And unshaken allegiance,
Of all the archangels and angels above;
And in the hope of the resurrection
To everlasting reward and election;
And in the prayers of the fathers of old;
And in the truths the prophets foretold;
And in the apostles' manifold preaching;
And in the confessors' faith and teaching;
And in the purity ever-dwelling
Within the Immaculate Virgin's[1] breast;
And in the actions bright and excelling,
Of all good men, the just and the best.
iv.
At Tara to-day, in this fateful hour,
I place all heaven with its power,
And the sun with its brightness,
And the snow with its whiteness,
And fire with all the strength it hath,
And lightning with its rapid wrath,
And the winds with their swiftness along their path,
And the sea with its deepness,
And the rocks with their steepness,
And the earth with its starkness,
All these I place,
By God's almighty help and grace,
Between myself and the powers of darkness.
- ↑ The translator has here taken an unwarranted liberty with the hymn, which does not contain any reference to the Virgin Mary. The term 'immaculate' is, of course, highly objectionable, as introducing an epithet which would be interpreted by all as referring to the novel dogma of 'the immaculate conception.' The term 'immaculate' might in itself be defensible in the loose sense of 'stainless,' i.e., one whose life was pure and unspotted.
