By
H. A. RIDGWELL.
Three
years after David Jones reached the capital of
Amongst
that eager throng was a young girl named Rasalama. Rasalama came of
pagan stock, but had been eager to learn to read. The new faith soon won her heart, and when,
after the missionaries had laboured incessantly for seven years, the first
little band of converts, numbering only twenty, was baptized in 1831, Rasalama was one of them.
After
the death of King Radama, one of his wives, Ranovalona, a cruel, bloodthirsty, superstitious woman, who
by cunning and murder had eliminated all her rivals, wrested the throne from
the rightful heir, young Prince Rakotobe, and occupied
it herself. The young Prince, who had been the first scholar in David
Jones’ school in 1820, was captured and conveyed to a village not far from the
capital, and later removed to another some twenty miles distant. He was
conscious of his probable fate and pleaded for his life, but in vain. His
guards were his executioners. They merely allowed him time to pray before
spearing him into his newly dug grave. He died, not without having for
some time given encouraging evidence that he had sincerely embraced the
religion of Jesus Christ. How different a story might have been written
had he succeeded his uncle Radama!
Persecution
now began to rage. Those too unfortunate to escape were hailed to prison
and clamped in irons. It was on the 22nd of July, 1837, that Rasalama, together with nine others, was arrested and
imprisoned; a few days later they were deprived of all their possessions and
their freedom, and sold as slaves. Rasalama was
sold to a high official who was also a relative, a man of savage character.
She was cruelly beaten and put in irons in the hope that the utmost severity
might bring her to her senses. But all through she remained calm and
steadfast. Neither threats nor chains could move her. Daring to
remonstrate with her captor on one occasion, when he was charging her with
disloyalty, she asked, ‘If so much is due to an
earthly sovereign, is no obedience to be paid to the authority of the supreme
Lord of all?’ This was reported to the Queen, who was so incensed
that she at once ordered her to be put to death.
She
was now taken from the house of Ramiandrivola and
that afternoon put in irons of a peculiarly cruel construction called Omby fohy intended
for agonizing punishment. The irons consisted of rings and bars and were
fastened around the feet, hands, knees and neck, so as to confine the whole
body in an excruciating painful position, forcing the extremities together as
if the sufferer were packed into a small case. After spending the night
in this exquisite agony, Rasalama was next morning
led out to execution. The crowds that watched her going were amazed at
her joy-lit countenance, for she sang hymns as she went. They attributed
her firmness to the influence of some secret witchcraft which they believed
must have been employed by the missionaries.
Passing
the chapel where she had been baptized she exclaimed joyfully, ‘there I heard the words of the Saviour!’ She
was led on past the residence of the Prime Minister and the Queen’s Palace, for
about a mile, to the brow of a hill at the very northern extremity of the city,
which overlooks a great panorama of villages, rich fields, and, in the far
distance, mountain ranges. The spot where the execution took place was
bare, exposed, and deserted, the haunt of wild dogs, a place shunned and
feared. On reaching it she asked leave to kneel down and pray. Her
request was granted, she calmly knelt and committed her spirit into the hands
of her Lord, praying too for those who despitefully used her; and in that
attitude of prayer she was speared to death, the executioners, three or four in
number, standing behind and by the side of her and striking her through the
ribs to the heart.
Just
before her martyrdom she wrote a brave letter to one of the missionaries who
had taught her, in which she said: ‘This is what I beg
most earnestly from God - that I may have the strength to follow the words of
Jesus which say: "If any one would come
after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." Therefore I do not count my life as a thing worth
mentioning that I may finish my course, that is, the service which I have
received from the Lord Jesus. Don’t you missionaries think that your
hard work here in
Only
one young man, named Rafaralalry, dared to accompany
her on the last sad journey to the spot where she was put to death. He
was deeply affected with the scene. Seeing her amazing calmness he
exclaimed: ‘If I might die so tranquil and happy a
death, I would not be unwilling to die for the Saviour too.’ It
was not long after that he did give his life, and on this self-same spot.
Permission to be allowed to bury Rasalama’s body was
refused by the Queen; instead it was left to be devoured by the wild dogs on
that lonely hillside. The name Rasalama
means ‘peace, health, happiness’ and truly she realized it to the very end and
then entered into the ‘peace which passeth
understanding’.
At
the recent centenary celebrations of the death of Rasalama
great mass meetings (Ambompotsy) were held at
those places in or near the capital connected with her life and
sufferings. The first took place in her native
[* By law all religious gatherings must be held in authorized
church buildings.]
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World Dominion.
A
MARTYR’S PRAYER
Prayer
for our enemies, especially our murderers, has never been discovered outside
the Bible, and those whom the Bible has changed; and it has been repeated down
the ages. In 1546 when Wishart was led to the
fire, with a rope about his neck and a chain of iron about his middle, he sank
on his knees, saying, "O thou Saviour of the world, have mercy on
me. Father of heaven, I commend my spirit into Thy holy
hands." His hangman fell upon his knees and said, "Sir, I pray
you forgive me, for I am not guilty of your death." Wishart
answered, "Come to me"; and he kissed his cheek, saying, "Lo,
here is a token that I forgive thee. Do thy office." He was
then hanged and burnt to powder.
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