Funeral Hymns
In 1914, C. Austin Miles wrote the famous funeral hymn “In The Garden.” The hymn stormed the country and became one of the most frequently sung hymns at funerals in the United States. The “In The Garden” theme became so strong in U.S. Protestant funeral services that funeral homes began to develop facilities which used and indoor garden as the backdrop for the reposing body. These chapels were actually solariums which waterfalls, plants, flowers, and even live birds flying around inside.
In The Garden
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,
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
tho’ the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go throu 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.