A Discourse in Praise of St. Andrew, the Saint and Patron of Scotland.  
IT has been the custom of all Nations from the very first Ages of the World to keep Records of the Famous Actions of their Native Country Heroes, to insert their Names in their most Authentic Histories, which relate their Noble Exploits and rare Achievements, and to erect Monuments on their Graves, to be Monitors and Memorandums to Posterity, to trace the Footsteps of their Valiant and Magnanimous Ancestors: And this has not been done only by the civilised and most refined Nations, but even among the most Savage, Rude, and Barbarous People we find Remainders of Honour and Gratitude paid to their Victorious Progenitors; otherwise we shall never be able to give an account and render a reason of these rude Monuments yet remaining almost in every Nation we travel in: These prodigious heaps of Stones piled up like Pyramids, are nothing else but the rude Monuments of Kings and famous Generals of those Days, who died nobly in the Bed of Honour in defence of their Native Country.  
Now if we find such effects of Gratitude and Thankfulness naturally implanted in the minds of those Heathen, who had no more Light to conduct them in the Maze and Wilderness of this World, but some faint glimmerings of Light conveyed to 'em through the Crannies of Nature, without the assistance of Divine Revelations, and Prophets endued with Divine Blasts from above; let not us Christians, who have all these helps afforded to us which they wanted, prove ungrate to our Benefactors; and seeing all Christian Nations have their Saints and Patrons who were Instruments of planting the Gospel among them, and that Posterity may not forget so great Benefactors towards them, have appointed Festivals to be kept in Honour of such Holy Devoto's for ever: Let us not be behind others in paying that Tribute of Thanks to the Memory of St. Andrew our Patron, one of the first that was called by his Lord and Master to be a Promulgator of the Gospel of Peace, being the second Person of the Sacred College of the Apostles, and had the hardest and most difficult Province assigned to him of all the rest of his Brethren, if we consider the vast Nations he traveled over, the Rudeness and Barbarity of the People, the Opposition of their Priests, the Menaces, Threaten, and Frowns of the Princes and Great Ones of the Earth, threatening the Holy Apostle every moment with the most bitter and cruel Death imaginable. For,  
Who but such another as the Holy Apostle would have had the Courage and Magnanimity to enter Scythia, to face those barbed Darts and poisoned Arrows which had still been a terror to the effeminate Persians, galled the Grecians, and long vexed the very Romans, before they were subdued, and obliged to pay Homage to the conquering City? Who would have forced his way through the vast Hyr●inian Forest, a Wood of more than a thousand Miles long, inhabited only by the voracious Generation of Wolves, Bears and Tigers, but St. Andrew? Who would have had the confidence to encounter the cruel Sogdians, the treacherous S●cians, and pilfering Arabians, who have ravaged in a continued Chain of Plunder and Rapine since the time of their Father and Founder Ishmael, but such a Saint as St. Andrew? But once more, who but one endued with Heavenly Fortitude would have taken his Life in his Hand, and enter the Taurik Chersonese (now Crim Tartary) inhabited by a People more cruel and barbarous than any of the former, whose constant custom was to drink the Blood and suck out the Brains of their Enemies, and adorn their Temples with Skulls of the Vanquished.  
What could our Apostle think of those signs of Barbarity? what strange thoughts, mormoes and uncouth amusements would tumble in his Brain at such a hideous prospect, beyond the savageness of the fiercest Animals? He could in all probality imagine nothing else but that himself should be the next Sacrifice of their Cruelty, and his Skull fixed on a Spike in Honour of their Goddess Diana Taurica. What must he do in these extraordinary and amazing circumstances? must he skulk off, and make the best of his way, and get him out among these Savages? but that was it he was not acquainted with; he must not falsify his Trust, and stifle his Commission he had received from his Lord and Master, which was to preach the Gospel, and disseminate the glad tidings of Salvation to the Barbarian and Scythian, wise and unwise, bond and free. That saying of his Master when he was first called to be an Apostle, Fellow me and I will make you Fishers of Men, was riveted in his soul, and never slipped out of his mind; but fulfilled that saying in bringing in many thousands to the Christian Faith; for he was certainly a Fisher of Men who catched in his Net vast hordes of roving Tartars, great multitudes of Sacians, and mighty Caravans of pilfering Arabians, scouring off the barbarity, and mitigating the freity of these wild People, making their Dagons of Idolatry fall on their faces to the ground to pay Homage to the Son of the Eternal born in Jury. The four great Monarchies of the World had made some, but fruitless Attempts and faint Essays to civilize those Barbarians, seeing their Banners were only set up on the Confines of these Nations; but the complete conquest of 'em was left to our Holy Patron, who subdued the passions, conquered the hearts, and captivated the minds of the fiercest Creatures of all the sons of Adam.  
Who but the soul of the Holy Apostle would have sunk under such innumerable Calamities that so fast trod upon the heels of one another? his Lord and Master crucified, his native Country shortly to be overrun by the Romans, and their Eagle to perch on the loftiest Turrets of the Holy City, his Friends discouraged, and black Idolatry now become impudent in the World: All which was enough to discourage and exanimate the stoutest Hero and most stupefied stoic imaginable. But all these were no Bugbears to him who was proof against all the disasters this World could present unto him, seeing he was assured that his Redeemer lived, and would plentifully reward him at the latter day.  
So wandered our Holy Apostle up and down his Province, whose constant Companions were Hunger and Thirst, Cold and Nakedness, with all the other sorrows and miseries that accompany this mortal Life, he went about always doing good till the time of his dissolution drew near, and the time that he should be offered up approached.  
And when he finished his course, and dispatched his Commission, he returned from his Northern Proselytes towards the warmer Climate of Arabia, where he ended his miserable and tedious Life; For Ægeas the Proconsul of that Province laid hold on him, and Crucified him; O how glad was he of these Tidings, how acceptable was this News to him that he should mount the upper Regions on the Ladder of the Cross, certainly Old Jacob's heart was not more extended with Gladness when he saw his Son Joseph, than the Apostles was with joy to see the Sign of that which had been the chief design of his Travels, and the principal Theme of his Orations. O, how did his Soul leap within him for joy that he was honoured to die after this manner! Now he was sure with the end of his days to obtain the end of his Faith, even the Salvation of his Soul.  
Now let out thoughts go along with him, to the place of Execution, and suppose ourselves posted in the Ring of his Disciples and Proselytes, standing round the Cross, and hearing our blessed Patron Preach his farewell Sermon to them in these words. O blessed and happy Plants of the Christian Faith. O pleasant Blossoms of the Infant Church. O my exceeding great Joy and Crown, my Darling and loving Babes, whom I have Begot, in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.  
You know my beloved Children, that after many hazardous Journeys and great Toils, I have at last Arrived in this City, and gained many Souls to Christ in it: But the Governor Ægeas, who should have been a good Example to others, has rejected the Gospel, and stopped its Progress very much: But I bless God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, That notwithstanding his Malice and Cruelty, I see so many Witnesses of my Death, so many Ambassadors behind me, to water those Barren Places I have Planted.  
Therefore, my Dear Children, be steadfast in the Doctrine which you have heard from me, which indeed is not mine, but his who is the Author and Father of all things, it's his whose mercy knows no limits, who had Compassion on the deplorable Condition of the Sons of Adam, whom the Old Serpent has endeavoured to Circumvent from the Beginning: But our heavenly Father to put check to this Old Deceiver, has sent beloved Son into the World to destroy the works of the Devil, and to rescue his Children out of the thick mist of Darkness, and bring them into his marvellous light, to rescue them from the precipices of Destruction and confines of Hell, into the heavenly Canaan, to the place of the Spirits of just men made perfect.  
Wherefore return, never any more to abominable Idolatry, which has bewitched the minds of Men for so many Ages; but believe and trust in the everliving God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the eternal and uncreated Trinity, for God is one and three, who is great without quantity, whose will is his power, who governs all things without trouble, and there is nothing that can in the least disturb the order of his universal Empire, who is always communicating and doing good to his Creatures without weariness; so that we need no inferior Mediators to carry our Petitions into the Court of Heaven, after the manner of the Heathen, but let all your requests be put up to your omniscient Creator, who will hear your Prayers and grant your Petitions by the infinite Merits of his Son.  
Don't Grieve and Lament, because I am fixed to this Cross; for this Tree is to me the Tree of Life, a Plank of Safety in the Shipwreck of Sinners; 
In hoc signo Vinces.  'tis a Trophy which our Saviour has erected over his Vanquished Enemies, in this you shall overcome, Triumph, and to Valiantly, in after Ages Kings and Emperors shall glory to have the Sign of it for their Banners; and shall rejoice to Fight under the Standard of the Holy Jesus.  
Lastly, Dear Children, let not the Allurements of this World entice you, nor Honours, Pleasures, and Preferment ensnare you, nor the most horrid Instruments of Torture affright you, to run out of the right Road of a Holy Life: But when the most dismal Calamities shall assault you, have recourse to our Blessed Redeemer, look back to his Cross and Bitter Passion which he patiently endured, and all to save us from Eternal Woe and Misery.  
These and such like Exhortations, you may suppose, the Holy Apostle uttered to his mourning Disciples from the Theatre of the Cross: I hàve given you this Abstract of a very long Sermon, (the longest that ever was Preached,) a Sermon of Three Days (for so long he lived on the Tree) and spent all the time in Exhorting and Instructing his Proselytes, to adher to the word of Truth he had delivered to them, amidst all the Temptations, Miseries, Calamities, and Persecutions they should be trusted with for the sake of the Gospel, O what rare Emblems are wrapped up in this Circumstance of the Apostles Preaching Three Days on the Cross: He was Three Days fixed to his Cross, to Sympathize with his Master, who continued Three Days in the Grave under the power of Death: He was Three Days Tormented on the Tree, because his Lord was so long Chained with the Fetters of Mortality: He Three Days outbraved and dared all the Cruelty and Malice of his Enemies, because his Redeemer so long a time was triumphing over Death, Hell, and the Grave. He preached Three Days from the Theatre of the Cross, to signify to his Disciples, that the Church should groan under cruel Persecution for Three Hundred Years.  
O Happy! yea, Thrice Happy People of Edessa, who had the Honour to Hear this Mirror of Love and Patience make his Will, and Harangue so long from the Excruciating and Tormenting Pulpit. The Edesseaens were not the only Spectators of this Spectacle; but the Holy Angels were Hover over him in the Air, and greatly rejoicing to see him do so valiantly; altho' his Disciples were Weeping and Mourning, the Heavenly Coire was Singing an Anthem, which continued till his Soul was lodged in a state of Joy and Bliss; now he had Fought a Fight and Finished his course, and dispatched the Commission he was entrusted with, and wafted above the Stars in a crowd of Blessed Spirits, to receive that Crown which his Master had prepared for him, and not for him only, but for all those that love his appearing.  
Now my dear Countrymen I have given you this short Account of our Holy Patron, to the end we may imitate him in all Piety and Virtue, to follow his Steps in a continued chain of Patience and Long-suffering, with an unwearied diligence in being good ourselves, and performing all good Offices to others, in extending our Charity not only to uphold the outward Shell of the frail Bodies of Men, but to have a true and brotherly Compassion for their Souls by our good Example, Holy Life, Seasonable Admonitions, and frequent Instructions; weaning them from all worldly Lusts; and so we shall have the honour of being Instruments of saving Souls, and rescuing them from the coasts of eternal Ruin.  
And the only way to put us in mind of these things, is to preserve the Memory of Holy Men; and the way to preserve their Memories, is to commemorate them; on these Solemn Times the Church in all Ages has thought fit to set apart for the Commemoration of the Piety and Suffering of good Men, to stir up others to imitate them in their good Works and holy Lives.  
There is certainly a Civility in Humane Nature, which will not suffer men to wrong the Dead, especially those who have been Good and Virtuous; for as bad as the Pharisees were, and they certainly were as bad as we can imagine, yet they built Monuments and set up Tombs on the Graves of the Prophets, whom their Fathers had Slain and Butchered, and protested, if they had lived in those Days, they would not have been guilty of such horrid Cruelty, and base Ingratitude, and Inhumanity to the Men of God; it is true, the best of Men in this World have the luck to be ill Treated and basely Handled while among us in this World of Pride, Malice, and Emulation; but when removed from us, than we lament the want of 'em, and are anxious for want of their Society and Fellowship, which was little regarded when present, but very much valued, when we can't recover it. So that Virtue is still most esteemed, and Piety most regarded at a distance, but when present, it's despised and rejected, because the persons where it lodges are fallible like ourselves. But what ever thoughts the World may have of Good Men and their Actions, the Psalmist has told us that the Righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance, and how can they be in remembrance, except we set apart some time to commemorate their Virtuous Actions, our Saviour's presence at the Feast of the Dedication, altho' not appointed by God, but the Jews themselves is warrant enough for us to keep Festivals in memory of Good and Holy Men, in order to imitate them.  
Is it not very strange to see some people so Inhuman and Ungrate to the memory of the Saints, that they will scarce be so kind to them as the great Cesar was to his Horse, who caused him to be Buried and Interred out of a pure humour of Gratitude, to save his Carcase from Dogs and Ravens, because the Beast had done him good Service, and saved his Life many times in the Wars.  
Now seeing every Nation have their Patron, to whom they pay a grateful respect to the memory of their Ashes, let us not be behind with them in Commemorating the holy Apostle St. Andrew, let not France boast of their St. Dennis, the Russians of St. Nicholas, the Norwegians of Ula, or St. William, while we can glory of St. Andrew, a part of whose remains, viz. his Arm is Interred in our Kingdom, brought thither (as the Story goes) by one of his Disciples St. Regulus of Rule, and Buried at St. Andrews, which City retains the Name of the Saint to this very day; so that though our Kingdom lieth in a Cold Cli●●●● towards the North-pole, yet it is no small Honour and great cause of Glorying, that some of thè remains of so great an Apostle, and one of the most renowned Saints, is Buried in the Heart of our Ancient Kingdom, so as with our Crown for its Antiquity, so with our Religion and Patron, we can contend and compare with our Neighbour Nations, if we have not the better of the most of ' 'em. Therefore all I shall say more on this subject, is this, that we ought in all gratitude to Commemorate this Saint on this day, which the Church in all Ages assigned for his Festival, not that any respect we pay to his Memory, can add the least thing to his Glory, who is now in full Joy and perfect Bliss, but only to show ourselves grateful and to make us better, by following his Example and excellent Pattern.   

Dublin: Printed for David Pollock, next door to the Sign of the London in D●●'s-street.