The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-06-01
For June Is Jesus Betrayed and
Denied"-John 1S:1-1s.
The Garden of Grief

FOR June Is Jesus Betrayed and
Denied'-John 1s:1-1s.
The Garden of Grief.
At the call of patriotism, myriads
of men and women are this Summer
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 loyalty
gardens which are a unique symbol
of devotion to ones flag, as we'll as of
all mankind's interdependence. What
thoughts grow in a garden, And
what mem cries!
1t was in a garden that the Son of
God, our Saviour, went thru His ut
termost hour. Today, with greater
understanding of the significance of
the Scripture than ever before the
Sunday schools millions take up the
study of Gethsemane For all the
world has become a garden of grief
and of differentiation and vicarious
self dedication. Hearts hover hun
grily about this old and newly-fruitful
story.
In golden youth when seems the earth
Summer land of singing mirth,
When souls are glad, and hearts are light,
And not shadow turks in sight
We do not know it, but there lies
A garden which we all must see
The garden of 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 are,
We hurry On and hurrying, go
Close to the borderland of woe,
Forever waits Gethsemane ~
Down shadowy lanes, across strange
Bridged over by our broken dreams;
Behind the misty capes of years,
Beyond the great salt fount of tears
garden
You cannot miss it in your way
Al paths that have been, or shall be,
Pass somewhere through Gethsemane.
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.
pity those SSf T bDs ean1S 5o sag
Let this cup pass" and cannot see
The purpose in Gethsemane.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
A Trysting Place of Friendship.
Some of us who have tried and
prayed in the literal Garden of Geth-
semane beneath its ancient and gnarl-
ed olive trees, cherish tender memo
ries of the sacred spot. The old Fran
ciscan monk who tended the place SO
lovingly, and with whom 1 had real
fellowship, seems a personal friend:
1 wonder where the Turks have driv-
en- him now? There are few spots on
tfcated, than this memorial of the
agony of the Saviour, on the sloping
side of the Mount of Olives, a short
distance east of Jerusalem, which is
onSthe opposite hill, across the little
brook Kidron.
Back of the olive grove of Gethse-
name there is the personality of some
unknown friend of Jesus, who permit
ted Him &c make the spot a place of
frequent resort That EIe was accus-
49,,
familiarity with it. 1t was a trysting
place of friendship. refuge from the
crowds of the city that is so near
fi1ther Jesus was accustomed to go
for nights of prayer, in the comfort
of the comrade trees
somehow, 1t seems easier to smitten
hearts tc keep tryst with Christ be-
meath 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
silence and solitude of the olive 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 Garden of Re
nunciation. This war is sending un :
counted millions into the Gethse-
name experience, where Christ him
self awaits. May the experience of
every one be like unto that so beau
tifully 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
Inc thorn tree had a mind to Him
Inc 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 or the woods my Master came
content with death and shame
Wnen Death and Shame would WOO Him
last: $1,000
From under the trees thew drew Him 1ast
twas on tree they slew Him-last
Wnen out of the woods He came"
The Place of Other-Ness.
Nobody has ever had a Gethsemana
experience when he himself is alone
concerned. Trouble and care and pain
ana loss are not necessarily of the
| Garden type. There must be a giving
up of self for the sake of others. Into
the experience must enter supremely
q recognition of the will of God and
of sacrifice for others. We NAV tr11Iv
say that the soldiers mother, who has
given her son to a holy cause, tho at
the cost of her souls sweat, has gone
into the Garden of Gethsemane with
the Saviour; but we cannot saw tho
same of the rich man who has merely
lost his fortune, or of the pampered
woman who grieves over the loss of 4
pleasure. The gate to this Garden of
| Other-ness is marked "'Vicariousness -
From first to last, all the thoughts
of Jesus were of others than himself
1t was worlds sin weighing upon His