Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-06-01
THE GARDEN OF GRIEF
The international Sunday School Lesson For June 3
Is Jesus Betrayed and Denied"-John 18:1-18.
BY I.
BY William Il. Ellis.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS

BY William Il. Ellis.
At the call of patriotism, myriads
| of men and women are this SUNNI er
| turning to gardening. What they ac-
| cepted as a task has become a joy;
| and new and simpler delights, and
fresh stores of health, are among
the first fruits of the countless 10y
! ally gardens" which are a unique
symbol of devotion to ones flag, as
we'll as of all mankind's flag, as
! we'll as of all mankind's interdepen-
| dence. What thoughts grow in a
| garden! And what memories.
1t was in a garden that the Son
| of God, our Saviour, went through
His uttermost hour To-day, with
greater understanding of the signi.
ficance of the Scripture than ever
before the Sunday schools millions
| take up the study of Gethsemane.
| For all the world has become a gar
den of grief and of self-renunciation
and vicarious self-dedication. Hearts
hover hungrily about this old and
| newly-fruitful story.
In golden youth when seems the
earth
A Summer land of 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 which we all must see
The garden of Gethsemane.
With joyous steps we go our ways;
Love lends halo to our days;
Light sorrows sail like clouds afar,
We laugh, and say how strong we
are,
We hurry on; and hurrying, go
Close to the borderland of woe,
That waits for you, and waits for
Forever waits Gethsemane.
Down shadowy lanes. across strange
streams,
Bridged over by our broken dreams;
Behind the misty capes of years,
Beyond 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 Gethsem-
ane.
All those who journey, soon or late,
| Must pass within the gardens gate;
Must kneel alone in darkness there,
| And battle with some fierce despair.
God pity those who cannot say,
Not mine, but Thine" who only
pray
Let this cup pass" and cannot
see
The purpose in Gethsemane.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
A Trysting Place OF Friendship
Some of us who have tarried and
prayed in the literal Garden of Geth-
| semane beneath it's ancient and
| gnarled olive trees, cherish tender
| memories of the sacred spot. The old
| Franciscan monk who tended the
| place so lovingly, and with whom l
ID real fellowship, seems a personal
friend: ! wonder where the Turks
have driven him now? There are
few spots on earth more hallowed, or
better authenticated, than this me-
! mortal of the agony of the Saviour,
or the slop;ng side of the Mount of
{ lives, short distance east of Jeru-
salem, which is on the opposite hill.
across the little brook Eidron.
Back of the olive grove of Gethse-
, name there IS the persona lity of some
| unknown frieno of Jesus, who per-
mitted Him to make the spot a place
of frequent resort. That He was ac-
customed to go to it we know from
Judas familiarity with it, 1t was a
! from the crowds of the city that is so
near. Hither Jesus was accustomed
to go for nights of prayer, in the
| comfort of the comrade trees.
| Somehow, it seems easier to smit-
! ten hearts to keep tryst with Christ
beneath the ''gospelling glooms" of
the gray trees of Gethsemane. We
may miss Him in the crowded walks
of trade and of pleasure, but in the
.-sI
| grove, where burdened and breaking
hearts cry aloud for comfort, we
easily find the Man of Sorrows, who
! has shown us the way into the Gar
| den of Remuneration. This war is
sending uncounted millions into
Gethsemane experience, where Christ
| himself awaits. May the experience
of every one be like unto that so
beautifully portrayed by Sidney
| Lanier:
Into the woods my Master went,
Clean forspent, forspent.
Into the woods my Master came
| Forspent with love and shame.
| But the olives they were not blind
! to Him:
The thorn tree had mind to Him
| The little gray leaves were kind to
him
When into the woods He came.
"Out of the woods my Master went,
And He was well content.
| Out of the woods my Master came,
Content with death and shame.
! When Death and Shame would WOO
Him last
From under the trees they drew
Twas on a tree they slew Him
When out of the woods He came"
The Place of Other-Ness
Nobody has ever had a Gethse-
name experience when he himself is
alone concerned. Trouble and care
and pain and loss are not necessarily
| of the Garden type There must be
giving up of self for the sake of
| others. Into the experience must
enter supremely a recognition of the
will of God and of sacrifice for 9TH
ers. We may truly say that the SOL
| diers mother, who has given her
son to a holy cause, though at the
cost of her souls sweat, has gone
into the Garden of Gethsemane with
! the Saviour; but we cannot say the
| same of the rich man who has mere
| ly lost his fortune or of the pampered
woman who grieves over the loss of
| a pleasure. The gate to this Garden
of Other-ness is marked "Vicarious-
ness"
From first to last all the thoughts
of Jesus were of others than him
self 1t was a worlds sin weighing
upon His spirit that pressed the red
| blood from the pores of the anguish
ed Christ. Lonely, coveting the COM
| radeship of His most intimate