The chosen three, on mountain height,
While Jesus bowed in prayer,
Beheld His vesture glow with light,
His face shine wondrous fair.

And lo! with the transfigured Lord,
Leader and seer they saw;
With Carmel’s hoary prophet stood
The giver of the law.

From the low bending cloud above,
Whence radiant brightness shone,
Spake out the Father’s voice of love,
“Hear My belovèd Son!”

Lord, lead us to the mountain height;
To prayer’s transfiguring glow;
And clothe us with the Spirit’s might
For grander work below.

For ever we would gaze on Thee,
O Lord, upon the Mount;
With Moses and Elias see
That light from Light’s own Fount;

For ever with the chosen three
Would stand upon that height,
And in that blessèd company
Be plunged in pure delight.

For ever would we train the ear
To that celestial Voice;
In Thee, the Son of God, so near
For evermore rejoice.

Here would we pitch our constant tent,
For ever here abide;
And dwell in peace and full content,
Dear Master, at Thy side.

But no! not yet to man ’tis given
To rest upon that height;
’Tis but a passing glimpse of Heav’n;
We must descend and fight.

Beneath the Mount is toil and pain;
O Christ, Thy strength impart;
Till we, transfigured, too, shall reign
For ever where Thou art.

An image of that heavenly light,
The goal the Church keeps ay in sight,
Christ on the holy mount displays
Where He outshines the sun’s bright rays.

Let every age proclaimer be
How, on this day, the chosen three
With Moses and Elias heard
The Lord speak many a gracious word.

As witnesses to grace are nigh
Those twain, the Law and Prophecy;
And to the Son, from out the cloud,
The Father’s record thunders loud.

With garments whiter than the snows,
And shining face, Lord Jesus shows
What glory for those saints shall be
Who joy in God with piety.

The vision and the mystery
Make faithful hearts beat quick and high,
So on this solemn day of days
The cry goes up of prayer and praise.

O God the Father, God the Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One,
Vouchsafe to bring us, by thy grace,
To see thy glory face to face.

Not always on the mount may we
Rapt in the heav’nly vision be:
The shores of thought and feeling know
The Spirit’s tidal ebb and flow.

“Lord it is good abiding here,”
We cry, the heav’nly presence near:
The vision vanishes, our eyes
Are lifted into vacant skies.

Yet hath one such exalted hour
Upon the soul redeeming power,
And its strength, through after days,
We travel our appointed ways,

Till all the lowly vale grows bright,
Transfigured in remembered light,
And in untiring souls we bear
The freshness of the upper air.

The mount for vision: but below
The paths of daily duty go,
And nobler life therein shall own
The pattern on the mountain shown.

O splendor of God’s glory bright,
O Thou that bringest light from light;
O Light of light, light’s living spring,
O day, all days illumining.

O Thou true Sun, on us Thy glance
Let fall in royal radiance;
The Spirit’s sanctifying beam
Upon our earthly senses stream.

The Father, too, our prayers implore,
Father of glory evermore;
The Father of all grace and might,
To banish sin from our delight.

To guide whate’er we nobly do,
With love all envy to subdue;
To make ill fortune turn to fair,
And give us grace our wrongs to bear.

Our mind be in His keeping placed
Our body true to Him and chaste,
Where only faith her fire shall feed,
To burn the tares of Satan’s seed.

And Christ to us for food shall be,
From Him our drink that welleth free,
The Spirit’s wine, that maketh whole,
And, mocking not, exalts the soul.

Rejoicing may this day go hence;
Like virgin dawn our innocence,
Like fiery noon our faith appear,
Nor known the gloom of twilight drear.

Morn in her rosy car is borne;
Let Him come forth our perfect morn,
The Word in God the Father one,
The Father perfect in the Son.

All laud to God the Father be;
All praise, eternal Son, to Thee;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To God the holy Paraclete.

O splendor of God’s glory bright,
From light eternal bringing light,
Thou Light of light, light’s living Spring,
True Day, all days illumining.

Come, very Sun of Heaven’s love,
In lasting radiance from above,
And pour the Holy Spirit’s ray
On all we think or do today.

And now to Thee our pray’rs ascend,
O Father glorious without end;
We plead with Sovereign Grace for pow’r
To conquer in temptation’s hour.

Confirm our will to do the right,
And keep our hearts from envy’s blight;
Let faith her eager fires renew,
And hate the false, and love the true.

O joyful be the passing day
With thoughts as pure as morning’s ray,
With faith like noontide shining bright,
Our souls unshadowed by the night.

Dawn’s glory gilds the earth and skies,
Let Him, our prefect Morn, arise,
The Word in God the Father one,
The Father imaged by the Son.

O Light of light, by love inclined,
Jesu, Redeemer of mankind,
With loving-kindness deign to hear
From suppliant voices praise and prayer.

Thou who to raise our souls from hell
Didst deign in fleshly form to dwell,
Vouchsafe us, when our race is run,
In Thy fair body to be one.

More bright by day Thy face did show,
Thy raiment whiter than the snow,
When on the mount to mortals blest
Man’s Maker Thou was manifest.

Two prophets, that had faith to see,
With Thine elect found company,
Where unto each, divinely shown,
The Godhead veiled in form was known.

The heavens above His glory named,
The Father’s voice the Son proclaimed;
To whom, the King of glory now,
All faithful hearts adoring bow.

May all who seek Thy praise aright
Through purer lives show forth Thy light;
So to the brightness of the skies
By holy deeds our hearts shall rise.

Eternal God, to Thee we raise,
The King of kings, our hymn of praise,
Who Three in One and One in Three
Doth live and reign eternally.

O wondrous sight! O vision fair
[originally, A type of those bright rays on high]
Of glory that the church shall share,
Which Christ upon the mountain shows,
Where brighter than the sun He glows!

From age to age the tale declares
How with the three disciples there
Where Moses and Elijah meet,
The Lord holds converse high and sweet.

The law and prophets there have place,
Two chosen witnesses of grace,
The Father’s voice from out the cloud
Proclaims His only Son aloud.

With shining face and bright array,
Christ deigns to manifest that day
What glory shall be theirs above
Who joy in God with perfect love.

And faithful hearts are raised on high
By this great vision’s mystery;
For which in joyful strains we raise
The voice of prayer, the hymn of praise.

O Father, with the eternal Son,
And Holy Spirit, ever One,
Vouchsafe to bring us by Thy grace
To see Thy glory face to face.

O Master, it is good to be
High on the mountain here with Thee,
Where stand revealed to mortal gaze
Those glorious saints of other days,
Who once received on Horeb’s height
Th’eternal laws of truth and right,
Or caught the still small whisper, higher
Than storm, than earthquake, or than fire.

O Master, it is good to be
With Thee, and with Thy faithful three;
Here, where the Apostle’s heart of rock
Is nerved against temptation’s shock;
Here, where the Son of Thunder learns
The thought that breathes, and word that burns;
Here, where on eagle wings we move
With him whose last best creed is love.

O Master, it is good to be
Entranced, enwrapt, alone with Thee;
And watch Thy glistening raiment glow
Whiter than Hermon’s whitest snow;
The human lineaments that shine
Irradiant with a light divine;
Till we too change from grace to grace,
Gazing on that transfigured face.

O Master, it is good to be
Here on the holy mount with Thee;
When darkling in the depths of night,
When dazzled with excess of light,
We bow before the heavenly voice
That bids bewildered souls rejoice,
Though love wax cold, and faith be dim,
“This is My Son, O hear ye Him.”

’Tis good, Lord, to be here,
Thy glory fills the night;
Thy face and garments, like the sun,
Shine with unborrowed light.

’Tis good, Lord, to be here,
Thy beauty to behold
Where Moses and Elijah stand,
Thy messengers of old.

Fulfiller of the past,
Promise of things to be,
We hail Thy body glorified
And our redemption see.

Before we taste of death,
We see Thy kingdom come;
We fain would hold the vision bright
And make this hill our home.

’Tis good, Lord, to be here.
Yet we may not remain;
But since Thou bidst us leave the mount,
Come with us to the plain.

When at this distance, Lord, we trace
The various glories of Thy face,
What transport pours o’er all our breast,
And charms our cares and woes to rest,
And charms our cares and woes to rest.

With Thee in the obscurest cell,
On some bleak mountain would I dwell,
Rather than pompous courts behold,
And share their grandeur and their gold,
And share their grandeur and their gold.

Away, ye dreams of mortal joy—
Raptures divine my thoughts employ;
I see the King of glory shine,
And feel His love and call Him mine,
And feel His love and call Him mine.

On Tabor thus His servants viewed
His luster when transformed He stood;
And biding earthly scenes farewell,
Cried, “Lord, ’tis pleasant here to dwell,”
Cried, “Lord, ’tis pleasant here to dwell.”

Since Christ my soul from sin set free,
This world has been a Heav’n to me;
And ’mid earth’s sorrows and its woe,
’Tis Heav’n my Jesus here to know.

Refrain

O hallelujah, yes, ’tis Heav’n,
’Tis Heav’n to know my sins forgiv’n,
On land or sea, what matters where?
Where Jesus is, ’tis Heaven there.

Once Heaven seemed a far off place,
Till Jesus showed His smiling face;
Now it’s begun within my soul,
’Twill last while endless ages roll.

Refrain

What matters where on earth we dwell?
On mountain top, or in the dell,
In cottage, or a mansion fair,
Where Jesus is, ’tis Heaven there.

Refrain