The authenticity of that sacred garden Mr. Williams, in his "Holy City," says he chooses rather to believe than to defend. I do not even choose to believe. When I first came to Jerusalem, and for many years afterwards, that plot of ground was open to all whenever they desired to enter and meditate beneath its venerable olive-trees. The Latins, however, have succeeded in gaining sole possession of it. They have built a high wall around it, plastered and whitewashed; planted it with trees; laid out hedges and flower-beds; and seem disposed to make it like a modern pleasuregarden instead of the secluded spot one naturally supposes it was when our Lord retired thither with his disciples on that mournful night of his "agony." Whatever may be thought of this idea, all travellers regret the exclusiveness which makes access difficult, and renders it impossible for most of them to visit the spot at all. The Greeks have invented another site a little north of it, and, of course, contend that they have the true Gethsemane. My own impression is that both are wrong. The position is too near the city, and so close to what must have always been the great thoroughfare eastwards, that our Lord would scarcely have selected it for retirement on that momentous and anxious night. In the broad recess of the valley of the Kidron, north-east of the Church of Mary, there must have been gardens far larger and more secluded; and it is nearly certain that all such places around the city were thrown open, during the great feasts, for the accommodation of the pilgrims, so that Jesus could select the one best adapted to the purpose which he retired from the crowded city. I am inclined, therefore, to locate the garden in the vale several hundred yards to the northeast of the present Gethsemane, in some secluded spot which I hope will remain forever undisturbed by the idolatrous intrusion of all sects and denominations. The traditions in favor of the for present location, however old, have but little weight, and fail to convince the mind; and there is no reason to think that a single tree, bush, or stone now found there had any connection with the mysterious. agony of the Son of God, when "his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Two spots without the garden are regarded with special reverence: the Grotto of the Agony, close to the Church of the Virgin, GETHSEMANE. 433 a dark cavern, at one end of which-the traditional site of the agonya slab with a Latin inscription is shown; and the rocky bank near the door of the garden, the place where the three apostles, Peter, James, and John, slept on their watch during the agony. The “terra damnata,” where Judas betrayed the Redeemer, is a little farther south, and is looked upon with the utmost detestation. by all classes and creeds. Dr. Robinson, with his usual attention to details, thus describes 'the place fixed on by early tradition as the site of the Garden of Gethsemane :" "It is a plot of ground, nearly square, enclosed by an ordinary stone wall. The north-west corner is one hundred and forty-five feet distant from the bridge. The west side measures one hundred and sixty feet in length, and the north side one hundred and fifty feet. Within this enclosure are eight very old olive-trees, with stones thrown together around their trunks. There is nothing peculiar in this plot to mark it as Gethsemane, for adjacent to it are other similar enclosures, and many olive-trees equally old. The spot was, not improbably, fixed upon during the visit of Helena to Jerusalem, A.D. 326, when the places of the crucifixion and resurrection were supposed to be identified. Before that time no such tradition is alluded to. Eusebius, writing, apparently, a few years afterwards, says Gethsemane was at the Mount of Olives, and was then a place of prayer for the faithful. Sixty years or more afterwards Jerome places it at the foot of the mountain, and says a church had been built over it, which is also mentioned by Theophanes as existing near the end of the seventh century. The garden is likewise spoken of by Antoninus Martyr at the end of the sixth century, by Adamnanus, and by writers at the time of the Crusades. There would seem, therefore, little reason to doubt that the present site is the same to which Eusebius alludes. Whether it is the true site is, perhaps, a matter of more question. "Giving myself up to the impressions of the moment, I sat down here for a time alone beneath one of the aged trees. All was silent and solitary around; only a herd of goats were feeding not far off, and a few flocks of sheep grazing on the side of the mountain. High above towered the dead walls of the city, through which there penetrated no sound of human life. It was almost like the stillness and loneliness of the desert. Here, or, at least, not far off, the Saviour endured that agony and bloody sweat' which was connected with the redemption of the world; and here in deep submission he prayed, 'O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done!'"" Even if the present garden was the true site, in no place on the earth, perhaps, would reverential silence be more becoming than in Gethsemane, where the Son of God was crushed to the earth in that mysterious agony. He trode the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with him. Though we cannot comprehend the full significance of that hour, we can meditate in wonder and adore. 'Tis midnight; in the garden now The suffering Saviour prays alone. 'Tis midnight; and from all removed, Heeds not his Master's grief and tears. 'Tis midnight; and for others' guilt The Man of Sorrows weeps in blood; Is not forsaken by his God. April 28th. In a city like Jerusalem, where all objects are historic, and many typical and symbolic, it is well to see every locality, and not allow any important site to escape examination. Even the topography of the surrounding country is invested with special interest, and it will be advantageous, I think, to visit the most prominent places outside the walls, as a preliminary preparation for the study of the localities that will claim attention within them. Let us, therefore, devote this day to a prolonged excur sion around the Holy City. Dr. Robinson, I see, is inclined to locate the priestly city of Nob on the northern termination of Olivet. Can we not take that site on our way? It will come naturally into the route we propose to take in 1 Matt. xxvi. 42; Rob. Res. vol. i. p. 234, 235. |