PSALM 3. (C. M.) Doubts and Fears supprest; or, God our Defence from Sin and Satan.
I
My God how many are my fears!
How fast my foes increase!
Conspiring my eternal death,
They break my present peace.
II
The lying tempter would persuade
There's no relief in heaven;
And all my swelling sins appear
Too big to be forgiven.
III
But thou, my glory and my strength,
Shalt on the tempter tread,
Shalt silence all my threatening guilt,
And raise my drooping head.
IV
I cry'd, and from his holy hill
He bow'd a listening ear,
I call'd my Father, and my God,
And he subdued my fear.
V
He shed soft slumbers on mine eyes,
In spite of all my foes;
I 'woke, and wondered at the grace
That guarded my repose.
VI
What tho' the hosts of death and hell
All arm'd against me stood,
Terrors no more shall shake my soul,
My refuge is my God.
VII
Arise, O Lord, fulfil thy grace,
While I thy glory sing:
My God has broke the serpent's teeth,
And death has lost his sting.
VIII
Salvation to the Lord belongs,
His arm alone can save:
Blessings attend thy people here,
And reach beyond the grave.
In this psalm I have changed David's personal enemies into the
spiritual enemies of every christian, namely, sin, Satan, &c. and
have mentioned the serpent, the tempter, the guilt of sin, and the
sting of death; which are words well known in the New Testament.
