During the Crusades (“Yes, they slay us and they smite”)

YES, they slay us and they smite,

Vex our souls with sore affright;

All the closer cleave we, Lord,

To thine everlasting word.

Not a word of all their Mass

Shall our lips in homage pass;

Though they curse, and bind, and kill,

The living God is with us still.

Yes, they fain would make us now,

Baptized, at Baal’s altar bow;

On their raiment, wrought with gold,

See the sign we hateful hold;

And, with words of foulest shame,

They outrage, Lord, the holiest name.

We still are thine, though limbs are torn;

Better death than life forsworn.

Noblest matrons seek for death,

Rob their children of their breath;

Fathers, in their fiery zeal,

Slay their sons with murderous steel;

And in heat of holiest strife,

For love of Thee, spare not their life.

The fair and young lie down to die

In witness of Thy Unity;

From dying lips the accents swell,

“Thy God is One, O Israel”;

And bridegroom answers unto bride,

“The Lord is One, and none beside”;

And, knit with bonds of holiest faith,

They pass to endless life through death.