The devil's chapel!

(William S. Plumer, "The Ten Commandments")

"I will set before my eyes no vile thing!" Psalm 101:3

"The theater is an evil place. In this vortex of vice -
  the first step is to the theater,
  the next is to the bar,
  the next is to lewd company,
  the next is to the brothel,
  the next is to disease,
  the next is to death, and
  the last step is to HELL!"

Augustine: "Stage-plays are the subverters of goodness and honesty - the destroyers of all modesty and chastity."

 

Bernard: "All true soldiers of Jesus Christ abominate and reject all stage-plays, as vanities and false frenzies."

Seneca: "Nothing is so destructive of good manners or morals - as attendance on the theater."

Gregory Nazianzen: "Play-houses are the lascivious shops of all filthiness and impurity."

Tillotson: "The play-house is the devil's chapel, a nursery of licentiousness and vice; a recreation which ought not to be allowed among a civilized nation, much less a Christian people."

The American Congress, October 12th, 1778: "Whereas, true religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness: Resolved, that it be, and is hereby earnestly recommended to the several States - to take the most effectual means for the suppressing of theatrical entertainments, horse-racing, gambling, and such other diversions, as are productive of idleness, dissipation, and a general depravity of principles and manners."

[Editor's note: One can only imagine what the above authors would say about much of the debased media which professing Christians now amuse themselves with!]

We have published Richard Baxter's practical short article, "Directions for Amusements and Recreations".