Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place. Thomas Hornblower Gill* (1819-1906). This hymn was originally entitled ‘The Hymn of the Waldenses’ and was first published in Gill’s The Golden Chain of Praise (1868). The Waldenses (or Vaudois), founded by Peter Valdes (Waldo) in the 12th century, were a pre-Reformation Protestant sect who were excommunicated twice, first by Pope Lucius III in 1184 and then by the fourth Lateran Council in 1215. By the 17th century, after centuries of persecution, they had eventually settled in Alpine villages on the borders of France and Italy. A treaty made with the Duke of Savoy in 1561 gave them the right to live in the higher villages; in 1655 an army was...