no Blame due no Concern requisite to the Spectators who reward these Wretches Luxury and make it a gain to them who Support them in their Corruption of manners who expose their own Hearts as a Prey to them and go to be taught by such precious Instructors things which they ought to continue for ever ignorant of If there be Nothing in all This which breaks in upon the Measures of Decency and Good report if nothing which is fit to be brought with men to Confession I cannot but lament that such stupidity and blindness should prevail among Christians But especially What an Amazement is it that a man should use the Title of Priest that he might with the more authority and certain effect deliver Christians from those poor remains of Remorse which the World hath not yet utterly lost for such Extravagancies You tell us you do not find by Confession that the Rich who frequent the Theatres are the greatest Sinners and that the Guilt of their Lives is pretty equal with the Poor who never saw a Play Why do you not compleat the Argument by adding farther that Luxury and Esseminacy and Idleness and the Excess and exquisite Delicacy of high feeding and the anxious pursuit of Pleasures in every thing they do are not at all injurious to the Rich because the Poor whose Condition sets them at a distance from these Temptations are equally depraved with love of Pleasures Are not you sensible Sir that there are some things which thought they do not visibly produce the ill Effects mentioned here do yet infuse some secret dispositions of very mischievous consequence though these dispositions do not always break out into act nor betray all their malignity presently Whatever feeds and inflames the Passions is of this kind And a man who made due enquiry into the state of his Soul and examined all the lurking Causes of evil there would find abundant matter for Confession in things of this nature He
this Error we need only consider the just Importance of those Arguments upon which these Prohibitions to Clergy-men in particular are founded You will find for instance in the Canons of Nice in the Decretals of Lâ—…o and other Decrees of the Church that the passages of Scripture upon which the forbidding of Usury to Persons in Holy Orders is grounded are such as equally concern and oblige all Christians of what quality soever And the natural and necessary Consequence arising from hence is That what the general Precepts of the Gospel had before ordained for all the Church by her subsequent Orders intended to enforce and bind yet more upon the Clergy in particular And the true way of arguing the like case will be to make the fame Inference from these Canons which forbid all Ecclesiastical Persons to be present at publick Shews This is the true state of the Question now before us and that Canon of the Council of Tours Transcribed into this Paragraph may prove a very safe and excellent Guide to our Reasonings in such matters XIV An Answer to that 〈◊〉 takâ—… from the necessâ—… oâ—… Diversâ—… We are told indeed that it is necessary to find out some Diversion for the Minds of Men and some thing which may be an amusement to Courts and common People But to this St. Chrysostom replyes That there is no need of flocking to Theatres for we may find abundance of Entertainment elsewhere All Nature is richly furnished with delightful Spectacles and not only so but the exercises of Religion and our own private Affairs are capable of furnishing us with such Variety of Imployment in which the Mind may recreate it self that a man need be at no trouble to seek out more In short that a Christian hath no such urgent Occasions for Pleasure as should oblige him to procure it by such frequent Repetitions and such solemn and industrious Pains to render it agreeable But if our vitiated Palat can no longer take up with such Delights as are plain and natural and wholsome and diseased Minds must be awakened and quickened up to Pleasure by Motions that are extraordinary and irregular leaving to others the determining of particular Cases which does not fall within the compass of my present Design I shall make no difficulty to declare in general that the most modest and moderate Refreshments ought to be applyed and such Diversions as are least apt to stir our Passions and discompose the settled sedate Temper of our Minds And what those are I shall not need to take the Judgment of the Fathers since even the Philosophers themselves have left us sufficient Information We do not says Plato admit either Comedies or Tragedies into our City That very Art which qualifies a Player to act so many several Parts and put on such different Disguises was thought by Plato to taint Humane Conversation with a character of Levity unsuitable to the Dignity of a Man and directly opposite to that Sincerity required in all our Manners and Behaviour When he proceeded farther to consider that the Characters represented upon the Stage were for the most part either mean and low or vicious and debauched he saw that there was a great deal of mischief and danger in this Practice which threatned the Players themselves and found cause to fear lest they by degrees should be brought to be really and in good earnest the very thing they used to Personate This Argument undermines the very Foundations of the Theatre and does not only leave no reason for Idle Spectators but leaves none for the very Actors to support themselves with The Argument of this Philosopher hath it's peculiar force upon that Observation that Imitation by degrees turns into Nature and by counterfeiting other men's Qualities and Vices men at last come to make them their own They degenerate into the Spirit and Temper they put on become Slaves by affecting to appear such and Vicious by committing Vice in Effigie but especially when the vehemence of any Passion is to be represented there is a necessity of forming and blowing up those Passions in their own Minds which must be expressed and conveyed to the Audience by outward Gestures The Spectator likewise who is pleased with this must partake of the same Temper he commends and admires the Player because he raised these Emotions in him and all this as he goes on there is just the watering and cherishing those ill Weeds which ought by all means to have their Growth checked and be suffered to wither away and dye in us Thus all the pomp and preparation of Plays tends only to make men Passionate to strengthen that brutal and unreasonable part of our Souls which is the Spring of all our Weakness and Folly And from hence he determined utterly to reject and exclude from His Constitution that voluptuous and sensual kind of Poetry which he says is so dangerous a Temptation that this alone is capable of corrupting the most and the best of men XV. The Tragedy of the Antients tho more grave than that of the Moderns conâ—…ned by 〈◊〉 Principles of 〈◊〉 Philosopher By this means he pushes his Argument on to the very first Principles and carries it so high as to strip Plays of all that is Pleasurable and Entertaining in them which is the Diversion they give by representing and exciting the Passions The Invectives of the Fathers are partly levelled at the too large Freedoms and the Indecencies of the Theatres of the Antients which yet were intended against all Scenical 〈◊〉 and Representations in general It is the greatest mistake in the world to think that Their Tragedy was the only thing blamed for whatever Pieces of this kind are transmitted to us from the old Pagans I blush to think what a Reproach this Observation is to Christians do so very far excel ours in Gravity and Wisdom that the modern Theatres will not bear the same Seriousness and natural Simplicity Our Poets do so far exceed all measures in this Point that even the English I hear insult over some of them for their intemperate Itch of Gallantry and making their Heroes carry their soft Passions to the utmost heighth in Season and out of Season The Antients were very far from this Indecency and prudently confined that Passion to Comedy which had not the Spirit and sublime Air fit for the Grandeur proper to Tragedy And yet even This most exalted and serious part which is truly Tragical could not obtain the Approbation of their Philosophers Plato would not endure the solemn I amentations of the Theatre because as he said â—…y gave too much Countenance to that weakness of Mâ—…d and querulous Temper which utters it â—…elf 〈◊〉 Sighs and Tears and dolâ—…ful Complaâ—…s And the Argument he brings against 〈◊〉 is very substantial viz. That no â—…tunes which happen to men in this 〈◊〉 are worth so deep Resentment and so many Tears Nor is he less displeased with the cherishing those
and shunned by us In this Collection of Objects for our Thoughts which St. Paul here propounds to every Christian let our Vindicators try if they can find any place for our Modern Plays how loudly and boldly soever the men of this World maâ—… boast of or undertake to defend then But farther yet It is no hard matter to assign a sufficient Reason for the profound Silence of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Scriptures upon this Subject of Plays which is that there was no occasion to make any mention of them to those Iews to whom they principally addressed themselves because these sorts of Diversion had never been received or in common practice among them They had no Spectacles to make a part of their solemn Rejoyings Their Festivals their Sacrifices and their Religious Ceremonies supplyed this Office abundantly They were by their primitive Institution a plain and natural sort of Livers They had none of the Gayeties and corrupt Inventions of Greece and after that Encomium of Balaam There is no Idol in Iacob neither is there any Divination in Israel a man might add There are no Theatres neither are there any corrupt and dangerous Representations among them This Innocent People found Pleasure and Entertainment enough in their own Families and with their own Children Here they chose to recreate their Minds after the Example set them by their Ancestors the Patriarchs when they had laboured and satigued themselves in cultivating their Ground or attending their Flocks and those other domestick Cares which succeeded into the place of these Employments And indeed we much mistake the matter if as we find They had not so we vainly suppose that any Other men have need of so profuse Expence so much contrivance and such exquisite Vanity to divert and refresh themselves Such is the Character of those Iews and this in all probability was one main Reason why the Apostles were silent in this matter They who had all along been accustomed to that simplicity of behaviour in use among that Race and in that Countrey were not concerned to reprove or take notice in their Writings of such Practices as the Nation with whom they conversed and to whom they wrote were perfectly strangers to It was sufficient for Their purpose to lay down such general Principles of Virtue as would be sure to create a dislike of these things if ever they should be afterwards introduced The Christians knew well enough that their Religion was a Superstructure upon the Iewish and that the Church ought not to admit what the Synagogue had banished before But however that be the Iews Reserve and Strictness in this matter is a great Example to Christians And a horrible reproach it is to a Spiritual People to indulge the sensual appetites and affections by those Delights which a Carnal People never knew any thing of XXI Reflections upon the Book of Canticles and Church-Musick There was but one Dramatick Poem ever among the Iews and that is the Book of Canticles But this Breathes only Heavenly and Divine Love And yet because this refined and exalted affection is represented in Characters of human Love young People were forbidden to read that Book Whereas now no scruple is made of inviting men to see Lovers sighing and dying only for the meer pleasure of Loving and to give the Spectators a Relish for the Amorous folly St. Augustin makes some Question whether Musick and Singing should be allowed in Churches and if the severe discipline of St. Athanasius and the Church of Alexandria should not rather be stuck to which was so grave and rigorous as scarcely to allow the gentlest turns of the Voice in Singing or rather in repeating the Psalms So very jealous were some good men in the Church that the sweetness of Singing might make the mind too light and airy I do not instance in this example with any design of censuring the contrary methods since in use by which though somewhat late grave and solemn Musick was introduced into Divine Worship to raise the minds of men when they sink and flag and sensibly to express the Magnificence of this Worship when their cold and languid Devotions stand in need of these Helps I would not therefore be thought to condemn this Practice either by the simplicity of the Ancient or the Gravity of the Modern Singing I only complain that the Scrupulous nicety of those Holy Fathers is so far forgotten that instead of being tender and jealous of admitting the delights of Musick to set off the Songs of Sion the world takes pains to apply them to Vice and Ribaldry and such as Profane Atheistcal Babylon would inspire her Abominations with The same St. Augustine reproves those Writers who made an Ostentation of their Wit in giving pretty turns to matters of no great moment and begs them that they would not take pains to make that Pleasing which is not Profitable Ne faciant delectabilia quae sunt inutilia But now men labour to make that please which is sure to hurt them whom it pleases And no less pernicious a Design than this hath gained the Author of the Discourse a great many Friends and Favourites in the world XXII St. Thomas Aquinas his Doctrine upon this occasion explained It is now a proper time to divest this discourse of the Authority and Warrant which Plays are here Intitled to from the great names of St. Thomas and other Holy and Learned Casuists As to St. Thomas Two Articles are alledged out of Him part of the Question concerning Modesty in outward Actions and Bodily Gestures And nothing we are told can be more particular more full to the purpose than what he delivers there is in vindication of Plays Now first of all I must observe to my Reader that the Business of Plays is not the main Subject which he there designed to treat of but that it comes in occasionally only The Question propounded in that second Article is Whether there be such things as we call â—…udicrous and Diverting which may be allowed of in human Conversation as well in Actions as in Words dictis seu factis In plain Terms Whether there be such things as Sports and Diversions and Innocent Recreations which may come under the Head of Bodily Gestures And he affirms that such there are and that the using them well and pâ—…dently is not only allowable but even a Virtue which is not by any means the matter now in dispute Throughout this whole Article he says not one word of Plays But he speaks in general Terms concerning Diversions necessary for unbending and refreshing the Mind which he reduces to that Virtue styled by Aristotle Eutrapelia as their proper Topick in Morality A Term which I shall have occasion to explain by and by From hence he proceeds to the Third Article and here the Point to be discussed is VVhether men may be guilty of any vitious excess in such Merriments and Diversions And he shews evidently that
Fools and Clowns Whereas St. Chrysostome keeps his Eye chiefly upon that part of the Signification which implyes the Levity and Inconstancy of the Person the Meanness of turning Mimick and affecting to make the Company Laugh All which he looks upon as Qualities much too trifling and airy for the Gravity of a Christian who hath such important Concerns upon his hands and beneath whose Character it is to descend to such little and despicable Artifices and Designs This is what he very frequently inculcates and urges in proof of it those words of St. Paul immediately following that These things are not convenient For whereas the Vulgar hath Translated it Scurrilitas quae ad rem non pertinet So referring this last Clause to Iesting only The Greek plainly intimates that all those things mentioned before by the Apostle are not convenient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thus the Vulgar likewise heretofore understood the passage as may be gathered from St. Ierome who reads it non pertinent But whatever become of these Criticisms and various Readings St. Chrysostome is express and positive that these Three sorts of Discourse the Filthy the Foolish and the Iesting or Ridiculing are not convenient for a Christian. And he explains that Term Convenient by saying they do not belong to us we have nothing to do with them That is They do not suit our Condition nor are of a Piece with our Christian Calling and Duty Under these sorts of discourse thus unbecoming and unworthy of Christians he comprehends even those which the Greek and Latin Writers stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Urbana by which they meant the most witty and inoffensive sort of Railery such as spoke a man ingenious and well bred as well as facetious and good humoured Of what use says he are even these Railleries they only serve to make you laugh And a little after All these things which turn to no Profit and such as we have nothing to do with are no part of our Christian Profession which consists of and recommends such Methods and Practices only as are profitable and pertinent to it 's main Design Therefore let there be no Idle Word among you plainly alluding to that Sentence of our Blessed Saviour where he forbids and threatens such Words with a severe Reckoning to be required for them This Father proceeds to represent the mischievous Consequences of such light and frothy Wit and at every turn puts us in mind again that such Discourses as aim at provoking Laughter however they may be lookt upon as marks of Parts and Polished Conversation are yet unworthy of a Christian and he at once laments and professes himself amazed that any such wretched thing as a Knack of this kind should pass upon the world for an accomplishment and be ranked under any Head of Virtue This it is evident was intended for a Gird at Aristotle who is the only Person with whom This passes for a Virtue which St. Chrysostome can by no means admit to be such I have already shewed that he took his notion and Etymology of Eutrapelia from Aristotle Thus it is obvious to discern he treats of it throughout that so often cited Homily And those Readers who are at all acquainted with the Spirit and Manner of St. Chrysostome whose Discourses are full of learned and secret allusions to the Doctrin of the old Philosophers which it is his way frequently to reprove without any express mention of the Authors who maintained it will make no doubt that my present Observation is just And thus you have St. Chrysostome's Opinion of that pretended Virtue stiled Eutrapelia which the Primitive and Purer Christians knew little of Theophylact and Oecumenius do here as is usual with them in other places they are only an abridgment of what St. Chrysostome had delivered more at large and do not go about at all to mollify the seeming austere Principles of their Master XXXII Some Passages out of St. Ambrose and St. Jerom upon the same Subject Nor are the Latin Fathers less severe upon this Occasion St. Thomas quotes a passage out of St. Ambrose which he finds himself hard put to it to reconcile with Aristotle It is taken out of his Book of Offices wherein that Father handles much the same Subjects which Cicero had done in that Tract we have of his under the same Title And here after having taken notice of the Rules given by that Orator and some other Philosophers who were the Wise Men of this World Seculares Viri upon the matter of Iesting and Raillery Ioca he begins with this Remark that he for his part hath nothing to say upon this branch of the Precepts and Doctrin of the Moral Philosophers de jocandè disciplina This says he is a Topick fit for us to pass over in silence nobis proetereunda Such as Christians are not concerned in because as he goes on there although there be some Railleries in Conversation which are sometimes agreeable and decent licet interdum Ioca honesta sint ac suavia yet are they contrary to the Rules and Discipline of the Church ab Ecclefiasticâ abhorrent regulà For says he we cannot prescribe the practice of those things which the Scriptures have not thought fit to give any directions for Quae in Scripturis sanctis non reperimus ea quemadmodum usurpare possumus And this is most manifest that in those Holy Books we no where meet with any Approbation or Warrant for such sort of Talk as aims and labours to make men laugh So far from that that St. Ambrose after having instanced in those words of our Blessed Saviour Wo unto you that laugh now expresses his Astonishment that Christians should so industrously seek occasions and contrive matter for Laughter et nos Ridâ—…ndi materiam quaerimus ut hîc ridentes illîc fleamus Where we shall do well to observe that he rather forbids seeking these occasions industriously than suffering our selves to be diverted with them when they offer of their own accord and fall in without our seeking But this distinction notwithstanding he infers that we ought to decline not only studied and excessive Raillery but indeed all sorts of it non solum profusos sed omnes etiam jocos declinandos arbitror And This explains what went before by giving us to understand that the Decency there mentioned and allowed was such only as regards the sense of the world and the Measures of common Conversation not that it hath any express allowance or Approbation from Scripture or is not if nicely considered an Offence against the Rule of a Christian Temper and Behaviour and the Discipline of the Church Aquinas that he might mollify this Passage so irreconcileable with Aristotle's Virtue of Eutrapelia tells us that St. Ambrose did not design utterly to banish Iesting out of common Conversation but only to shew that it was not allowable in the Christian Doctrin Non excludit universaliter jocum a conversatione humana
the Gravity of a Christian Conversation It was a very common thing with the Fathers to understand that Passage of our Blessed Lord Wo unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep in the utmost rigour and literal Sense St. Basil who from thence inferred that it was not lawful to laugh at all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though it were merely upon the account of the mighty number of those wicked and profane Wretches who openly affront God and treat his Laws with despight and contempt This single consideration being sad enough to damp and quash all disposition to mirth in a zealous and Good man moderates the severity of this Sentence by that in Ecclesiasticus A Fool lifteth up his Voice with Laughter but a Wise man doth scarce smile a little i. e. he seems to check himself for it when he does it Agreeably to this Sentence he allows us with the Preacher to sweeten our Countenance now and then with a Modest Smile But as for those loud Peals of noisey Mirth those Rattlings and Shakings of the Lungs and Sides which are rather Violent Convulsions than any real Delight These according to Him are by no means the Practice of a Man of Virtue and One who is a Master of Himself And this Extravagance of Mirth is what he often inveighs against and presses the preventing and Suppressing it as Duties to which the Christian Religion obliges all that Profess it Now whether the Maxims and Precepts here mentioned ought to be carried to the utmost point of Rigour and held for obligatory in all cases or whether there may not in some instances be some abatements allowed and what again that Equitable Relaxation is or where to take place are Questions which no man should undertake to determine and every wise and good man would be very tender of determining by the judgment of his own Private Spirit but especially where Himself is a Party Things may seem very hard and impracticable to us which yet Almighty God both sees highly reasonable and knows very possible to be performed God I say who perfectly understands the Nature and Excellence of that Happiness and Reward promised to our Obedience and the Power of that Assistance he affords us in the Discharge of it knows how much these Advantages ought in equity to cost us And though the Infirmities of Humane Nature may seem to require these Diversions and render our Condition Pityable yet no Tenderness for our own Frailty should make us partial Interpreters of Gods Laws nor prevail with us to depart from the Grave and Serious Deportment befitting the Virtue and Quality of Christians These things however severe must not either fright or blind us in the search after Truth but we must take the whole Scheme of it together as it lyes that by contemplating it's Perfection we may be made duly sensible both how deeply we ought to humble our Souls before God for a Conversation so very defective and short of its just perfection and likewise how high a Pitch it is that we are bound to aim at The Engagements of a Christian in the Point before us cannot be extended further than St. Basil hath set them upon that saying of our Blessed Lord For every Idle word men shall give an account in the Day of Iudgment Where to that Enquiry What that Word is which the Son of God hath declared men shall be called to so severe a Reckoning for he returns this Answer It is every Word which hath no regard to nor does contribute or aim at that Usefulness and Benefit which our Lord and his Religion have enjoyned us to seek and follow after And the Danger adds he of speaking these words is so great that a Discourse otherwise and in its own Nature Good if it have no manner of reference to Edification promoting Faith and Virtue is not free from this Danger upon Pretence of the Good it contains But having no tendency to edify our Neighbour it afflicts and grieves the Holy Spirit This he afterwards illustrates by a Passage in the Epistle to the Ephesians And then at last concludes And what need is there for me to say how wicked and dangerous a thing it is to grieve the Holy Spirit The same Doctrin is likewise to be met with and many Arguments brought in confirmation of it in several other parts of his Works And we must not think to evade the Severity of these Rules by a fond Imagination that they were intended only for a Monastick Life For quite contrary his Expressions the Reasons by which he supports them and the whole Strain and Temper of his Discourse manifestly prove that he makes it his business to lay down the Obligations which Christianity hath laid upon all in common though he do indeed urge them upon the Monks as persons under peculiar and Stricter Engagements to observe them In regard a Monk pretends to be nothing else but a Christian who hath withdrawn from the world that he may more vigorously and without Interruption fulfill the Duties of the Christian Religion Which though Others have the same Engagements yet have they not the same Opportunities to perform And if it be farther pleaded in mitigation of this Rigour that the Failings St. Basil reprehends are however but Venial Sins and for that reason reputed and called Small That Father I must tell you will not endure that any Christians should argue at this rate There is no such thing says he as a Small Sin That which we commit is always the Great Sin because it is so great as to overcome us and that is the little Sin which when we are tempted to we refuse and overcome And though it be true that in a Comparative sense some Sins be small yet a Christian can never be able to make a certain Judgment how very highly some such Sins are aggravated by the violent Inclination of the Heart that yields it self up to them And every Christian hath cause enough and too much to tremble at that Warning given him by the Wise man He that contemneth small things shall fall by little and little XXXIV The Consequence of the foregoing Doctrine And now there is no Occasion for undertaking so difficult and laborious a task as the determining precisely what degrees of Wickedness and Mischief Plays may be justly charged with This were a nice Enquiry and must depend upon the careful consideration of a great many particular Cases and Circumstances It is sufficient for my present purpose that by the Principles and concurrent Testimony of the Fathers they undoubtedly deserve to be reckoned among the most dangerous Diversions in the World And thus much at least my Reader is by this time qualified to judge whether the Fathers and Holy Doctors who followed after them and particularly whether St. Thomas among the rest who have all expressed themselves so severely and left such strict Rules of Behaviour behind them would ever have endured the