Thursday, November 1, 2012

I Come to the Garden


SONG & MUSIC WRITER: C.Austin Miles          
             
HYMN HISTORY: C. Austin Miles writes his own story on how the words were written to "In
the Garden."  "One day in March, 1912, I was seated in the 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."


BIBLE VERSE:   John 18:1“When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.

HYMN LYRICS:
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.

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,
None other has ever known.

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.

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,
None other has ever known.


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.

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,
None other has ever known.


4 comments:

  1. My favorite rendition of this is Cynthia Clawson’s Thanks, Bill.

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  2. I love to read about the inspiration for the writing of hymns. Thank you.

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  3. This is one of the beautiful hymns ever written!
    I learned it in early childhood and has sung it during prayer time and in church services.
    It is an awesome song to meditate and pray on.

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  4. I had never focused on the last verse…we are not to stay in the “garden” but to go and spread the peace & joy gained in the garden!

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