'As for the Case of _Players_ both Men, and Women, we expresly forbid all our Rectors, Pastors, and Confessours, to admit them to the Sacraments, unless they shall repent them of their Crime, make proof of their Reformation, renounce their _Business_, and retrieve the Scandal they have given, by such publick Satisfaction as we shall think proper to injoyn them. Made and Decreed at _Arras_ the fourth day of _December 1695._ _Guy_ Bishop of _Arras_. &c. I shall now in the Third Place, give a short account of the sense of the _Primitive_ Church concerning the _Stage_: And first I shall instance in her _Councils_. The Council of _Illiberis_, or _Collioure_ in _Spain_, decrees,[468] 'That it shall not be lawful for any Woman who is either in full Communion or a probationer for Baptism, to Marry, or Entertain any _Comedians_ or _Actors_; whoever takes this Liberty shall be Excommunicated.' The first Council of _Arles_, runs thus,[469] 'Concerning _Players_, we have thought fit to Excommunicate them as long as they continue to _Act_.' The Second Council of _Arles_ made their _20th_ Canon to the same purpose, and almost in the same words.[470] The Third Council of _Carthage_, of which St. _Augustine_ was a Member, ordains,[471] 'That the Sons of Bishops, or other Clergy-men should not be permitted to furnish out Publick _Shews_, or _Plays_[472] or be present at them: Such sort of Pagan _Entertainments_ being forbidden all the _Laity_. It being always unlawful for all Christians to come amongst _Blasphemers_. This last branch shews the _Canon_ was Principally levell'd against the _Play-House_: And the reason of the Prohibition, holds every jot as strong against the _English_, as against the _Roman Stage_. By the 35th _Canon_ of this _Council_ 'tis decreed, 'That _Actors_ or others belonging to the _Stage_, who are either _Converts_, or _Penitents_ upon a Relapse, shall not be denied Admission into the Church.' This is farther proof, that _Players_ as long as they kept to their Employment were bar'd _Communion_. Another _African Council_ declares,[473] 'That the Testimony of People of ill Reputation, of _Players_, and others of such scandalous Employments, shall not be admitted against any Person.' The Second _Council_ of _Chaalon_ sets forth,[474] 'That Clergy men ought to abstain from all over-engaging Entertainments in Musick or _Show_. (_oculorum auriumque illecebris_.) And as for the smutty, and Licentious Insolence of _Players_, and Buffoons, let them not only decline the Hearing it themselves, but likewise conclude the _Laity_ oblig'd to the same Conduct. I could cite many more Authorities of this Kind, but being conscious of the Niceness of the _Age_, I shall forbear, and proceed to the Testimony of the _Fathers_. To begin with _Theophilus_ Bishop of _Antioch_, who lived in the Second _Century_.