been no part of the original design, and might have been separated from it again, and thus have left it in its original purity: and this I take to be the case in the general question of the lawfulness of the Stage. Abuses, and those grievous ones, no doubt, exist; but, though they have been long attached to the Stage, they are by no means necessarily so, and might be separated from it, leaving it, not only an innocent amusement, but a highly rational and pleasing source of instruction.*

It may be remarked, too, that St. Paul, (Acts xvii. 28.) in his address to the Athenians, quotes the saying of one of their poets, and, in the xvth ch. of 1. Cor. (v. 33.) he quotes the words of the dramatic poet Menander. Now, had he considered Dramas as so absolutely unlawful, so bad in their origin, and so corrupt in their very nature, surely he would not have given this sanction to their instructive sayings?+

Nor is it fair to object against the Stage, That it hath been abused to the worst of purposes. What gift of God, and which of his institutions. have not been so? Hath not even the holy worship appointed by himself been perverted to the exaltation of Baal, Moloch, and the myriad

* Note E.

+ See Doddridge upon the passage.

Note F.

of heathen Deities? Hath not the abomination of Desolation been set up in the Holy Place?

And here it may be remarked, that the exhortation of St. Paul to the Corinthians to separate from the corruptions of the world, "Come out of her my people," (2 Cor. vi. 17) and which was, in a particular manner, urged upon Christians, at the time of the Reformation, to separate from the corruptions of Popery, hath been applied to those who profess themselves to be Christians in these days, to prevail upon them to avoid the corruptions of the Stage.

Be it so. But how was our Reformation carried on? Not by pulling down the Church which was corrupted, but by purging it from the corruptions which had obtained, and bringing it nearer to the standard of original purity.

We are told by the author of the book of Ecclesiasticus, (xxvii. 2.) that, "As a nail sticketh fast between the joinings of the stones, so doth sin stick close between buying and, selling." But what, then? is all buying and selling unlawful, and must we give up all merchandize? No, let us put away the sin of it, and let our merchandize be "Holiness unto the Lord." (Isaiah xxiii. 18. Zach. xiv. 20, 21.) Let us be like the "merchantman seeking

goodly pearls;" let us seek the "one pearl of great price, and sell all that we have, to buy it." (Matt. xiii. 45, 46.)

Again, what blessing hath been more abused than that of strong drinks and wine. How fewhow very few-are temperate as they should be, drinking only for the sake of health, or to exhilarate the heart, stopping short before the glass of excess. Yet, because this blessing is daily and hourly abused, shall we prohibit it, and put it away from us? No: it is given to comfort us in our "often infirmities” (1 Tim. v. 23.;) it is given us to make glad the heart of man" (Psalm civ. 15.;) and it is one of the symbols of our salvation (Matt. xxvi. 27, 29.) Let us put away the sin, and, when we drink, do it" to the glory of God." So let it be with the amusement in question.

But," when the Stage is defended as a mean · of instruction," it is further objected, "that it is a method altogether uncommanded and unauthorized in the word of God," and we are "not to look for his blessing upon it."*

To this it may be replied, that, even supposing we were not in possession of the authorities before cited for the origin of the Drama,

* Witherspoon, p. 71 and 72,

the Stage, abstractedly considered, does not seem to bear a character so decidedly different from preaching, from conversation, from reading pious and moral books and instructive history, and of setting a good example, to "let our light shine before men," (Matt. v. 16.) as to make us doubt its propriety. The Drama is, in fact, embodied history, brought visibly before our eyes, to afford us examples of bad men to be avoided, and of good men to be followed. It can introduce us to the manners and customs of distant nations, and make us acquainted with places and persons to which we should otherwise be ever strangers: nay, it can go farther, and almost give us the advantage of having lived in remote ages, and profiting by the examples of others, who have long, since ceased to be inhabitants of this world.

Besides, is it unlawful to make use of any means of instruction, but such as are immediately pointed out by God? The Prophets and Priests were appointed to preach the law to the people, the King was to write a copy of it with his own hand, and the people were to attend the reading of it in the place of public worship. The Apostles continued this mode, and wrote Epistles for the instruction of their converts. But, has this prevented pious Christians, when the art of printing became known, from taking advantage

of it, to multiply copies of the Scriptures, and to teach men the knowledge of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ? This salutary invention, likewise, was at first attributed, by ignorance and fanaticism, to the art and contrivance of the devil, It hath been perverted by the devil, no doubt, to the worst of purposes, in spreading blasphemy, vice and immorality, throughout the world; but it is to that, likewise, we now owe, that the Gospel hath dispelled the mental darkness, which at that time covered the earth, that it is now making its way to the remotest corners of the world, and that the poorest peasant among us, if he please, may enjoy the inestimable blessing of reading himself, in his own cottage, and in his own languagė, the words of eternal life.

In the question of the lawfulness of the Stage, must, in a great measure, be involved that of the profession of a Stage-player. If the Stage be in itself unlawful, then, not only those who carry it on, but those likewise who attend it, and those who sanction it, become partakers in the sin. But, if the Stage be a source of moral instruction, as well as of amusement, then the profession is not only innocent, but highly useful and commendable. The only case for doubt appears to be, where the Stage is considered merely as an amusement; and, then, how

C