"THEN Cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me! nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And... lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude, with swords and staves And... he came to Jesus and said, Hail, Master; and kissed him... Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him . . . Then all the disciples forsook him and fled."-Matthew xxvi. 36, 39-56. (Mark xiv. 32.) Gethsemane means the vale of fatness, in allusion to the fertile olive-trees which anciently adorned the adjacent mount of Olives, and which, even yet, in scanty numbers, reach from the summit of the mountain down to some parts of the vale beneath. 66 ... Passing down the steep hill from the gate (of St. Stephen) into the valley of the Kidron, and crossing the bridge over the dry water-course, near the bridge, on the right, is the place fixed on by early tradition as the site of the garden of Gethsemane. It is a plat of ground nearly square, enclosed by an ordinary stone wall.... Within this enclosure are eight very old olivetrees, with stones thrown together around their trunks. 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: '0, my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done!' From the bridge three paths lead up to the summit of the mount of Olives."ROBINSON'S Researches, vol. i. p. 345-347. "A few steps beyond the Kedron, you come to the garden of Gethsemane; of all gardens the most interesting and hallowed; but how neglected and decayed! It is surrounded by a kind of low hedge, but the soil is bare; no verdure grows on it, save six fine venerable olive-trees, which have stood here for many centuries. This spot is at the foot of Olivet, and is beautifully situated; you look up and down the romantic valleyclose behind rises the mountain-before you are the walls of the devoted city. While lingering here at evening, and solitary, for it is not often a footstep passes by, that night of sorrow and dismay rushes on the imagination, when the Redeemer of the world was betrayed and forsaken by all-even by the loved disciple. Hence the path winds up the mount of Olives; it is a beautiful hill, verdant, and covered in some parts with olive-trees."-CARNE'S Letters from the East, pp. 289, 290. POOL OF SILOAM, SHILOAH, OR SILOAH. "BUT the gate of the fountain repaired Shallum... and the wall of the pool of Siloah by the king's garden |