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| Garden of
Gethsemane |
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Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, p. 86. |
The Garden of
Gethsemane
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On the right-hand side of the road is the Garden of Gethsemane . . . a small
enclosure surrounded by a high wall. The ground is laid out in flower beds,
which are carefully tended by a Franciscan monk; but the most interesting
objects are the venerable olive-trees, which are said to date from the time of
Christ, and which may, in truth, be direct descendants of trees which grew in
the same place at the time of the Crucifixion. A tradition, at least as old as
the fourth century, identifies this plot of ground with the garden to which
Jesus was wont to retire with His disciples. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, p. 88.) |
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Gethsemane As It Is |
Source:
Jerusalem, Bethany, and Bethlehem, p.
102. |
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The ancient road ascends the lower slope of
Olivet for about a hundred yards, and then
branches. One branch runs right up to the
summit, the other turns to the right. In the
angle between them is a little garden,
enclosed by a high modern wall. This is the
traditional, and it may be the real
GETHSEMANE. At anyrate, Gethsemane could not
have been far distant. The garden belongs to
the Latin convent. Entering, we find trim
flower-beds, and gravel walks. These have no
attractions for us; neither has "the bank on
which the apostles slept," nor "the Grotto of
the Agony," nor any other of the apocryphal
"holy places," which ecclesiastical
superstition has located there; but eight
venerable olive-trees rivet our attention.
They are real patriarchs; their huge trunks
are rent, hollowed, gnarled, and propped up,
and their boughs hoary with age . . . .How
often have I fondly lingered there far on into
the still night, when the city above was
hushed in sleep, and no sound was heard save
the sighing of the breeze among the olive
branches, thinking and thinking on those
miracles of love and power that He performed
there! (Source: Jerusalem, Bethany, and Bethlehem, p. 103.) |
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Source: Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p. 243. |
The Garden of Gethsemane |
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For nearly sixteen hundred years this Garden
of Gethsemane, in the Valley of Kedron, has
been fixed by the devout as the place of the
prayer of our Savior at the time of his
"agony" just before his death . . . .Since the
days of the visit of the Empress Helena to
Jerusalem, in the fourth century, this garden
has been identified by tradition. The Valley
of Kedron (Jehoshaphat) is here deep and
narrow, and Gethsemane occupies about an acre
of ground, to the north of which are rugged
and barren heights in which the kings of
Jerusalem are buried. To the west are the
massive walls of Jerusalem. To the east, and
rising directly above it about three hundred
feet, is the Mount of Olives. The Valley of
the Kedron falls into a deep ravine to the
south. We have above a view of the garden
within, taken by our artist on the 27th of
April, 1894. It is a beautiful spot; the trees
are very venerable, although they can not have
been the identical trees which overshadowed
the Son of Man in that hour of his distress.
(Source:
Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p. 243.) |
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View of Garden of Gethsemane |
Source:
Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p. 244. |
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We have here another view of this
celebrated garden. We see beyond it the hills
and also the walls of Jerusalem . . . .No
sacred place in the neighborhood of Jerusalem
is so favorable to meditation and prayer. It
is hidden away as a sanctuary for thought and
worship. It lies in the dark depths of the
historic valley. Here in the neighborhood of
the tombs of kings and prophets, close by the
ancient dwelling place of the poets and saints
of Israel, our Savior retired to strengthen
himself before passing through the valley of
the shadow of death. His agony expressed
itself in prayer and in blood as he felt the
wretchedness which sin had brought into the
world and the strength of the bonds which held
man to the love and the service of sin . . . .
The garden is within a stone's throw of the
city. "And yet it is hushed and still, Hushed
and still as the mountain-top To which He
often retired to pray." (Source:
Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p. 244.) |
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See
Mount of Olives,
Temple Mount,
Old
City Gates, or
Church of the Holy
Sepulcher |
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