A Garden contemplation suits,

And may instruction yield,

Sweeter than all the flow’rs and fruits

With which the spot is filled.

Eden was Adam’s dwelling place,

While blest with innocence;

But sin o’erwhelmed him with disgrace,

And drove the rebel thence.

Oft as the garden–walk we tread,

We should bemoan his fall;

The trespass of our legal head

In ruin plunged us all.

The garden of Gethsemane,

The second Adam saw,

Oppressed with woe, to set us free

From the avenging law.

How stupid we, who can forget,

With gardens in our sight,

His agonies and bloody sweat,

In that tremendous night

His church as a fair garden stands,

Which walls of love enclose;

Each tree is planted by his hand,

And by his blessing grows.

Believing hearts are gardens too,

For grace has sown its seeds;

Where once, by nature, nothing grew

But thorns and worthless weeds.

Such themes to those who JESUS love,

May constant joys afford;

And make a barren desert prove

The garden of the LORD.