.. -=- For the Strength of the Hills (original) -=-

# For the Strength of the Hills (original)

"Hymn of the Vaudois mountaineers in times of persecution", or more succinctly the _[Hymn of the Mountain Christian](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Hymn_of_the_Mountain_Christian)_, first line "For the strength of the hills we bless thee", as written by Felicia D. Hemans (1783‒1835) without the subsequent LDS‐centric revisions by Edward L. Sloan (1830‒1874). Verse 1 corresponds to LDS verse 1 with two lines differing, verse 2 corresponds to LDS verse 4 and the remainding four do not correspond, for a total of eight verses and one verse variant between them.
  
> HYMN OF THE VAUDOIS MOUNTAINEERS IN TIMES OF PERSECUTION
>
> "Thanks be to God for the mountains"―Howitt 
>
> 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 stir'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,  
> 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! 

-- [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=b6JEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA477&lpg=PA477](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=b6JEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA477&lpg=PA477)