This venerable Order have, by solemn
Engagements, set themselves apart, as spiritual Guides, to point out
the fatal Rocks and treacherous Sands to their Neighbours, that they
may not make Shipwreck of Modesty and Innocence, and plunge into the
Depths of Irreligion and Vice: Nor is it obvious, why these Reverend
Teachers, by their Silence and Neutrality, should give Profaneness and
Immorality such fair Play, as if the Controversy between the Stage
and the Pulpit were compremis'd, and the Poets and the Priests
were engag'd, as indeed they ought to be, in the same good Designs,
Interests, and Pursuits. It is certain, that this Mildness, and
friendly Behaviour of the Clergy to the Comick Writers, cannot arise
from any Respect or handsome Usage which that sacred Order has met
with on the Theatre, where they have been so often jerk'd and expos'd
in such a manner, that their Divine Function has been wounded through
their Sides.
The Clergy lie under such manifest Obligations to attack publick
Immorality, wherever it is found, and by whatsoever Patrons of Power,
Dignity, and Interest it is shelter'd and supported, thar, as I
have suggested, it is not easy to imagine whence their Lenity and
Tenderness for the Theatre can proceed. But if the true Reason of
it, whatever it is, and which is so hard to be accounted for, were
remov'd, and our Divines would interest themselves with Zeal in the
Cause of Vertue, in respect to our Dramatick Entertainments, as they
espouse and defend it in all other Instances, I cannot believe that
the Stage, without a Regulation, would be able to stand, when batter'd
with Vigor from the Pulpit.
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