God's presence

751 L. M.
God’s presence with his people.

WHEN Israel, of the Lord beloved,
   Out from the land of bondage came,
   Her father’s God before her moved,
   An awful guide, in smoke and flame.

2 By day, along the astonish’d lands
   The cloudy pillar glided slow;
   By night, Arabia’s crimson’d sands
   Return’d the fiery column’s glow.

3 Thus present still, though now unseen,
   When brightly shines the prosp’rous day,
   Be thoughts of thee a cloudy screen,
   To temper the deceitful ray.

4 And O, when gathers on our path,
   In shade and storm, the frequent night,
   Be thou, long-suff’ring, slow to wrath,
   A burning and a shining light.
                        Sir Walter Scott
                        Methodist Episcopal hymnal (1870 edition)