As Ja­cob once tra­veled, he was wea­ry one day,
At night on a stone for a pil­low he lay;
He saw in a vi­sion a lad­der so high,
Its foot was on earth, and its top reached the sky.

This hea­ven­ly lad­der is strong and well made;
Tho’ stand­ing for ages, it has not de­cayed;
The feeb­lest may ven­ture by faith to go up,
And an­gels will guard them from bot­tom to top.

Lo! up­ward and down­ward they con­stant­ly go,
Extending a hand to the toil­ers be­low;
And when a new con­vert sets out for the skies,
Their shouts to the top of the lad­der arise.

Another! ano­ther! they sing in their love,
Is seek­ing his home and his trea­sures above:
And an­gels, in glo­ry, re­spond­ing cry—Come!
And wel­come each pe­ni­tent sin­ner up home.

This lad­der is Je­sus, the glo­ri­ous God-man,
Whose blood free­ly stream­ing from Cal­va­ry ran;
By His great atone­ment to Hea­ven we rise,
And sing in the man­sions pre­pared in the skies.

Upon it our fa­thers have gone to their God,
They’ve fin­ished their jour­ney and gained their abode,
And we are as­cend­ing and soon will be there,
Their songs and their rap­ture in glo­ry to share.

Hallelujah to Je­sus, who died on the tree,
To raise up this lad­der of mer­cy for me;
Press up­ward, press up­ward, the prize is in view,
A crown of bright glo­ry is wait­ing for you.