| Citation |
PG-P.767.013
5 Feb 1767:23,31,32,33,41 (1989)
. . . [68 lines, letter concerning public performance and
the right of individuals or certain organizations to pass
judgment on their performances.]
To the printers of the Pennsylvania Gazette.
For why should thine abide
Where wand'ring shepherds turn their flocks aside.
[signed] Parnell.
At a time when the unchristian entertainments of the
theatre have so many advocates, I hope I shall offend no
good man, in publishing a few quotations from some of the
fathers of the Primitive Church, concerning plays and public
shows. But if it be objected, that idolatry and
superstition, the disorders against which the Fathers
chiefly declaimed, are purged from the modern plays; it may
be answered, that it is allowed, the modern plays are exempt
from idolatry and superstition; but it must also be allowed,
that they are not exempt from impiety, indecency and
impurity; and, therefore, come justly under the censure of
those zealous fathers.
[48 lines, quoting Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus,
Municious Felix, St. Cyprian, Lactantius Firmianus, St.
Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, and St. Chrysostom; all
present judgments on theatrical performancees, stating evils
which are common to this genre of entertainment.]
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