The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-02
IN MEMORY OF ST. ANDREW.
CONTINUED from Twelfth Page.

Continued from Twelfth Page.
character it might seem advisable to
hide" said Rev. NJ. Stryker. but l can't
do it. They had. these early ances-
tors of ours. a cardinal defect, and
thatwwas a light regard for the truth.
Traditions of st. Andrew.
There is a tradition that St. Andrew
was the first TO preach the gospel in
Scotland, but this was probably made
to account for his position as patron
saint. This, however, is so outside the
realm of possibility that we dismiss it.
But the question why st. Andrew was
selected to be the patron saint of Scot
land, has never been satisfactorily an
swered. Thus we can accept any ex-
plantation which appeals to us. One
person, of a most uncharitable dispo-
sition, has suggested that the solution
IS that it was because st. Andrew was
the one who discovered the lad that
had the loaves and fishes!
THE next explanation said Mr..
Stryker, seems much more likely, and
dates from as far back as the sixteenth
century. 1t tells us that a cross like unto
what is now known as a st. Andrews
cross--if / were not afraid you would
interpret the term wrongly, | would
say it was decussate. At any rate the
cross appeared to Achaeus, King of the
Scots, asld fungus, King of the Picts,
as they were on their knees at prayer
the night before the battle was fought
between them and Athelsbane, King of
England when st. Andrew is said also
to have appeared ana to have prom
ised to these kings that they should al
ways be victorious when that sign APP
peared. And the next day, these kings
prevailing over >Athelsbane, they went
in solemn procession, barefooted to the
kirk of st. Andrews to return thanks
to God and His holy apostle for their
victory, vowing that they and their
posterity would ever bear the figure of.
that cross in their ensgns and ban
ners.
The ReEuIus story.
THE most satisfying solution, how
ever, seems to me to be in the follow
ing story: A Greek Bishop Regulus
was warned in vision that the EN-
peror Constantine had it in mind to
take the relics of st. Andrew from Pa
trae in Achaia to Constantinople. And
Reguus was commanded to take an
arm bone, three fingers of the right
hand and a tooth of the apostle over
the sea to the west. A storm cast the
Greek bishop and his associates upon a
shore which proved to be Caledonia
mission the Pictish King gave them
land in which to re-inter the relics and
he also built a church over the grave,
which he called St. Andrews The
lands surrounding the church were also
added to the gift as an endowment.
and in after years the revenues there
from were used for the support of the
bishopric of st. Andrews.
The PedestoI of scotland's saint.
Whether we accept the legend of
the transfeTence of the bones of St.
Andrew from Achaia to Scotland as
purely legendary, or regard it as en-
bodying a fact, there is barely any rea-
sonable doubt that this was the
foundation for the pedestal of the pa
iron saint of the Scot. We may. with
out too much disregard of reason, lay
the deep piety of the Scot and his un-
swerving faith to the influence thus ex-
erted by the life of the apostle so
deeply impressed upon him, and so Of
ten in his mind. Fearlessness, self
forgetfulness, earnestness and stead
fastness constitute a legacy not to be
despised.
st. Andrew gives to you who thus
annually call to mind his 'pious and
immortal memory and to all others,
most practical illustration of the
verility of religion. For his memory
is pious and immortal only because his
life was Christian. If you divest his
memory of that which was the ami
mating principle of his life. you make
it Valueless. 1t were better that it
should not be perpetuated. His MEM
DRY is fragrant because of rs intense
conviction, his sublime loyalty which
never flinched, even when brought face
to face with an instrument of diabolic
torture"