In the Garden

"In the Garden."

C. Austin Miles writes his own story on how the words were written to "In the Garden." Listen as you read: Click Here

"One day in March, 1912, I was seated in the C. Austin Miles (1868-1946) darkroom where I kept my photographic equipment and organ. I drew my Bible toward me; it opened at my favorite chapter, John 20 . . . That meeting of Jesus and Mary had lost none of its power to charm. As I read it that day, I seemed to be part of the scene. I became a silent witness to that dramatic moment in Mary's life, when she knelt before her Lord, and cried, "Rabboni!" . . . Under the inspiration of this vision I wrote as quickly as the words could be formed the poem exactly as it has since appeared. That same evening I wrote the music."
(From Forty Gospel Hymn Stories, by Sanville)

This hymn was sung in the movie Places in the Heart, which won two Academy Awards in 1984.

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I come to the garden alone,

While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,
The Son of God discloses.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me,
Within my heart is ringing.

I'd stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe,
His voice to me is calling.

(refrain)
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,

More Hymn History... Click Here