Sonnets and Other Poems Chiefly Religious :: :: University of Virginia Library

The Saviour said:—“Blessed are ye who know
That I am Christ, the Son of God Most High.
But now another lesson ye must learn:
The Son of Man must suffer unto death,
Ere He can enter into glory.” All
That heard were sore astonished; and I said
“Oh, God forbid it! this shall never be.”
But Jesus turned Him round, and on me fixed
That gaze which no man could withstand; and said,
“Get thee behind Me, Satan, lest thou make
My feet to stumble; for thou speakest not
The things of God. He that would follow Me
Must bear his cross; he that would save his life
Must learn to lose it.” And I stole away—
I who was always foremost of the Twelve—
I who was first to say, “Thou art the Christ”—
I stole away for very fear and shame;
And when my brother told me that He said,
“Lo, there are some of those that stand around

Who shall not taste of death before they see
The Kingdom of the Christ revealed in power,”
I groaned and wept to think what I had lost.

But six days after, as the evening fell,
The Lord arose up suddenly, and said,
“I go to ascend Mount Hermon: follow Me,
Peter and James and John.” From off my heart
A weight of lead was rolled; I wept for joy.

Under the stars we mounted. Not a word
Spake Jesus; and we pondered, as we went,
Those two mysterious oracles—“The Christ
Must suffer unto death;” and “Ye shall live
To see the Kingdom of the Christ.” We said,
“Now shall Messiah's purpose be unveiled!
All shall be known ere morning.” We recalled
The Baptist's words, “Behold the Lamb of God,
Which beareth all the sin of all the world.”
We said, “The Paschal lamb is slain; the Christ
Lives and abides for ever. God will find
A ransom, and will save His Son from death.
It may be—yea, it must be—we are tried
And proved, as Abraham once was tried and proved
When God commanded him to sacrifice
His son upon Moriah; once again
Jehovah will provide, and Hermon now
Shall be a new Moriah; and the Lord
Will make an altar of its highest height,
And God again will send down fire from heaven;
And, like Elijah, shall the Christ ascend,
A flaming sacrifice, yet not in death—

Yea, shall ascend before the throne of God,
And thence return to judge and rule the world.”

At last we reached the summit; by the stars
We knew 'twas midnight. Jesus went apart
And stood in prayer; but we were tired and faint
With travel, and we laid us down in sleep,
Till such a blaze of light upon us fell
As might awake the dying; and we saw
The Christ revealed in glory, with His robes
White as the snow in winter, and His face
Bright as the lightning; Moses on His right
Stood, and Elijah on His left. We said,
“It is as we believed; the time is come;
And on the Mount the Three shall set their throne,
The Lawgiver, the Prophet, and the Christ.”

But Jesus and the twain together spake;
Not, as we hoped, of kingdoms and of power,
But of a Victim to be sacrificed,
And His departure at Jerusalem.
Then Moses and Elijah said, “Farewell!
We meet in Paradise!” But I exclaimed
“O Master, it is blessed to be here!
Oh, let them not depart, and let us make
Our dwelling on the Mount with them and Thee,
And we will spend our lives in praise and prayer!”
But then a cloud of light upon us came—
The Glory, the Shechinah—and we feared
And fell upon our faces; and a Voice
Out of the cloud was heard, “Behold My Son,
My Chosen, My Beloved.” And we heard

And saw no more, but lay like men in trance,
Till Jesus said, “Arise, be not afraid.”
And we arose; the vision was no more,
And Jesus was alone. And on the morn
The Lord descended with us from the Mount,
To suffer at Jerusalem, as ye know.