The Cyber Hymnal ‎#4597

4597. Not Always on the Mount

1. 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.

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

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

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

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

Text Information

• First Line: Not always on the mount may we
• Title: Not Always on the Mount
• Author: Frederick L. Hosmer (1882)
• Meter: LM
• Language: English
• Source: first published in the Chicago Unity, April 1, 1884; a lesson from the Transfiguration, 1882
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: Alternate tune: TRANSYLVANIA, from a 16th Century Hungarian chorale, arranged by Robert L. Sanders

Tune Information

• Name: ONEONTA
• Composer: Walter Henry Hall (1918)
• Meter: LM
• Incipit: 35514 43251 76565
• Key: D Major
• Copyright: Public Domain