Lyr. Add: JACOB'S LADDER (English Carol)

As Jacob with travel was weary one day,
At night on a stone for a pillow he lay,
He saw in a vision a ladder so high,
That its foot was on earth, and its top in the sky.

Chorus:
*Hallelujah to Jesus, who died on the tree
And hath rais'd up a ladder of mercy for me,
And hath rais'd up a ladder of mercy for me.

This ladder is long, it is strong and well-made,
Has stood hundreds of years and is not yet decayed;
Many millions have climbed it and reached Sion's hill,
And thousands by faith are climbing it still.

Come let us ascend; all may climb it who will;
For the Angels of Jacob are guarding it still:
And remember each step, that by faith we pass o'er,
Some prophet or martyr hath trod it before.

And when we arrive at the haven of rest
We shall hear the glad words, "Come up hither, ye blest,
Here are regions of light, here are mansions of bliss:"
O, who would not climb such a ladder as this?

*Alleluya, in "The Oxford Book of Carols."
Version above: Music: English Folk, 18th c., words English, "with new words fitted under the influence of the Methodist revival" (Oxford Book of Carols).
H. R. Bramley and John Stainer, Christmas Carols New and Old, Second Series, Carol No. 35.
Text with midi: Jacob's Ladder and:
Dearmer, Vaughan Williams and Shaw, The Oxford Book of Carols, no. 58, with music, pp. 120-121.

Allen (1867, Slave Songs of the United States) and others have suggested that the American spiritual was based on a hymn from a Methodist hymn book, but there is no similarity with this one except the title and the basic biblical material.