O tempora! O mores! Or The best new-year's gift for a prime minister. Being the substance of two sermons preached at a few small churches only, and published at the repeated request of the congregations, / by the Rev. William Scott, M.A. late scholar of Eaton. ; Dedicated to Lord North. ; The pulpit was refused at eight of the most capital churches in London.

O tempora! O mores! Or The best new-year's gift for a prime minister. Being the substance of two sermons preached at a few small churches only, and published at the repeated request of the congregations, / by the Rev. William Scott, M.A. late scholar of Eaton. ; Dedicated to Lord North. ; The pulpit was refused at eight of the most capital churches in London.

Table of contents

Title page

TO LORD NORTH, PRIME MINISTER OF ENGLAND.

AN ADDRESS TO THE READER.

A SERMON.

[Page]

A SERMON.

ECCLESIASTES, ch. vii. ver. 10.‘Say not thou, What is the cause that former days were better than these? For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.’

SINCE human nature and conduct have been much the same in all ages of the world, it will be of no great service to us to inquire of antiquity, whether former times have been better or worse than the present? And for any one to pretend to say that other nations, now living, are better or worse than ourselves, is saying much more than he can prove; and granting even that he could prove that they are much worse than we are, yet this is no justification to us now as a nation, nor will it be so to us hereafter, as individuals, at the last and great day of accounts! But however, I am very certain of this, that it is high time for us to be much better than we are, both as a nation and as individuals.

Whoever, then, has a true regard for the honor and welfare of church and state, which are so happily established by the ancient laws of this kingdom, as to make us the pride of our own, and the admiration and envy of all other nations, and so nicely compacted with each other, that, like a [Page] building most curiously framed, they must stand or fall together; and if he has but a tolerable share of history, and will sit down with a serious concern to consider the present state of this nation, as to its religion, morals, and virtues, must lament to see how exactly it resembles the Grecian and Roman empires, when they were drawing towards the point of their dissolution! That general deluge of luxury and pride, profligacy of morals, an open and avowed contempt of the Deity, infidelity, bribery, and corruption, which overflowed them just before their ruin, is but too glaring a picture of this nation; and, therefore, too sad and disagreeable to the eye of every true Briton to behold with the least satisfaction!

As to religion, and the sacred writings, we are come to that pass now, that you may blaspheme your God, revile your king, think what you please, and speak what you think, and no one take any notice of it! But in all other respects, as to morality, virtue, true patriotism, and common honesty, we feel every day the dismal effects of an iron age, while we in vain wish for the return of a golden one!

As this little island of ours is separated from the continent, it seems by its peculiar happy situation, to have been originally designed by Providence to make its inhabitants completely happy within themselves, were they but sensible of their happiness, and knew how to value it aright! But God, in his just judgments, is pleased to let a curse go forth upon some nations, for being so wilfully blind as that they will not see their own happiness, and pursue them till they are ripe for an entire destruction! How far this may be our case, (and much sooner perhaps than we imagine) God himself only knows, if it is not timely prevented by a national repentance and reformation! Oh, England, how [Page] art thou fallen! and how shamefully and basely corrupted are thy sons and daughters from their primitive piety, virtue, and integrity!

We are daily talking that we wish to see better times (and it is our own fault if we do not) but as we seem to be going on, that is never likely till the final restitution of all things, at the end of the world!

That the present times are extremely bad is too well known, and too sadly and fatally felt by all in general; and, therefore, no wonder to hear such daily complaints that they are so; but this is wholly owing to ourselves! Hence it is not so very difficult, as some people may pretend, to find out, a way both to remedy the complaints of the times, and to remove the cause of them.

Now, in order to do this the better, I shall strike at the very root of all our evils, distresses, grievances, and oppressions, at once, by saying, that there is but very little or no religion left among us; by which I mean, a fear of God, and a belief of a future state of rewards and punishments. Our great are, too many of them, above all religion; and our little people are as much below it. What small remains of it are still left among us, are to be found only, or however chiefly among our middle sort of people; and even there, I fear, it is too much and sadly corrupted! Now, if a kingdom has such very little notion of living in the fear of God, can it possibly be any wonder that they live in no sort of fear of man? But by far too many going daily on in those iniquitous and infernal practices, which seem right in their own eyes, as though there was no judge in Israel.

As to our nobility and gentry, they have two examples before them, who, as they are the greatest, so are the best in all conjugal, parental, domestic, and social virtues; insomuch that they are both the [Page] glory and reproach of those that are about them? Was I to consider this subject of the times particularly, you might well think me tedious indeed; but though it is so great and extraordinary, I shall endeavor to be as full, and yet as short as possible, and therefore beg your patience.

I shall now then state the case of this nation very fairly and honestly with you, by shewing that the grounds and causes of all our complaints of the times will be found to arise entirely from ourselves, i. e. from a want of religion among us throughout the whole kingdom in general, and its capital city in particular; which, like all other capitals, in morals as well as trade, arts, and manufactures, hath great influence upon the rest of their respective kingdoms.

I shall in the first place, therefore, hint only at things in general; by way of question; and, in the second and last place, point out a method, which, if quickly and carefully practised, would (under God) most effectually reform the nation, and restore it to its ancient state of religion, morality and virtue.

To begin then with our nobility and gentry, for according to their examples, good or bad, the middle and lower sort of people are observed to form their lives and conversations; I have already just mentioned, that they have two excellent examples at court before their eyes, in all conjugal, parental domestic, and social virtues; and yet don't mistake me, and think that I am putting on the courtier here, in speaking this by way of flattery only; I detest even the thought of such low, mean, unmanly, paltry, pitiful behaviour; I appeal to yourselves for the truth, and especially to those who are daily about their persons. I would therefore, only ask, Do they imitate them (in general I mean) in these amiable virtues and qualities? If so, pray now how comes it to pass that divorces, separations! [Page] and such like; have of la [...]e, been so very frequent in Doctors Commons, and other courts of justice? And why such complaints of each other's injuring the honor of the marriage bed, and too often disgracing themselves with those by much their inferiors?

Again, do those shew themselves true friends to their King and country by complimenting their Majesties on their birth days, at court, in dresses of French, or other foreign manufactury? And can this possibly be for the honor and interest of their own country, by insulting their Sovereign [...]n this manner? Are they just and regular in their payments to those on whom they depend for the very necessaries and conveniencies of life? And are these debts paid before what they are pleased to call debts of honor at the gaming or card-table, which is only another term for injustice and villainy?

As in the best governments the worst corruptions are too apt to prevail through the base and artful intrigues of men of ambition and avarice, what must we think will be the certain consequences, [...] time, of that government where corrupt on itself is made a necessary part of it? A maxim, so weak and absurd, as well as w [...]cked▪ that it will destroy the very best constituted government upon earth! I must confess, for my own part, I am as far from being the least friend to politics from the pulpit as any man living; nor would I, much less, be even thought to blow the horn of faction and sedition from this sacred place! But, when we are endeavouring to heal a sore in the body politic as well as natura, every honest surgeon will always probe the wound to the bottom, by the knife, or caustic, in the one case as well as the other; and, therefore, here I would only just ask again, Is it for the interest and happiness of any nation to suffer such a Machiavelian maxim still to prevail, to let a parcel [Page] of little, mean, paltry boroughs, the fungous flesh of the constitution, to be represented in parliament, while places of such immense consequence to trade; which is the life of this nation, are left without representatives? And what must the representatives of such beggarly places be, but slaves to the nod of a minister to carry on either his arbitrary or pacific system of corruption, whether he is the real minister, or only the ostensible one, as he is now called, i. e. one who is hung out by one or more behind the curtain, only as the sign of a minister? Is it for the promotion of just and honest principles, in a nation of learning and merit in the church, and of industry, skill, integrity in the state, for places in the one, and preferments in the other, to be exposed to sale, and publicly too in our daily news papers? Is there no perjury committed by those of the clergy, who purchase livings for themselves with their own money, either directly or indirectly? And ought not our bishops, the governors of the church, to get an act passed either to abolish the oath against simony, or to put an absolute stop to such a scandalous and iniquitous sale of them?

Again, is it likely for the morality and virtue of a kingdom to last long, when such a multitude of places of diversion, and dissipation of people's time and money, are suffered by those at the helm of affairs (who ought to be the guardians of the kingdom's morals as well as her revenues) to enervate bodies and unhinge the minds, not only of the capital city in particular, but also the whole kingdom in general, and that even in the solemn time and season of Lent too! Formerly indeed, in this nation, valour and a true sense of honor, which disdained even the appearance of any thing that was mean and base, was the characteristic of our men of quality and gentry, and virtue and modesty were that of our women; but now, vice and villainy [Page] have entirely lost their names! Adultery is no crime, and killing is no murder! And are the abovementioned graces of both sexes, which so much elevate and dignify them, likely to be continued at such diabolical places as masquerades and the gaming table? Is the present mode of education at our academies, large schools, and others throughout the kingdom, and at our two universities, for the rising generation of the men, and our French and other boarding schools, in and about this great city in particular, and the nation in general, for the rising generation of the women, so happily calculated and formed for improving the morals as well as the learning of children now a days? If so, how comes it to pass, that we hear such frequent and daily complaints from fathers, mothers, and guardians, that they scarce know where to put the one part of the sex, to secure their morals, as well as improve them in learning; and the other part, that they learn nothing but pride, folly, and extravagance in dress, and of every other kind whatsoever? Is it either for the interest or honor of a nation, for its nobility and gentry to be drawing every year such immense sums of money out of it, and lavishing it away abroad on their vices and follies, under the notion of travelling into foreign parts, and seeing the world; where, from the ignorance of their own nation, through the rawness and inexperience of their youth (just, as it were, thrown out of their mother's lap, and false notions imbibed in it) they are sure to glean up every weed of vice and folly which falls in their way! Is it politic and prudent, again, in our middle sort of people, to send their children over to France for education in their nunneries and convents; where, however advantageous it may be to parents for cheapness, and other respects, yet is it so for forming and fashioning their young and tender minds in the principles of religion, [Page] by those who are well known to be quite of a most opposite persuasion? and, therefore, they would be much safer in that, and every other respect, under the eye of their parents and guardians at home. And now, even from these two or three questions, does it not too plainly appear (and well for us if not too fat [...]lly felt a few years hence!) that our French, and other foreign fashions, have done us infinitely more mischief towards our ruin than all their wars with us (thank God! have been ever able to do? And yet don't mistake me again in what I have said, or may say, of our nobility and gentry, as though I was only taking a pleasure in censuring their conduct; far from it! very far, indeed! On the contrary, I am so far from taking pleasure in speaking evil of dignities, that I would most gladly draw a veil over their foibles and follies, did they not appear in some instances too flagrant to withold our silence! I am only asking a few plan questions, as to the generality of them, and their proceedings; which I leave to those to answer, who best understand them. There are some among them, of both sexes, whose virtues and graces not only add a lustre to the coronet, but also elevate and dignify human nature!

Again, is it for the honor abroad, or the interest and happiness at home, for any nation to be so frequently removing those from their offices in the state, who have approved themselves worthy by their skill and integrity? If men are fit for their places in the various departments of state affairs, the law, army, or navy, why are they removed? If not, why are they put in? Now these two questions are much more easily asked, perhaps, than answered; and, therefore, I would ask only how far the next question will give an answer to them; are not ambition and avarice suffered by persons themselves, as well as by others, to prevail at court, and thro'out [Page] the kingdom? If so, the case is plain, and these are the two great engines of mischief, which not only set courts, but also kingdoms, and the whole world itself on fire! Can that nation ever raise up its head above the overflowings of ungodliness, and escape being drowned at last, about whose neck such a monstrous millstone of places and pensions is continually tied? But if pensions are settled upon some in the state, army, or navy, who have deserved well at the hands of their King and country, and therefore properly and well bestowed for their past services, does this justify the civil list either here, or in a sister kingdom, especially that, being burdened with those for such services, as it would be far from doing the least honor either to those who bestow, or those who accept them? Nay rather, would it not be an insult to common sense and understanding, and a scandal and disgrace even to modesty and human nature, barely to mention some of them? Is it good management or policy in any kingdom, to suffer its land-tax, and all those taxes, which are so grievously felt by the manufacturer and mechanic, upon the necessary articles of life, to be almost as high in time of peace as in war?

The pride, glory, and strength of this little island of our's, which we inhabit, is well known among you all to be its trade; and is that in so very flourishing a state either at home or abroad, as to have no complaints among us, that the French, Dutch, or other nations underwork us, and consequently undersell us at foreign markets? Now, can this be done by them without labour being cheaper? And can this be so without provisions being cheaper? And can provisions in any nation possibly be cheap, where all kinds, even of the bare necessaries of life, are witheld from the labouring poor, who are the strength and sinews of a nation, as well as the rich, by the monopoly, engrossing, regrating, and forestalling [Page] of a set of wretches, who, in almost any country but this (such are the blessed effects of our liberty!) would be taken, half a score of them, and hung up directly as a terror to the rest, as indeed they ought to be, who are a disgrace even to common humanity itself. For every one is so, who, like a vulture, can feed and prey upon his fellow creatures! Now have we laws against this vile oppression and grievance, amongst too many others, or have we not? If we have, for humanity sake, why are they not strictly and severely executed? If not, why are not such made, and instantly executed, as will effectually remove this great distress, which begins now to be very sensibly felt by the middle sort of people, as well as the lower? To what purpose does the supreme Father of Mercies, and God of all Comforts shower down his blessings daily and hourly upon us, giving us fruitful seasons, and filling our hearts with food and gladness, if, at the same time, by an artificial scarcity, wickedly made by one set of men, and as wickedly overlooked by another, we are daily starving in the midst of a real plenty, now must not the fault of this lie somewhere? How far the next questions will go towards answering what I have just now asked, I leave you to judge, and those to consider, whom surely it most nearly and principally concerns: Do not too many of our nobility and gentry, suffer commons and large pieces of waste ground to be enclosed, and many of their smaller farms, which would maintain whole families, to be engrossed by one person only, who is already too great and overgrown? If so, for mercy sake, what must become of the poorer and labouring sort of people? And is this enriching one man, at the expence of many others, and whole families, likely to make him, his wife, or children, the same plain, honest, sober, frugal sort of people that farmers generally have been used to be? [Page] And moreover, to what end is all this oppression of the small tenants? Is it not to save the steward trouble in collecting the rents, and for his more easy and quick remittance of large sums at once to the landlord? And for what? Is it not either to go abroad, and squander them away in France, and other countries, upon French follies, laces, and clothes, and import them in a low, paltry, sneaking, clandestine manner, to the distress and ruin of our trade and manufactures; or else to supply all the various streams of luxury, folly, and extravagance here at home, which are so constantly suffered to flow from this great city, as its fountain head? And therefore, if so, can it possibly be any wonder that so many hundreds of the poor and labouring people in a year are constantly flocking over from England, Scotland, and Ireland, to our plantations in America? As to Scotland, indeed, happily for many of them! the tree of life has, within these thirteen years past, been imported, planted, watered, nourished, and thrives so well as to afford them too much shade and shelter here, to quit it for the hot and burning suns abroad, except indeed for our governments, and principal offices of our colonies there.

In short, was I to go on asking questions about what many evils, and what little good our late MARRIAGE-ACT has produced, the danger of SEPTENNIAL PARLIAMENTS, the bad policy in suffering not only such a yearly EXPORTATION of HORSES to the neglect of AGRICULTURE, but too often of CORN, by not taking off the bounty upon it, when up at such a price; the ABSENTEE-BILL in Ireland, and the TEA-TAX on our Colonies; the great corruptions which have crept into the church as well as the state, from the neglect of discipline by our church governors, if it was only as to the dress of the younger part of the clergy, what offence it [Page] gives to her few friends, and handle to her many enemies; the luxury and extravagance of the age through all orders, ranks, and degrees of people; the immorality and dissipation of their time and fortunes at Newmarket; the gaming-table, and other places of ruin and debauchery, among too many of the younger part of our nobility and gentry; the ambition and avarice of the elder, and the too great neglect of both as to the divine Majesty on his holy sabbaths, by setting a good example to their children and servants in frequenting church, and observing all good order and oeconomy at home; the bad policy (not to say iniquity) of those whom it concerns, as pretenders to public oeconomy, in not ordering a yearly account to be settled of the national debt. Hence arise so many public defaulters of unaccounted thousands and millions! and when this is the case with any nation, what must become of it in time, but, like a private man (whose expences by far outrun his income) take up the sponge, quit scores, and become a bankrupt? Was I, I say, to go on asking questions about the general bad influence of example, which the upper part of the kingdom has upon the middle, and they upon the lower; and, in short, a multitude of things more which might be mentioned, I should well be tho't tedious, and trespass a great deal too much upon your patience! and therefore I would only observe here, once for all, that when the corruption of a nation is thus so universal, no wonder that we are so daily alarmed with murders, adulteries, perjuries, bankruptcies, robberies, house-breakings, decay of trade and manufactures, want both of public and private credit, disobedience in children and servants, dearness of provisions, innumerable multitudes of public houses all over the kingdom, to corrupt and ruin the morals of the labouring and lower sort of people, neglect of God's worship at church on the [Page] Sabbath day, and want of reverence and devotion in people's behaviour when they are there; the scandalous and offensive books, prints, statues, and songs, with which our eyes and ears are sure to be pestered as we go along the streets and avenues of this great city; want of common faith and trust in our dealings with one another, to that degree that you scarce know whom to trust to the value of five shillings, barely upon the credit of his own word; want of charity and compassion amongst too many of the rich; and want of industry, sobriety, humility, modesty, and gratitude amongst the poor; the dreadful imprecations of our lower sort of people among the men, and the horrible oaths and curses even from the mouths of women and children! In a word, and to conclude this first and disagreeable part of the subject, sins, crimes, and vices beyond measure, of every kind and shape whatsoever!

To be drawing now towards a conclusion with the second and last part of it, which is to shew you particularly that the grounds and causes of all the evils in this nation, and our complaints of the times, will be found to arise entirely from ourselves, i. e. from a want of a due sense of religion among us, through the whole kingdom in general, and its capital city in particular. For religion (however it may be derided and reproached in this nice, squeamish, and delicate age) was always thought by the wiser and more sober heathens to be a most lasting foundation of laws and societies, as without it no government can subsist, nor justice be administered. Thus Plato calls religion "the barrier of power and justice, and a tye of honesty," and Tully says of the Romans, "that they conquered so many nations not so much by stratagem, or superior strength, as by their strict regard and sacred reverence for religion and virtue." And therefore had [Page] a most admirable project, proposal, or plan of a late celebrated writer*, for the advancement of religion and morality in this kingdom, been but executed when it was published, about sixty years ago, the face of affairs now would have been chiefly, if not intirely, changed. I shall, therefore, point out to you such an observation or two of his from it as will be most serviceable towards filling up this sketch of the times, which I have here given, leaving it to a far more able pencil to complete the piece.

"As the power (says he) of giving away all employments in church and state is in the crown, either by the King himself, or by his ministers, it is in the power of every prince to make religion and virtue become the fashion of the age, provided they are made to be, at the same time, the direct and necessary steps to favor and preferment. If princes, therefore, desire to see their people happy and prosperous, let them make it every man's interest and honor to be religious and virtuous, by making irreligion and vice a disgrace, and a sure bar to their promotion in either; this they should first endeavor to do in their own courts and families; and then religion and virtue would soon become fashionable graces at court, and would be carefully practised as the only methods to get and keep employments there, which alone would have great influence on the nobility and gentry; for if religion and virtue were once understood to be the necessary and direct steps to favor and preferment, then no one would openly offend against them, who had the least regard for their reputation and fortune."

Now to this first part of the plan, I may justly add my former remark, that they have two as amiable examples before their eyes, as any court in Europe, or the whole world can produce! Whether a method to restore this nation to its real greatness [Page] and glory, i. e. its religion and virtue, agreeable or no, I know not, nor does it concern me; otherwise, I mean, than most heartily wishing it was put in practice; and that it is practicable will be readily confessed by every one who are their King and country's real friends! There is only wanting an hearty desire and steady resolution for all parties to unite in so good and necessary a work; for, alas! what can half a score or an hundred do, if all don't join? And (as the plan observes again) that some effectual attempt should be made towards such a reformation, is more necessary than people may imagine, as the ruin of a nation is sure to follow a general corruption of morals, and contempt of religion, which seems to be too much our case at present! For when men, in places of great trust and power in a nation, do their duty for conscience sake, affairs will not suffer then by fraud or neglect; and if they believed a divine Providence and a future state of rewards and punishments, and acted accordingly, what an happy change of affairs we should then have throughout the kingdom, by such strong and powerful examples!

His present Majesty (whose life may God long preserve, it being most particularly dear and valuable to us in these critical and hazardous times) is a prince well known to have many great and good qualities, among which integrity and truth, an heart truly honest and protestant, a stranger to hypocrisy, and detesting dissimulation and flattery; and therefore, was I now preaching before him, he must give me leave to tell him also, according to the plan somewhat varied, that his best endeavors to instil some share of those virtues, of which himself and his most amiable consort are possessed, into his people, are a most important part of his duty, as well as his interest and honor.

[Page] To conclude, let us consider and well remember, that the once famed Grecian and Roman empires were entirely overturned and destroyed by their conquests in Persia, Asia, Africa, and Judea, letting in upon them such a deluge of luxury, profaneness and immorality! How far the British Empire has been already affected (and may be still more so) as to its religion and morals, by that immense flow of wealth and luxury from our conquests in the East-Indies; and how far those who have brought it over, acquired there in so very few years, can reconcile to their own consciences the manner in which they got it; and the luxury and corruption, and consequently the decline of religion and virtue in this kingdom, I leave to themselves to consider. But most sure I am of this one thing, that in any kingdom, either abroad or at home, when the man once suffers himself to be enslaved to ambition and extortion, or to luxury and pleasure, the Christian is not very likely to stay long behind! There must be then, you see plainly, one grand restoration to the principles of religion and virtue, in educating the rising generation of the rich, middle, and lower sort of people in this kingdom; otherwise all the preaching of the clergy till doomsday, and all the pretences to patriotism and public spirit, are, and will be, doing nothing at all; as he, that would have his garden fruitful in autumn, must take care to dig, weed, and plant it well in the spring; accordingly Solomon finely and justly observes to us, "Train up a child, says he (but how: Not in the way he is going, for then tèn thousand to one but he is ruined! No, but) in the way that he should go, for when he is old he will not depart from it!" Let all parents and guardians then make it their chief care and concern to plant in their children's hearts the early seeds of religion and virtue! Let them teach them, almost from their very cradle, and repeating to them as [Page] they grow up, such as to think and speak awfully of the MOST HIGH GOD, reverently of religion, and respectfully of its ministers, honor and obedience to parents, duty to their King and country, sobriety and temperance to themselves, justice and honesty to others, and a general love and good will to all their fellow creatures.

One great error prevailing in this kingdom, and its capital city in particular, is that we have here too much preaching, and too little catechizing children, at church by the clergy, and at home by their parents! Now the want of this is the fountain head of all our evils and distresses, as this would be laying the true and only foundation of religion and virtue in their young and tender minds, by instructing and keeping them to the very first principles of it. Had we, therefore, less preaching and more catechising, I am most certain we should have a much deeper, and consequently a much better sense of religion, which would influence our whole lives and conversations, for to preach to people without their knowing the principles of their religion, is like building an house without first laying a foundation. It is this want of catechising, or instructing youth in these principles, that has been the true and only cause of all those various sects and opinions, which have so disturbed the private peace and happiness of families, as well as the public, and almost destroyed what little religion there is now left in the nation! For the minds of too many people now are so blown up with noise, nonsense, wild and empty notions, that among those of forty or fifty years old, you will scarce find any able to give that account of their faith, as Christians, which formerly you might have heard from a boy of ten or twelve; and therefore what the pulpit has neglected, and consequently disordered and destroyed, the desk must restore. Had this been done at the beginning of the [Page] present century, and consequently kept up, not only in the time of Lent, but also all the year round, we should have had no room for complaints, that former times were better than the present. We live now, at this day, in the very best times of the world! and most sorry I am to say it, in the very worst times also! Best from God, and worst from ourselves! And therefore, after all, if private people will, by a foolish and amazing extravagance, plunge themselves headlong into debt, and then rail and cry out at the badness of the times, because they are arrested; and if the public money, instead of being skilfully and honestly applied (as it ought to be) to the public service, is embezzled and squandered away, for secret services, and other base, mean, and scandalous purposes, and no enquiries ever made, or suffered to be made, what is become of it, or how is it applied? and if an honest, faithful, and loyal body of citizens petition and remonstrate to their sovereign (the father of his people!) against encroachments on their liberties, and the grievances are suffered to remain, by those that are about him, still unredressed.

In short, if the public welfare and honor, peace and happiness of a kingdom must be sacrificed to all the little dark cabals, and private personal piques, resentments, and revenge of those in power, who, while pretending to be the King's friends, are only securing possessions for themselves, and titles, places, and reversions for their wives and families! I say, if even these few things are so (and many more I could mention) how unreasonable, foolish, and absurd, are all our complaints of the badness of the times! Prime ministers, politicians, and others, may offer plans, schemes ways and means to make a nation great and powerful as they call it; but let me tell them, that they must, first of all, make it religious and virtuous, and then it will be [Page] truly great; and therefore, there is but one thing that can possibly save this nation, and that is, by rouzing it from its stupid lethargy of sin and wickedness, with the Almighty thunder of some signal judgment! There is but one thing that can disarm the Almighty from his thunder, and that is a national repentance and reformation! And there is but one thing more that can continue to save it, after it has been thus rouzed and reformed, and that is, by keeping the rising generation to a proper sense of their duty in catechising, or instructing them in the principles of religion! But all nations, like the human body, have their infancy, growth, and perfection. How far we of this kingdom are past that perfection, and our colonies abroad every year arising towards their growth, needs no great sagacity to foresee, or to foretel, that the seat of the British Empire may be translated over there much sooner than we imagine. The severe and unnatural treatment, which the colonies have felt since the war, has not yet withdrawn their affections; but when children find the mother is resolved to be arbitrary, oppressive, and tyrannical, no wonder they, in their turn, endeavor to do the best they can for themselves. How far those in the administration of affairs of this, and our other two kingdoms, are concerned, either passively or actively, in enabling them to go on in this manner, I leave to their own consciences to determine; but, to be sure, all such must be the king's real friends, and, no doubt, the same honest and worthy friends to these poor, distressed, and depopulating countries! I have now done my duty so as becomes every honest Briton, real patriot, and true minister of the Gospel of Christ, in crying aloud (as the prophet says) and sparing not, even from the throne down to the cottage, in shewing my countrymen their transgressions, and the house of England their sins; in being (as St. Paul says) instant [Page] both in season and out of season [...] reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with all dues and I hope, decent authority; and tho' I am [...] sensible, that (as St, Paul says again) I am not [...] to you with excellency of speech; nor is my preaching in the enticing, or courtier like words of [...] wisdom; yet I (thank God) can lay my hand upon my heart, and speak it with a most safe conscience, that I am a slave to no party, but what I have said, arises as much from the sincerity of a friend, as the duty of a minister.

Let us then, my brethren, of all ranks, orders, and degrees of people in this kingdom, utterly banish from us all our fashionable sins and vices, and take up, and consequently practise the opposite virtues and graces! that so we may turn aside the wrath of the great God of Heaven; and let us well consider and remember, that his mercy will not permit him entirely to overlook his justice. I have now, with more freedom perhaps than is agreeable to the times, in some measure laid before you the present state of affairs in this nation. Be it so. But I appeal to all true Britons and sincere Christians to justify me. Leaving it to all trimmers and timeservers in church or state to nibble at it, and censure it as much as they please; and therefore [...] state of things will not bear me out in speaking thus plainly and honestly; why then truth, honesty, religion, and virtue, fare ye well!

Now to the only wise God be ascribed all honor, and glory, &c. &c.

FINIS.

Notes

*

DEAN SWIFT,

§

§

[Page]

[Page]

O TEMPORA! O MORES! OR THE BEST NEW-YEAR'S GIFT FOR A PRIME MINISTER.

Being the Substance of two Sermons preached at a few small Churches only, and published at the repeated Request of the Congregations,

By the Rev. WILLIAM SCOTT, M. [...]. LATE SCHOLAR OF ETON.

Dedicated to LORD NORTH.

The Pulpit was refused at eight of the most capital Churches in LONDON.

LONDON. PRINTED. NORWICH, CONNECTICUT: RE-PRINTED BY JUDAH P. SPOONER. 1774.

TO LORD NORTH, PRIME MINISTER OF ENGLAND.

[Page]

MY LORD,

AS you are the Atlas of the state, its religious and moral, as well as civil and commercial concerns are intrusted to your care; and, therefore, this sketch of the times can so properly be addressed to no one as yourself. Give me leave then to begin my address to your Lordship (with only altering one word) in the four well known beautiful lines of Horace, to the Emperor Augustus,

Cum tot sestineas & tanta negotia, solus,

Res ANGLAS, &c.

To the Royal Favour, my Lord, you owe what you are. What you should be, the Guardian of the kingdom's morals as well as her revenues; and what you may be, if you will, the greatest and best Prime Minister from the time of your predecessors Cardinal Wolsey, &c. down to Lord Chatham, is now my business to point out to you.

AMONG all the plans, then, which have been ever offered to your Lordship's consideration, to improve the interest and welfare of the kingdom, I appeal to all honest, worthy, and good men, if you ever had one equal to this which I here offer in the following discourse, as an hint only, and taken from the famous project, proposal, or plan, for the advancement of religion and morality in this kingdom, of a late celebrated [Page] Statesman, as well as Divine, Now, by putting this excellent plan of his into execution, as soon and as much as you can, you may be what I just now said, the greatest and best of Prime Ministers, as their plans are limited only to this world, whereas the plan now before you extends to the next. But, alas! my Lord, I do most strangely forget myself; the next world, did I say? I retract that expression; for why do I mention it in a nation that seems, by the daily practices of too many by far of all orders, ranks, and degrees of people, to have banished all thoughts of it? You see then how you may be, if you will, the Hercules to cleanse this Augean Stable; and have in your hands, if you will use it, the sword of Alexander to cut this Gordian Knot! But here, I suppose, my Lord, I shall have the old usual plea thrown out against the plan as was done by Lord Oxford and the then Ministry, and afterwards by Sir Robert Walpole, Duke of Newcastle, and so on, that the times and reasons of state will not admit of it. If so, I am sorry for it, and so must every honest man be in the whole kingdom. However, this will do for the same reason, I suppose, in the body politic as some physicians urge the nerves and bile in the body natural; and, indeed, the first has resembled the last by much too long. An ulcer has overrun it from head to foot, (the King and Queen, God preserve them! excepted) and unless some strictly honest state surgeon arises, for as to skill there wants none, and will, with the intrepidity of the Eagle's eye, and the boldness of the Lion's heart, take the knife in one hand, and caustic in the other, and cut and burn all before him, till he has probed the wound quite to the bottom, (for, otherwise it is only skinning it over) there may be a most violent shock, if not in end, to the constitution. Our recovery is not only extremely hazardous [Page] but also, humanly speaking, almost impossible; and therefore, my Lord, unless a general and speedy reformation of the religion and morals of this kingdom takes place by the divine assistance, what England may be in the beginning of the next century, if not before, every one who is a real friend to his King and country must dread to think! ‘Hinc illae lachrymae!’ For whatever others may pretend to say, it is the firm persuasion of myself, and all good men, ‘that there is not only a general Providence over nations, but also a particular one over individuals,’ notwithstanding what a late learned compiler of some voyages has suggested to the contrary.

I have been urged, my Lord, to address the following discourse to you from no worldly motives whatsoever; but entirely from a most sincere and hearty zeal for my King and country, your Lordship's honor in this world, and your happiness in the next; and yet, don't think that I mean to flatter you. If I am guilty of flattery at all, (as people say) it is to the King, not to yourself; but if so, it is for a very good reason, because (Heavens bless him) he has nothing in his power to give. You, my Lord, who have every thing in church as well as state, I would scorn to flatter; the very thought itself I detest and abhor; and yet, I hope I have not shewn myself, either here or in my sermon, to have been an entire stranger at the altar of the graces. This dedication, therefore, is not by way of incense at the shrine of your Lordship's power; for though I am less than the least of all curates, city or country, and have been in orders now almost thirty years, without preferment, or ever the least expectation of it, yet give me leave to tell you, my Lord, one thing, as a matter of fact: ‘That it is not two years ago when I was offered some [Page] of the first and best pieces of preferment in the church, by a certain gentleman near one of the squares, in great connections with men in power; but were offered in such a manner as no honest man would dare to accept; and therefore, though I had the honor of having them offered to me, yet (thank God) I had the grace to refuse them.’ No, my Lord, let me ever be without preferment with a good conscience, infinitely before being possessed of Canterbury itself with a prostituted one! I have neither the pleasure nor honor of being known to you, but am no stranger to a certain gentleman* in your Lordship's department of the Treasury, with whom I was, about twenty-three years ago, seven years at Trinity College in Cambridge. A few words more, my Lord, and then I will relieve your patience: Upon the brightness of your character in private life, as an husband, father, master, &c. your very enemies will not attempt, I believe, to cast even one injurious or invidious shade; so far, my Lord, I honor you. In public life, as a Prime Minister, Politician, Financier, &c. as your Lordship's candor will excuse my silence on these points, so I leave them to be decided by those who are best able to determine them. You are now arrived, and early in life too, at the very acme (as the Greeks call it) of greatness; and so we may well conclude, that you are the primum mobile of this great machine, the state. But forgive me, my Lord, for once, if I err in asking a question or two, and offering an hint: Is there not ore in particular, and two or three others as from him, who oil all those springs which you only seem to move, and accelerate or retard the wheels of state as may best suit his or their projects? If not, how shall we account for all [Page] those evils distresses, grievances, and oppressions, which have befallen this poor unfortunate kingdom, not long after the year 1760? When no Prince upon earth ever came to a throne (and most deservedly so) with a more meridian splendor, the hearts and souls of all his subjects. But oh! my Lord, we can't sufficiently lament that this fair and goodly cedar tree, the pride and glory of the national forest, under whose shade we thought to have long and happily rested, should so soon have been n [...]pt and chilled in the love and affection of his subjects, by this rough and inclement northern blast. You serve, my Lord, one of the best and most worthy masters in the world, who still lives in the hearts and affections of his people; and therefore they can the more easily and tenderly overlook his predilection occasioned by prejudice of education. In gratitude to him, therefore, and in honor to yourself, do you neither mislead him, nor (if in your power) suffer him to be misled. You are too well versed in history and mankind, my Lord, to be told, that favoritism will never do in any kingdom long, but in England especially. Remember Sejanus, and forget not Mortimer and Buckingham. Emancipate then your royal master and yourself from the fetters of him in which you have been too long detained, and confine him and his Junto to a gentle banishment in his own island. Hence England may, perhaps see her halcyon days once more; and so you would be the better enabled to execute this plan to your own immortal honor, and the welfare and happiness of our King and country. In the mean time, my Lord, give me leave however, to indulge myself in the pleasing thoughts of seeing the kingdom somewhat reformed by your Lordship (under God!) as to its religion, morality, and virtue, in joining with the late learned and excellent Lord Roscommon in part of [Page] his wish on another occasion, and with which I now take my leave.

Oh! might I live to see that glorious day,

And sing Te Deum thro' the sacred way!

I then with pleasure should resign my breath,

And gently sink into the arms of death.

And am, My Lord, with all due respect, and best wishes for your Lordship's health and happiness in this world and in the next,

Your most faithful and obedient, (though unknown) Humble servant, WILLIAM SCOTT.

New-Year's-Day, 1774.

Notes

*

Mr. GRAY COOPER, Secretary to the Board.

AN ADDRESS TO THE READER.

[Page]

THE author of the following discourse having too much reason to think that it has been strangely represented, by some who have heard it from the pulpit, to his brethren the clergy, whom he would not willingly offend, has now brought it to the bar of the public, to plead its own cause, and where it must be absolved or condemned by the verdict of their just and impartial determination. He only begs leave to defend himself thus far, by assuring the reader, very faithfully, that neither his preaching nor publishing it was by any means the result of a conceited singularity, as a clergyman, nor of a low paltry pride, or vanity of being an author! but entirely to an honest and hearty endeavour, as his last effort, to rouse the attention of the ministry to something else besides themselves, in order to revive the expiring cause of the religion and morals of his country!—The suspicions of his brethren arising from the above misrepresentation of it, he takes to have been the chief, if not only, reason of his having been refused the pulpit at so many capital churches. His regard and tenderness, therefore, for them, as well those who refused as those who granted it, will, he doubts not, be a sufficient apology with the reader for his concealing the churches. As to the respectable and worthy part of that venerable body of men, he very highly honors them, and ever shall; and as to the Macaroni and Jessamy springs of divinity, with their curled pates frosted o'er like a Twelfth Cake, to be sure he honors them too, as the very worthy successors of so much apostolical gravity and dignity! He is well aware of what censures he shall incur[Page]by this sermon and dedication, from many of the venal part of the laity, as well as some perhaps, of the clergy; but this, with many other things, give him not the least concern, for (thank God!) he has neither hopes nor fears from any man living whatsoever.

What his principles are, religious or political, or whether he has any principles at all, he supposes to be of very little or no concern to the public from such a very obscure and insignificant a person as himself. He, therefore, wants not to make the least boast or parade of either his orthodoxy in the church, or his patriotism in the state; but hopes that the candour of the public will allow him to say thus much of both, that, separate from his profession, he looks upon the church of England to be the most truly primitive and apostolical, and therefore the best constituted church this day upon the face of the whole earth; and in which, however unworthy a member be may have lived, he shall also die. And as to estate, what little he has, together with his life, are and shall be ready to be laid at the feet of his king and country. Let ancient or modern patriotism say or do more. The clergy, he knows, are reckoned, and reviled by too many of their enemies as only dumb dogs, in the prophet's expression. As to his own part, they may call him a surly, snarling, or what dog they please, if they will but allow him to be an honest dog, as he means not to bite, or even bark, any farther than to be a watchful one, as every honest dog ought to be, and to give the alarm against evil or negligent ministers either in church or state. He finds that he is accused of ill will and envy against a certain nation, both in his dedication and sermon but he begs leave to assure them that it is very unjustly, as he bears a general love and good will to all mankind. He only wishes that their[Page]great patron would not add to the number of monopolists in this kingdom, as God knows, and the nation feels it fatally enough, that we have by far too many already; and that his own countrymen might be suffered now and then to go snacks with them in the disposal of pensions and places both at home and abroad. If he has been in the least instrumental by this sermon, or dedication, even to give an hint either to men in or out of power, to execute this plan for reforming the kingdom's religion and morals, as the necessity of it is daily seen and felt, be their's the praise, and his the only reward, as he looks for no other. As he has had the honor of being frequently mistaken for a certain namesake of his, the supposed author and vender of political drugs under the signitures of Anti-Sejanus, Old Slyboots, &c. so he should be upon the ten [...]er-books of pain and vexation to hear that any illiberal reflections, or harsh and cruel censures, should at any time fall upon him to affect his ease and tranquility by day, or his soft slumbers and sweet repose by night; he therefore thinks it his duty to inform the public, that this very worthy and respectable gentleman has not the least hand, or is any ways concerned whatsoever in this dedication, address, or sermon, and hopes that this caution will prevent any stain from falling upon that immaculate character, the supposed pupil, [...]ron [...]y, and friend of that Scipio and Alexander of a man for continence and chastity, the pious and virtuous Lord Sandwich. No man in his senses would willingly incur the ill opinion and dislike of the worthy and valuable part of mankind, and thereby create enemies to himself; but to see an honest, well-meaning Prince deceived, misled, and abused, and one's country exposed, injured, and insulted, by a cabal or junto of men, who are only modernizing ancient Patriotism so far as to be laughing[Page]at others for a parcel of fools, because they don't take them to be a parcel of ******. ‘O hiatus valde deflendus!’ And to stand by as a tame, silent, and cowardly spectator, for fear of hurting one's interest by offending some people, would savour too much of the present selfish age, and is what no honest man can ever forgive himself. And therefore, after all, the author of this dedication, address, and sermon, has at least this pleasing consolation and heart-felt satisfaction, that those who are enemies to him, or to them, must, to be sure, be the right trusty and well-beloved friends to their King and country.

Information about this book

Title statement

O tempora! O mores! Or The best new-year's gift for a prime minister. Being the substance of two sermons preached at a few small churches only, and published at the repeated request of the congregations, / by the Rev. William Scott, M.A. late scholar of Eaton. ; Dedicated to Lord North. ; The pulpit was refused at eight of the most capital churches in London.

Scott, William, b. 1726.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2008-09.

ID [DLPS]

N10728

ID [TCP]

N10728

ID [STC]

Evans 13599

ID [NOTIS]

APX4518

ID [IMAGE-SET]

13599

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99021295

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Series

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 13599.

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(Evans-TCP ; no. N10728)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 13599)

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Source

— O tempora! O mores! Or The best new-year's gift for a prime minister. Being the substance of two sermons preached at a few small churches only, and published at the repeated request of the congregations, / by the Rev. William Scott, M.A. late scholar of Eaton. ; Dedicated to Lord North. ; The pulpit was refused at eight of the most capital churches in London., Scott, William, b. 1726., North, Frederick, Lord, 1732-1792, dedicatee..

Extent

xii, [1], 14-32 p. ; 20 cm. (12mo)

London: printed. Norwich, Connecticut: re-printed by Judah P. Spooner.,. [Norwich, Conn.] :: 1774.. (Dedication to Lord North signed: William Scott. New-Year's-Day, 1774.)

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