Hymn of the Vaudois Mountaineers

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 fixed 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 stirred;
For the storm, 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
O’er 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-horses of the spearman
Cannot reach our lofty caves.
Thy dark clouds wrapt 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
Round 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.

Credited to Felicia D. Hermans, 1793-1835; almost certainly of much greater antiquity. The first verse was found in an article in Signs of the Times, February 2, 1882.