In his 37 Homily upon the Eleventh Chapter of St. Matthew he declaims more at large against the Stage.
'Smutty Songs (says he) are much more abominable than Stench and Ordure. And which is most to be lamented, you are not at all uneasy at such Licentiousness. You Laugh when you should Frown; and Commend what you ought to abhor.——Heark you, you can keep the Language of your own House in order: If your Servants or your Childrens Tongues run Riot, they presently smart for't. And yet at the Play-House you are quite another Thing. These little Buffoons have a strange Ascendant! A luscious Sentence is hugely welcome from their Mouth: And instead of Censure, they have thanks and encouragement for their Pains. Now if a Man would be so just as to wonder at himself, here's Madness, and Contradiction in Abundance.
'But I know you'l say what's this to me, I neither sing nor pronounce, any of this Lewd stuff? Granting your Plea, what do you get by't? If you don't repeat these Scurrilities, you are very willing to hear them. Now whether the Ear, or the Tongue is mismanaged, comes much to the same reckoning. The difference of the Organ, does not alter the Action so mightily, as you may imagine. But pray how do you prove you don't repeat them? They may be your Discourse, or the Entertainments of your Closet for ought we know to the contrary. This is certain; you hear them with pleasure in your Face, and make it your business to run after them: And to my Mind, these are strong Arguments of your Approbation.
'I desire to ask you a Question. Suppose you hear any wretches Blaspheme, are you in any Rapture about it? And do your Gestures appear airy, and obliged? Far from it. I doubt not but your blood grows chill, and your Ears are stopt at the Presumption. And what's the Reason of this Aversion in your Behaviour? Why 'tis because you don't use to Blaspheme, your self. Pray clear your self the same way from the Charge of Obscenity. Wee'l then believe you don't talk Smut, when we percieve you careful not to hear it. Lewd Sonnets, and Serenades are quite different from the Prescriptions of Virtue. This is strange Nourishment for a Christian to take in! I don't wonder you should lose your Health, when you feed thus Foul. It may be Chastity is no such easy Task! Innocence moves upon an Ascent, at least for sometime. Now those who are always Laughing can never strain up Hill. If the best preparations of Care will just do, what must become of those that are dissolv'd in Pleasure, and lie under the Instructions of Debauchery?——Have you not heard how that St. Paul exhorts us to rejoyce in the Lord? He said in the Lord; not in the Devil. But alas! what leisure have you to Mind St. Paul? How should you be sensible of your Faults, when your Head is always kept Hot, and as it were intoxicated with Buffooning?'—— ——He goes on, and lashes the Impudence of the Stage with a great deal of Satir and Severity; and at last proposes this Objection.
'You'l say, I can give you many Instances where the Play-House has done no Harm. Don't mistake. Throwing away of Time and ill example, has a great deal of Harm in't; And thus far you are guilty at the best. For granting your own Virtue impenetrable, and out of Reach, Granting the Protection of your Temper has brought you off unhurt, are all People thus Fortified? By no means. However, many a weak Brother has ventur'd after you, and miscarried upon your Precedent. And since you make others thus Faulty, how can you be Innocent your self? All the People undone There, will lay their Ruine at your Door. The Company are all Accessary to the Mischeif of the Place. For were there no Audience, we should have no Acting. And therefore those who joyn in the Crime, will ne're be parted in the Punishment. Granting your Modesty has secur'd you, which by the way I believe nothing of; yet since many have been debauch'd by the Play-House, you must expect a severe Reckning for giving them Encouragement. Tho' after all, as Virtuous as you are, I doubt not, you wou'd have been much Better, had you kept away.
'In fine, Let us not dispute to no purpose; The practise won't bear a Defence! Where the Cause is naught 'tis in vain to rack our Reason, and strain for Pretences. The best excuse for what is past, is to stand clear from the danger, and do so no more.'
One citation more from St. Chrysostom, and I take Leave. In the Preface of his Commentary upon St. John's Gospel speaking of Plays and other Publick Shews, he has these words.
'But what need I branch out the Lewdness of those Spectacles, and be particular in Description? For what's there to be met with but Lewd Laughing, but Smut, Railing, and Buffoonry? In a word. 'Tis all Scandal and Confusion. Observe me, I speak to you all; Let none who partake of this Holy-Table, unqualifie themselves with such Mortal Diversions.'
St. Hierom on the 1st. Verse 32 Psal. makes this Exposition upon the Text.
'Some are delighted with the Satisfactions of this World, some with the Circus, and some with the Theatre: But the Psalmist commands every good Man to delight himself in the Lord.——For as Isaiah speaks, woe to them that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.' And in his EpistlesEp. 9. 12. Advers. Jovinian. Lib. 2. cap. 7.[496] he cautions the Ladies against having any thing to do with the Play-House, against Lewd Songs, and Ill Conversation. Because they set ill Humours at work, Caress the Fancy, and make pleasure a Conveyance for Destruction.'