Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1901-08-27
LESSONS OF GETHSEMANf.
Beautiful Sermon at The Presbyterian
Church Sabbath Morning

%hA uhuSud-y Idi 30 duOlCIiCC lis
tened attentiyely to the beautiful sermon
delivered by Rev. R. L. Nelly at the
Presbyterian church Sunday morning
The following extracts are taken from
notes made at our request by Mr. J. L.
Yates:
Rev. r. L. Nelly spoke from the text
found in the first clause of the 14th
chapter of st. Mark, 32nd verse, ''And
they came to place which was named
Gethsemane" Mr.. Meiley said in part;
am going to speak to you this morn
ing on the Mystery aud Message of Suf-
fering," for where is the soul that has
not felt its keen edge? Where is the
| life that does not in some measure bear
its image and superscription Where is
the human lip that has not uttered that
cry that echoed 10 centuries ago along
the valley of Kidron, ooh my Father, if
it be possible let this cup pass from me ?"
These words of the text take US back to
Jerusalem. Jesus is there with his dis.
ciples, celebrating the feast of the Pass
over. After that supper they left an
upper room and proceeded in westerly
direction. 1t must have been a beauti-
ful night, for it was at that season when
the moon shone in its full sp1endor, and
the deep-set stars glistened in the cleo
trio brilliancy of an Eastern sky. After
half-hour's walk they reared the
mount of Olives, and little later came
to place which was named Gethsem-
ane. Leaving eight of the disciples at
the edge of the garden, he proceeded
with the three who knew him best into
the deeper shadows of its olive trees.
And here he said unto them, "My soul is
exceeding sorrowful, even urto death. .
Even here he was beginning to feel the
worlds weight Of sin that pressed upon
him; here he was beginning to feel the
pressure of the worlds load of guilt and
suffering, that he must bear up to the
cross, to transfx it there.
And leaving the three men that were
then with him, he went forward a little;
st. Luke tells US a stones throw, and
there he cast himself upon the ground
and prayed that prayer, that prayer
which we can never understand COM
pletely till the morning light or eternity
breaks upon the shores of time; that
prayer which we can never fathom to its
depths till the spirit ransomed and re-
deemed stands call rapture, through and
through, in Gods most holy light" The
mystery and message of suffering then
is the grand epic of Gethsemane. Let
US learn some OF the lessons which it
brings to US this morning, and apply,
them to our lives and experiences.
Lesson the first: There is a Gethse-
name in every life. There is ''A place of
the Olive" as the word signifies, that is
a season of testing, time the shadows of
suffering and sorrow will fall heavily and
damp upon us. 1t must needs be SO,
imam is born 10 trouble as the sparks fly
upward" and yon know how beau
tifully our own poet, Longfellow, has
said:
into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary."
See the revelation OF this truth in lives
around us. I have seen the marriage al
tar, fragrant with flowers, as beautiful
as any that ever bloomed on fairest isle
in Southern Seas. l have seen the
young couple as they stood at that altar,
all wreathed in smiles. Not cloud was
IN their sky, not shadow upon their
pathway; all around seemed music and
light and song. But saw them few
years later-the scene had changed.
They were bending over the bedside of
dying child, smoothing the fevered brow
aud kissing the death damp from the
pallid cheek. And when the final scene
came, and that little chilli for the last
time on earth threw its arms around its
parents necks, and said. "Good-night,
papa; good night, mamma; meet me in
heaven" in the shadows and darkness of
their grief and suffering, could read the
words, "And they came ro place which
was named Gethsemane.'
I have walked with silent steps the
aisles of our great hospitals, and as I
gazed in the faces of the pale, wan and
sad, upon bodies worn and wasted BY
disease, and as I saw the hopes of life's
success that had been plighted, and the
plans for future happiu ess that had been
frustrated, could read in the shadows
OF that grief aud suffering g that they, too,
had come to place which was called
Gethsemane.
Lesson the second; Every Gethsem-
ane has its mystery. Under this head
Mr.. Nelly spoke Of the mysteries that
surround the sorrow and suffering of
human life. That it is wisely and provi-
dentially hidden from our view.
Lesson the third: Every Gethssmane
has its message. It is the message of
sympathy and encouragement. The
epistle to the Hebrews was letter of
sympathy and encouragement to the
poor, prosecuted, suffering Christians of
Palestine. Read, if you will. the 18th
chapter of that epistle. It's not only
message OF sympathy and encourage
ment, bus it is massage of resignation,
for you remember that prayer in the
garden, uttered by Christ himself, when
he said, mot my will, but Thine be
done''
The last thought wish to present is,