Poems - With Him In The Holy Mount

“With Him In The Holy Mount.”

(St. Matt. xvii.; 1 Pet. i. 18)*

Into a mountain high, apart, and lone,
Christ led His own.
Their Saviour glorified they raptured see,
Those favoured three.
The voice of God falls on their listening ear,
Jesus draws near,
Touches them, bids them rise, be not afraid,
Nor be dismayed.
The vision vanishes! Sight, sound and touch
Were but a crutch
On which to lean in those dark weary hours
When hellish powers
Tempted those favoured three to doubt their King
and faithfhless fling
Their new-born faith aside;—for this was given
That glimpse of heaven.

Still into mountains, high, apart, and lone
God leads His own;
Unveils the glory of the Crucified,
The Man who died;
Speaks to us in those tones that melt the heart
And set apart
For ever souls thus won from sight and face
To God’s embrace.

Then into valleys chill, and strange, and dim,
We go with Him,—
Strong to uplift the weak, the lost to seek.
Both strong and meek;
For we have stood with God upon the mount,
And none may count
The high and solemn joy of that lone hour
Or weigh its power.
The bliss was ours, the sight, the touch; and now
We gladly bow
Our hearts to bear the woes of men, and know
God loves it so.

M. E. Barber, Ning-Taik, Fuh-Kien, China

Meter: 10.4.10.4.10.4. Published:

  • Anchored To Infinity:
  • A Seed Sown In China:

Earliest Known Publication: The Church Missionary Gleaner, Volume 27, Issue 323. 1900. London: Church Missionary Society.

*One wonders if the 1 Peter 1:18 reference heading the poem was supposed to be from 2 Peter 1:18 (“we heard this voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.” RSV) rather than from 1 Peter.

Notes mentioning this note

All Hymns and Poems in Alphabetical Order
Alphabetical order by first line. Titles are in italics
Categories of Poems
Years in parentheses refer to earliest known publication date.
Poems of M. E. Barber
Poems In alphabetical order: [[Poems - Buried Buried]] ”[[Poems - Call Unto Me And I Will Answer Thee Call unto...
What's New
2023 December Update [[The Willows school]] [[Articles - A Visit To Keng-Tau by M. E. Barber, May 1987]] [[Articles -...

Index of Pages