Scenes and Hymns of Life, with Other Religious Poems/Hymn of the Vaudois Mountaineers in Times of Persecution

by Felicia Hemans

For other versions of this work, see Hymn of the Mountain Christian.

HYMN OF THE VAUDOIS MOUNTAINEERS IN
TIMES OF PERSECUTION.

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"Thanks be to God for the mountains!"
Howitt's Book of the Seasons.

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For the strength of the hills we bless thee,
    Our God, our fathers' God!
Thou hast made thy children mighty,
    By the touch of the mountain sod.
Thou hast fix'd our ark of refuge
    Where the spoiler's foot ne'er trod;
For the strength of the hills we bless thee,
    Our God, our fathers' God!

We are watchers of a beacon
    Whose light must never die;
We are guardians of an altar
    Midst the silence of the sky:
The rocks yield founts of courage,
    Struck forth as by thy rod;
For the strength of the hills we bless thee,
    Our God, our fathers' God!

For the dark resounding caverns,
    Where thy still, small voice is heard;
For the strong pines of the forests,
    That by thy breath are stirr'd;
For the storms, on whose free pinions
    Thy spirit walks abroad;
For the strength of the hills we bless thee,
    Our God, our fathers' God!

The royal eagle darteth
    On his quarry from the heights,
And the stag that knows no master,
    Seeks there his wild delights;
But we, for thy communion,
    Have sought the mountain sod;
For the strength of the hills we bless thee,
    Our God, our fathers' God!

The banner of the chieftain,
    Far, far below us waves;
The war-horse of the spearman
    Cannot reach our lofty caves:
Thy dark clouds wrap the threshold
    Of freedom's last abode;
For the strength of the hills we bless thee,
    Our God, our fathers' God!

For the shadow of thy presence,
    Bound our camp of rock outspread;
For the stern defiles of battle,
    Bearing record of our dead;
For the snows and for the torrents,
    For the free heart's burial sod;
For the strength of the hills we bless thee.
    Our God, our fathers' God!