They affirmed that things were spoken there
which it did not become christians to hear, and that things were shewn
there, which it did not become christians to see; and that, while these
things polluted those from whom they come, they polluted those in time,
in whose sight and hearing they were shewn or spoken."
They believed also, "that these things not only polluted the spectators,
but that the representations of certain characters upon the stage
pointed out to them the various roads to vice, and inclined them to
become the persons, whom they had seen represented, or to be actors in
reality of what they had seen feigned upon the stage."
They believed again, "that dramatic exhibitions produced a frame of mind
contrary to that, which should exist in a christian's breast; that there
was nothing to be seen upon the stage, that could lead or encourage him
to devotion; but, on the other hand, that the noise and fury of the
play-house, and the representations there, produced a state of
excitement, that disturbed the internal man. Whereas the spirit of a
christian ought to be calm, and quiet, and composed, to fit it for the
duties of religion."
They believed also, "that such promiscuous assemblages of men and women
were not favourable to virtue; for that the sparks of the passions were
there blown into a flame.
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