Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-10-16
GETHSEMANE COMES
INTO EVERY LIFE
Sunday School Lesson on Crisis
of the Passion; Sal
vation's Cost
THE REMUNERATION OF SELF
What Was The Cup" That Jesus
Prayed Might Pass
Him
The International Sunday School Les
son For October 1S Is I'm the
Garden of GethSemane."
Mark 14:32-34
Ry William 7. Ellis


agony of the worlds Saviour, in which
he sweat, as it were. great drops OF
blood. The Garden of Gethsemane is
a common meeting ground to-day for
this agoninzing, warning world. COO
grant that the spiritual significance
of the experience may not be missed
Into the life of every individual,
however shallow our nature. comes
an experience which we call "Geth-
semane." Ella Wheeler Wilcox has
beautifully gathered this thought into
a poem:
In golden youth, wren seems the
earth
A summer land for singing mirth;
When souls are glad and hearts are
light,
And not a shadow turks in sight,
We do not know it, but there lies
Somewhere, veiled under evening
skies,
A garden all must sometimes see
Somewhere lies our Gethsemane.
with joyous steps we go our ways.
Love lends a halo to our days,
Light sorrows sail like clouds afar;
We laugh, and say how strong we
are.
We hurry on. and hurry, go
Close to the borderland of woe,
Forever waits Gethsemane.
Down shadowy lanes, across strange
streams,
Bridged over by our broken dreams,
Behind the misty caps of years,
Close to the great salt fount of tears,
The garden lies; strive as you may,
You cannot miss it in your way.
All paths that have been, or shall
be,
Pass somewhere through Gethsemane.
"All those who journey, soon or late
Must pass within that gardens gate,
Must kneel alone in darkness there,
And battle with some fierce dispair.
God pity those who cannot say
Not mine, but thine who only pray,
Let this cup pass and cannot see
The purpose in Gethsemane."
The Old Garden Itself
Perhaps a word about the actual
spot where the agony of Jesus trans
pired, will make more definite our
thinking. The Garden of Gethsem-
ane is one of the sacred sites concern
ing which there can be no doubt. The
present Garden of Gethsemane, sur
rounded by a stone wall, and contain
ing several venerable olive trees-one
years old, is in the care of the Fran
ciscan monks. There can be no doubt
that, If it it not the actual scene of
the supreme tragedy, it is within
few yards of il. The spot is one of the
most affecting upon earth, and the
reverent traveller goes thither again
and again into that peaceful, tenderly
kept garden, to let the dust of the
world be swept from his spirit by the
breezes of memory which blow
through the old olive trees.
| Gray, as If they had won through
| pain to peace, gnarled and twisted as
If thought suffering to strength, stand
these old olive trees which have wit
messed so much of history. Beneath
these ancient trees the flowers bloom
in the garden, in sweet symbolism of
the beauty and JOY that have sprung
up in human life under the shadow of
the suffering, sympathetic Saviour.
| The old monk who lovingly tends
the garden-how trivial the differen-
ces between churches seem when one
comes to Gethsemane-with whom 1
had congenial conversation, though
each of us could speak but little of
the others language, gave me bits of
the tree from broken limbs, and these
! 1 have had made into crosses for
friends. often memory goes back to
that beautiful garden of remuneration
| ana OF communion. lO NlSlI IL Is u
know a Christening, sanctifying, uplift-
ing experience.
Under the Trees of Olivet
All fine spirits love the out-of-
doors. In hours of stress and crisis
they instinctively turn to the woods
and the fields of the open skies. A
true nature-lover was Jesus; and he
was accustomed to resort to these
gray leaves of olive trees on the west
slope of Olivet. for prayer and media
ton and communion with the Father.
Even Judas knew this spot to be one
of his haunts.
So, in his great hour, Jesus took
his three closest friends and wend-
ed his way down to the sheep-gate
at the northeastern corner of the
city, even as the traveller may do to-
day; and crossed the brook Kedron
at about t.ie spot where the lepers
now sit, and penetrated into the Sc
clusion of the grove, off from the
main highway.
Leaving behind even his closest
friends, the Master went into the re-
no room for a companion in the ulti-
mate experiences of life. One by one
! we face the great verities. Even our
| dearest must stay without the gate
of Gethsemane when we are sum-
moned to enter. There, alone, be-
neaJn the ITeeSs Jesus underwent Ine
real crisis of his passion.
When Self-Assurance Failed
| Most of us distrust the blatant per-
sons loud word of self-confidence and
Assurance of power. When Jesus inti-
mated that his disciples would fail him
that night, Peter impetuously protest
ed that he would stand fast, though all
men fell away. The very boastfulness
of the utterances prepares us for the
subsequent events. The trouble with
Peter was that he was too self-reliant,
too sure of Peter, and not dependent
enough on God. No Christian may
count on himself to keep faithful; but
only on God to keep faith with him.
The words of consistency were
scarcely cold on the lips of the three
most loyal disciples before they were
overcome with sleep. They could not
watch while Jesus prayed. Their love
was not masterful enough to drive
sleep from their eyes, in even their
Leaders darkest hour. Gethsemane
will not have delivered its full mes
sage to us, unless it hrmbles our spiri-
tual pride.
The Song and the Sweat
Two dramatic extremes are in this
story. 1t begins with song. When