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Show NoCROSS, NoCROWN. VoL. I) r66S. Girdle, :tnd Mother Eve's Apron, what Laughing, what. Fleering, wh:n ~ Mocking of their bom~ly Fajhion would there be? Surely then Taylor would Ch:.p. -xvlf. find but linle Cufrom, although we Read, 'Twm God bJmjr!f ~kat made them Gen. 3• 21 • Coats of Skim. The like may be asked, of all the othe~ Vamnes, cotJcer.n-ing the H0ly Men and Women through ~11 the GenerJtlons of Holy \~nt. How m:tny Pieces of Ribband, and what }eatbe~s, Lau-ban~t, and th.e l1~e, did Adam and Eve wear in Paradife, or out of H? 'Vhat m:h Embro,Jrrtts, Silks, Points1 &c. had Abel, Enoch, Noah, _an~ good old Abraham? Did Eve, Sarah, Suj.1nnab, E!izflberb, and the V1rgm Mary u~e to ~uri, P~wder Patch Paint we:Ir falfe Locks of ftrange Colours, R1ch Potnts, Tnm· mi~gs, La~'d Go~ns, Embroidered Pe~ricoa_rs, Shoes wit~ Slip·flaps he'd with Silk or Silver Lace, aud Ruffled hke P1geo~s Feet, wa~ feveral T_ardr, if nor Pieces of Ribbands? How many Plays d1d Jefus Chnft and. h1s A· pofiles Recteare rhemfclves at? What Poets, Romances, Comedt_es, ~nd the like, did the Apoltles and Saints m~ke,. or ufe to pJfs away th71r Tm~e Eph. ~.t, 2, withal? I know they ~id all Redum tbe1r Tt.me, to avotd fcobjh Talkmg,_vam 3,4~ ~~ ts,•6 Jefiing, prop1Jtlne Babhngt tmdfabulou~ Stortes ;_ttl w~at tend to Vngodlme_fJ: 2 Tim. 2• t6 • .And rather to watch to tJJork out tbeJr Salvatton uJJ/b Fear and Trembltng, ~:~t. 2~, 13; to flee Foolijh anc[ Youtb/111 Lujlr, and to.Jollou Rigbteoufnifr, Peace, GoodPhil. 2.1:t, 13 nefs, Love, Chanty; and to mmd the Tbtngt that are ilbove, tU they rcoJtld Col. 3· '• 2,3 have Honour, Glory, Immortality and Er~11ai Life, . Rom. 2• 6, 7· §. VI. But if I were asked, Whence came they then ? I could ~Ulckly ani\..,•er, From the Gentiles, that knew not God; (for fame amongfl ~hem detefied them as will be lhown) They were the Pleafures of an Effemmare Sardanopalus, 'a Fantaftick .lt1iradtt, a Comical Ariflopbonet, a Prodigal Charax111, a Luxurious Jiriflipprn; and the Pra8ices of fuch Women, as the Infamous C!yremn~jlta, the painte~ J.ezehe!~ the Lafciv!ous Campa./}(, the immodefr POfibumM, the cofily Cormt~ion Lou, Jhe mofi 1mpudenr Jl!Dra, the wanton JEgyptiau Cleopatra, and moft inf:ttiable .A1e.ffalina: Pcrfons whoiC Memories have Stunk through all Ages, and that tarry with them a perpetual R"r: Thefe, and not the Holy Self· denying Men and Women iu Ancient Times, were devoted to the like Recreations and Vlin Delights. Nly, the· more faber of the very Hear hens themfclves, ~nd that upon a Principle of .treat Virwe, as is by all confefi'ed, derefied the like Folly and wanton Praflices. There's none of them to be found in Plafo, or in Seneca'• Works: Pythagnra~, Socrates, Pbocion, Zeno, &c. did not accuftom the~· felves to rhefe Entertainments. The Virtuous Penelope, ' the chafi Lu~retia, the Grave Conrelio, and mod eft Pontia, with many others, could find them· felves Employment enough amongft their Children, Servants and Neigh· hours: They, though Nobles, next their Devotion; delighted moft in_ Spinnin'l, Weaving, Gardenint, Needle-work, and fuch like gobd Houfe-wifery, ami commendable Entertainment: Who though called Heatben1, el<;prefs'd much more Cbrijlianity in all their Aft:ions, than do the rc fmtop, foo(ijh Ptople of this Age, who ·notwithftanding will be called Chrifliant. Bur above all, You Playmongert, whence think you, came your fo Paffionately beloved Comedies? Than which, as there is not any one Diverfion, that's mOre Per· ,;icio11s, fo not one more in Efteem, and fondly frequented~ Why I wiU tell you, Their Gre:n·Grand·Flther was an Heathen, and that nor of the belt Sort: His Name was Epicharmm. 'Tis true, he is q:lled a Philofopber, or a ]...()tJcr of WijJom; but he was only fO by Name, and 'no more one in Reality than the Comdians of thefe Times are true Chri{lianr. 'Tis reported of him by S11ida1 a Greek Hiftorian, that he was the firft Man who invent· ed Comedies; and by the Help of one Phormtff, he inade' alfo fifty Fables. But would you know his Country, and the Reafon of his Invention? HiS Counrrv was SyracuJe, the chief City in Sic-ily, famous for the Infamy of many Tyronl!; to pleafe and grari6e the Lutts of fame of whom, he fet his Wits to tyork. And don't you think this an ill Originhl? And is it leiS io any one t6 imitate, or juftifie the fame, fince the ' more faber Heatbc-r.t hav.e thcmfelves condemned them; Nay, is it not abominable, when fucb as call themfelm Cbriflianr, ,~o both Imitate andJuftifie the like lnv~~~i~ VoL. I. No C R 0 S s, N; C i. 0 tv N. ons? Nor h:Jd the Melancholy Tragedies a better Parentage, namely, one 1668. Thej}is an Athenian Poet; to whom they aliO do afcribe the Original of ~ that impu~nt Cuftom of Painting R1tet, a~d the Cot~nrerfcit or·Rtf!refen· Chap. xvrt. tar ion of other Per{ons by Chtmge. of lf_abtt, H11m011n, &c. all wh1c~ are now fo much in lffe and Reputanon wtth the great Ones of the Times-. To thefe let me add that Poetical Amorofo, whom an inqrdinate Paffion of Love firft rranfporred to thofe Poetical Raftures of AdmirltiQn •. (indee1d fordid Effeminacy, if not Idol:.ttry) they cal him .AI(man, or. Alcrna,.a Ly-dian: He being exceedingly in Love with a young Woman of hi~. own Couf'\- try, is faid to have been the firft Perfon that gave the. World a Sight of t~l~t kind of Folly, namely, Love·J!ories and Verfes; wh1ch have been fo dill-gently imitated by almoft all Nations ever ftnce in their Romances. §. VII. I know that fame will fay, But we have many Comedies ani. Ob.}elt. t; Trntedics, Sonnets, Ketches, &c. that are on Purpofe to reprehend Vice, [rom tchcnce we learn many commendable Things. Though this be jh.m;eful, yet many have been wont for want of Shame or Underibnding, or both, tore-turn me this for Anfwer. Now I readily fhall confefs, that 'twas the next Remedy amongft the Heathens, againft the Common Vices, to the more. grlve and moral Leflures of their Philofophers, of which N;umber I fhall infbnce two : Euripides, whom Suidai calls a Learned Tragical Poet, and E~tpolH, whom the f1me Hiftorian calls a Comical Poet. The firft was a Mari . fo chaft, and therefore fo unlike rhofe of our Days, that he was called M1~o,.Jn" or one that bated Women, that is wanton ones, for otherwife he was twice MarrieJ: The other he Charaflers as l moitfevere Reprehendet cj Fa11its. From which I gather, that their Defign was not to feed the Idle, Lazy Panties of Pe~ple, nor mcerly to get Money; but fince by the Means of loofe Wits, the People had been debauched, their Work was to reclaim them rendring Vice Ridiculous, and turning Wit againft Wickednefs. And ;his appears the rather, from the Defcription gi\'en, as alfo that Euri.:. pidet was fuppofed to have been Torn in Piecu by wantcn Women; whiclt doubrlefs was for declaiming againft their Impudence: And the other betng· flain in the Batte! betwixt the .Atbeniam and Lacedemonians, was fo regretc-ed, as a Law was made, as that never after fuch Poets .fhould be a-lloWed tO bear Arms: Doubtlefs it was becaufe in lofing him, they loft a. Reprover of Vice. So that the End of the .Approved Corhced,ians and Trjlgadians of thOie Times, was but to Reform the People by making Sin odious: And that noi fo much by a rational and argumentative Way, ufu:.tl with their Phi!ofo-- pbtrs, as by lh:.trp Jeers, fevere RejleUions, and rendring their vicio113 .A.Oi~ iont,Sbamejul, Ridiculom and Detejlahle; fo that for ReputatiOn· fake they might not longer be guilty of them : Which to me is but a. little fofret' than a Whip, "or a Bridewel. Now if you that Plead for them, will be con· tented to be accounted Heathenr, and thofe of the more dHfolure and Wicked fort too, that "will fooner be Jeer' d. than Argued out of your Slns, we fl1all acknowledge to you, that fuch Comediu. and Tragedies as theft!, rnay be fetviceable: But then fot Shame, abufe not the Name of ]ifffl f:hrijl fo impudently, :zs to call your felves Chriflians, whofe Lufts are fo 1lrong, that you are forc'd to ufe the low Shifts of Heathens to repel them: To leave their Evils not for the Love of Virtue, hut out of Fear, Shame, ot' Reputation. Is this your Love to ]"efm? Your Reverence to the Scripturer, that through Faith are able to make the Man of Ged PtrfeO? Is aJI your Pz:.tttle about Ordinances, ,Prayer,, Sacramentt, Chriflianity, and the like come to this; that :rt laft you muft betake your felves to fuch InfiruEtors~ as were by the faber Heat hem permitted to reclaim the molt Vicious of ~hC" People that were aniongft them? And fuch Remedies roo, at below which' there is nothing but Corporal Punifhment? ~ §, VII!. This is fo fat from.Cbrij/ianiry, that m•ny of the Nobfer Ii<!!,_thtnt, Men and Women, were better uught and betrer d1fpofed; They found our more heavenly Contemplations, aod SubjcEts of an Er:rn.al Na; ture, to meditate upon. Nay, fa f:u did they ourftri~ the Chnfhans ~r thefe Times, that they nor only were exempla-ry by thea gt11ve a:n~/n:~ |
