RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Blaikie Blasphemy
Chester County, Penn., and established there a school after the model of the " Log College." He was an adherent of Gilbert Tennent in the controversies of his time. His principal writings were collected by his brother, Rev. John Blair (Philadelphia, 1754); they include sermons, a treatise on predestination and reprobation, and an account of a revival in his congregation at Londonderry.
Bibliography: Consult the biographical sketch in A. Alexander, The Founder and Principal Alumni of the Log College, pp. 164-196, Philadelphia, 1851.
BLAIR, WILLIAM: United Free Church of Scotland; b. at Cluny (23 m. s.w. of St. Andrews), Fifeshire, Jan. 13, 1830. He studied at the University of St. Andrews (M.A., 1850), and in 1856 was ordained to the United Presbyterian ministry at Dunblane, Perthshire. He was clerk to the Stirling Presbytery for twenty-five years, and to the United Presbyterian Synod 1894-1900; since 1900 he has been clerk to the United Free Church General Assembly, and was moderator of the United Presbyterian Synod in 1898-99. He has been chaplain to the famous Black Watch since 1892, a member of the University Court of St. Andrews University since 1903. In theology he adheres strictly to the Westminster Confession. He has written Chronicles of Aberbrothoc (Arbroath, 1853); Rambling Recollections: or, Scenes worth Seeing (Edinburgh, 1857); Archbishop Leighton, Life with Selections (London, 1883); Jubilee Memorial Volume (Edinburgh, 1887); History and Principles of the United Presbyterian Church (1888); and Robert Leighton, Extracts and Introduction (London, 1907).
BLAISE, SAINT. See Helpers in Need.
BLAKESLEE, ERASTUS: Congregationalist; b. at Plymouth, Conn., Sept. 2, 1838; d. at Brookline, Mass., July 12, 1908. While a sophomore at Yale in 1861 he enlisted as a cavalryman. He was mustered out in 1865 as brevet brigadier-general of volunteers. After a business career he studied in Andover Theological Seminary from 1876 to 1879, and entered the Congregational ministry. He had three charges, at Greenfield, Mass., Fairhaven, Conn., and at Spencer, Mass. (1887-92), and resigned the last that he might give his whole time to the preparation and publication of the " Bible Study Union Lessons," which are not only widely used in this country, but translated into several missionary languages. With the teachers' aids, issued separately, more than 160 volumes of lessons were published. Frank Sanders.
BLANCKMEISTER, FRANZ THEODOR: German Lutheran; b. at Plauen (21 m. s.w. of Zwickau) Feb. 4, 1858. After studying at Leipsic from 1877 to 1880 and teaching for a year, he entered the ministry, and has been, since 1897, pastor of Trinity Church in Dresden. In theology he is extremely Protestant and an adverse critic of the Roman Catholic Church. Of his numerous publications may he mentioned Alte Geschichte aus dem Sachsenlande (3 vols., Barmen, 1886-89); Sachsenspiegel (Dresden, 1897; 2d ed., 1902) ; and Sdchsische Kirchengeschichte (1899; 2d ed., 1906).
BLANDINA, SAINT: A martyr who was among the victims of the persecution in Lyons under Marcus Aurelius. In the account of that persecution given by the Christian community there, and preserved by Eusebius (Hist, eccl., v, 1), the courage of the young slave girl is specially extolled; and she is singled out for mention by name, an honor which she shares with only seven of the other martyrs, including the bishop Pothinus. (A. Hauck.)
BLANDRATA, GEORGIUS: Italian Unitarian; b. about 1515 at Saluzzo (17 miles n.w. of Coni), Piedmont; d. after 1585. He migrated to Poland, where he became physician to Sigismund I, then went to Transylvania and served the widow of Jan Zapolya in a like capacity. Having returned to Italy, he went to Pavia, and became an object of suspicion on account of his radical utterances on theology, but escaped the Inquisition by going to Geneva. There he debated with Martinenghi, the preacher of the Italian congregation, also with Calvin, especially concerning the doctrine of the Trinity, which he regarded as endangering the doctrine of the unity of God. He regarded speculation on the relation of the three persons as unnecessary (F. Trechsel, Protestantische Antitrinitarier, 4 parts, Bern, 1841-42, ii, 467; CR, xvii, 2871). Calvin replied in his Responsum ad qucestiones G. Blandratoz (Geneva, 1559). As some members of the congregation sided with Blandrata, Calvin had a confession signed which condemned the antitrinitarian doctrine. Blandrata went to Zurich, then again to Poland, where he was received by Prince Radziwill and took part in several synods (cf. H. Dalton, Lasciana, Berlin, 1898, iv), but Calvin's repeated warnings against him, stigmatizing him as " a foul pest," prevented any lasting activity. In 1563 Blandrata went again to Transylvania and openly professed Unitarianism, being assisted by Prince Stephen Bathori, afterward king of Poland. Faustus Socinus accused Blandrata of having separated from his coreligionists out of avarice; at any rate, tired of the conflict, he ceased to take part in public affairs.
K. Benrath.
Bibliography: Many of the letters of Blandrata are printed in CR, vols, xvii-xxi. Sources for a biography are: G. Sandius, Bibliotheca antitrinitariorum, Freistadt, 1684; S. Libienski, Historia reformationis Polonicw, ib. 1685. Consult V Malacarne, Commentario delle opere e della vicendi di G. Biandrata, Padua, 1814; O. Fock, Der Socinianismus, Kiel, 1847; and J. H. Allen, Historical Sketch of the Unitarian Movement, New York, 1894.
BLASPHEMY (Gk. blasphemia, "a speech or word of evil omen "): Properly any species of calumny and detraction, but technically limited to evil-speaking of God or things held sacred. The conception that such an act is a crime may be traced back to Judaism, whose code imposed death by stoning as a punishment (Lev. xxiv, 15-16; Matt. xxvi, 65; John x, 33). The later Roman law_ also attached the death penalty (Nov. Justin., 'LX.X.YII, i, 1-2). In the earlier church law, blasphemy is not mentioned as a punishable offense. Pope Gregory IX (1227-41) prescribed penance for public blasphemy against God, the saints, or the Virgin; the guilty person must stand for seven Sundays
Blass Bledsoe