THE STORY OF BLANDINA
[“This
is one of several addresses given by the late Mr. James A. Ramsay to a company of schoolgirls who visited his
home
[* This tract was
printed in August 16, 1937.]
My
DEAR CHILDREN,
About
2,400 years ago there lived a man of God, a prophet, called Daniel, who dreamed
a fearsome dream. He saw four wild
beasts. The first three were a lion, a
bear and a leopard. The fourth was not
like any kind of beast that he knew, but this is how he speaks about it: "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth
beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron
teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet
of it and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it and it had ten
horns" (Dan. 7: 7). Daniel did not know what the dream meant, but
an angel told him. (In times past angels sometimes came down from Heaven and
spoke to men.) The angel told him that
the wild beast meant a kingdom that would arise in after days - a cruel
government. Well, part of the dream came
true 700 years after, that is, 1,750 years ago. The angel told Daniel that a cruel and fierce
nation or government would arise and do wicked things - just like a mad fierce
beast. The dream came true (part of it)
long years ago when the nation of
The
worst thing that this wild-beast nation did was to crucify our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. But I am not going to tell
you that wonderful story just now. I am
going to tell you about a great battle between
Blandina was the slave-girl’s name. The Romans were mostly heathen, but Blandina’s mistress was a Christian. She told Blandina
about Jesus and His cross, and taught her to love Jesus her Saviour. But that wild-beast government, like the
Bolshevist government in
Blandina said: "It
is not true that we live bad lives. We
are taught to be good and pure and kind and to do no harm to anyone. But we must not pray to the gods of
They said: "You are only a slave-girl. You have no right to worship Jesus if
"I cannot do that. Jesus
is my God and Saviour. He would be
grieved if I denied Him. We Christians
love God, the Creator, and do no harm, and we cannot
worship false gods."
"Foolish girl! Do you think that you, a slave, know better
than the Emperor and the free men of
"Wretched girl! Do you defy the
So
poor, brave, faithful Blandina was taken into a
prison cell and cruelly whipped till her back was covered with blood. But her persecutors did not want to kill her,
they wanted to break her will and make her obey
But
Jesus spoke into Blandina’s heart and this is
what He said: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill
the soul" (Matt. 10; 28).
"Whosoever shall confess Me
before men, him will I confess also before
My Father which is in Heaven" (Matt.
10: 32). "Fear not, for I am with thee."
"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be
of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16: 33). "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid"
(14: 27).
And
a deep joy and peace filled the slave-girl’s heart, as she prayed: "Thy will be done." And how long did the battle last? For two weeks at least.
Every day she was visited by the cruel
servants of wicked
Then
they took her to the arena to see other Christians tormented and killed. The arena was in the interior of an immense
amphitheatre which held more than 10,000 people who came to see the Christians
being killed. There was a dreadful iron
chair, heated red-hot, and the Christians were made to sit in it till they were
nearly dead. Then they were put into a
net and flung into the arena, where there were lions and tigers hungry to eat
them. If the lions and
tigers would not touch them (which often happened), a wild bull was put in, and
many Christians were gored to death by the bull.
Dear
Blandina was brought into the amphitheatre. The other spectators were enjoying the cruel
sight, but Blandina was filled with sorrow and horror
to see her dearest friends suffering such terrible agonies and death. But Jesus was with them, and took them to
glory when they died. And He was with Blandina. After each
cruel spectacle Blandina was taken back to prison and
offered her freedom if she would deny Jesus and worship the gods of
At
last the final day came. Blandina was brought into the amphitheatre, all bleeding
after cruel scourging. At the same time
a lad of fifteen, named Ponticus, was brought
in. Blandina
encouraged him to be faithful unto death, and he was faithful, and he died
before she died. Her enemies were
astonished that a poor slave-girl could endure so much and live so long and yet
not give in. They did not know what a
Saviour she had. They did not know that
He was beside her all the time, soothing her pains. She sat in the fearful
red-hot chair till she became insensible. She was flung to the lions and tigers, but
they would not touch her. She wakened up
and said to the boy: "Be strong and Jesus will
give you crown of life," and then the boy died and received the
crown of glorious martyrdom. And soon
after, she became insensible and while she was insensible the bull gored her to
death.
Now,
my dear children, I am going to tell you what you are thinking - you are
thinking this: Why did God, and Jesus not rescue Blandina from those cruel men? Well, be sure of this - God loved Blandina more than her father and mother could have loved
her. When you are older you will be able
to understand that pain and sorrow,
suffered for Jesus’ sake bring blessings that nothing else can bring. In
"And now we fight the
battle,
But then shall wear the crown
Of full and everlasting
And
passionless renown."
How
glorious to meet Blandina in Heaven! And how much more to meet Jesus, who died for Blandina and you and me!
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POSTSCRIPT
This
fragment of an incomplete sonnet was written by Mr. Ramsay the day
before he died, in his eightieth year, October, 23, 1936, and was found under
his pillow after his death. Suffering
acute heart-spasms, he said he had never known greater joy. The incident
herein described actually occurred, not in the martyrdom of Blandina,
but in that of Perpetua, a young noblewoman, who
suffered similarly some years later.
"Blandina-slave
and saint-upon the sand
Of the arena all unconscious
lay,
Death-gored; then woke, "I do not understand –
I thought I was to
have been gored to-day"!
"Oh
what a heavenly dream!" she said - and died.
And found her martyr-crown
already won,
And joy, once dreamt of here, in
heaven begun –
For ever
in the