1. "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.
  2. "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.
  3. "I'd stay in the garden with Him Tho' the night around me be falling; But He bids me go: Thru' the voice of woe His voice to me is calling.
Chorus-- "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."
(Words & Music by C. Austin Miles)
Using our Prime Directive "checkoff list", with a little creativity (and perhaps a little fudging) we can see that this could count as a psalm of praise to God giving high praise for His character as well as His work (as perceived by the author) and also a spiritual song with the intention of cultivating feelings of spiritual devotion.  


Born in 1868 in Lakehurst, New Jersey, C. Austin Miles attended the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and the University of Pennsylvania.  But in 1892, about the age of 24, he gave up his career as a pharmacist and wrote his first Gospel song entitled "List, 'Tis Jesus' Voice," published by the Hall-Mack Company, the publishing arm of which he served as editor for 37 years.  He has been quoted as saying, "It is as a writer of Gospel songs I am proud to be known, for in that way I may be of the most use to my Master, [W]hom I serve willingly although not as efficiently as is my desire."

As I did in a previous commentary, I am writing this in outline form in the hopes of staving confusion, avoiding rambling, and hopefully providing more clarity and succinctness.



    • "I come to the garden alone, While the dew is still on the roses;" 
      • This is rather poetic in description.  Whenever one is ready to hear the Word from God, it matters not if that one is in a garden (metaphorically or otherwise), in one's own house [Acts 10:24-26], at a riverbank [Acts 16:13], or even in an upper room [Acts 20:7-12](just be careful if you get the window seat!).  So long as one is ready to hear [heed] the Word that is preached.
    • "And the voice I hear, Falling on my ear, The Son of God discloses."
      • "Disclose" is defined (according to dictionary.com) as "to make known; reveal or uncover; to cause to appear; allow to be seen; lay open to view; Obsolete: to open up; unfold."
      • If we change the sentence to be less poetic sounding (dropping the redundant "Falling on my ear" for example) and substitute for the word "discloses" to further attempt clarify meaning of this lyric, we could come up with two variations:
        • "The Son of God reveals/uncovers the voice I hear" (assuming the original sentence was intentionally worded backwards, almost like the speech patterns of Yoda from the Star Wars franchise).
        • "The Son of God unfolds/becomes clear/apparent/known" (a variation on the idea that "the voice I hear...[is] the Son of God disclos[ing]).
      • As unclear as this sounds attempting to analyze it, it seems to convey the idea that the author is about to hear from the Word of God.
      • As I have pointed out before, Jesus does not speak directly to us today in audible form (hence "the voice I hear, Falling on my ear" is poetic).  He does, however, speak to us via the Word of God (the Bible) through the dictation of the Holy Spirit (John 16:12-13) to the inspired writers (2 Timothy 2:16-17; 2 Peter 3:15-16).  Since God has completed His Word, it is safe to say that there are only two ways the author would be hearing "the Son of God disclos[ing]":
        • Someone is preaching the Word to him in this garden (real or metaphorical).
        • The author is reading the Word in this garden (ditto, ditto).
        • There is no new revelation coming (Galatians 1:8,9), so again this is NOT an audible voice the author is hearing (at least not directly from the Son).

    • "He speaks as the sound of His voice Is so sweet the birds hush their singing;" 
      • There is no precedent in scripture (of which I am aware) that describes Jesus speaking in such a beautiful way that the birds would stop.
        • In fact, Isaiah described Him prophetically as one whose appearance would NOT be desirable (Isaiah 53:2).
        • And although He said many things with which the common people agreed (and the Pharisees disliked hearing, particularly about themselves, Mark 12:12; Luke 20:19), He was still performing the threefold duties of preaching: reprove, rebuke, and exhort (2 Timothy 4:2).
    • "and the melody that He gave to me,"
      • Melody could refer to either:
        • a succession of notes that are the principle part of a harmonic composition.
        • a poem suitable for singing
      • We don't see many Biblical examples of Jesus singing (and even when He did, it was with other people [Matthew 26:30]).
      • As such, if He is giving someone a "song", it is to convey an important thought of some sort (which is the principle reason why we sing in worship: teaching and encouraging one another in wisdom [Colossians 3:16]).
    • "Within my heart is ringing."
      • Ringing means "to give forth a clear resonant sound; to be filled with sound,"
      • If the information He is giving me (through this song or melody) is in my heart being filled with sound (ringing in my heart), it seems to be an encouragement...but only to me! (Possibly almost as useless as speaking in tongues without a translator [1 Corinthians 14:13-19])
      • If this information is of any use, it would be prudent to encourage others as well (keeping in mind the other two-thirds of preaching); so hopefully this is not remaining as a ringing in my heart!
      • But what is this song/melody/information being communicated?  This song never tells us!

    • "I'd stay in the garden with Him Tho' the night around me be falling;"
      • Considering this song setting began earlier in the morning, "while the dew [was] still on the roses," the author has spent a great portion of the day with Him.  Although it took three verses to even hint at this idea, it is commendable.
    • "But He bids me go: Thru' the voice of woe His voice to me is calling."
      • This line makes little or any sense whatsoever!
      • Robert Cottrill has some commentary on this song:
        • "It helps a little when we learn that Austin Miles was thinking of the time when Mary Magdalene went to visit the tomb of Jesus on [His Resurrection] morning (John. 20:1-18). And when He spoke her name (vs. 16), she knew who he was. As I say, it helps to know that–but only a little."
        • He also asks a very important question: what (or whose) is this "voice of woe" to which the author is referring?
          • Since woe is defined as "grievous distress, affliction, or trouble; an affliction", and everything else in the song has been encouragingly joyous, where is this bitterness coming from?
          • If we stick with the narrative of Mary Magdelene from John 20, there was no "voice of woe" on Jesus' part!
          • Cottrill further mentions that the song's author said, "I wrote, as quickly as the words could be formed, the poem exactly as it has since appeared."  Cottrill comments even further, "Perhaps he should have given the matter a little more thought!"
Chorus;
    • "And He walks with me,"
      • If we walk with Him (Ephesians 2:10; 4:1; 5:2), then He is walking with us as well.
    • "and He talks with me,"
      • As I mentioned earlier, He speaks to us through the Word.
    • "And He tells me I am His own;"
      • We can know that we belong to Him (Mark 9:41; Romans 1:6; 8:9; 1 Corinthians 15:23; Galatians 5:24).
    • "And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known."
      • Why has "none other" ever known this "joy we share" with Christ?  As I mentioned earlier, if it is only resounding in my heart, what good is it doing for anyone else?
      • This lyric seems to be more "feel good" than anything else and lends credence to a criticism of this song (also mentioned by Cottrill) that this song is nothing more than a sentimental ballad.
      • It's almost as blasphemous as what was brought up in an episode of South Park where some of the kids were talking about starting up a Contemporary Christian Rock Band; all they had to do, they thought, was take some popular love songs and substitute "Jesus" for any reference to a girl, girlfriend, a love, etc. (As humorous as this may sound, I do not recommend the viewing of South Park and am sorry to have watched it myself).

This is a hymn that has been sung by many congregations in the brotherhood and leaves a feeling of sentimentality for many.  But it seems to be more of a spiritual cotton-candy: sweet to the taste, but not at all substantive.  I can see singing this song at special services for said sentimental reasons, but not in any situation where teaching and evangelism (particularly to those who are lost) are involved.
As I end every commentary with this, I still welcome your thoughts….