These heavens, then, "declare the _glory_ of God;" that is, the light of God, the eternal glory, stable and changeless. As their orbs fail not--but pursue their course for ever, to give light upon the earth--so God's glory surrounds man for ever--changeless, in its fulness insupportable--infinite. "And the firmament showeth his _handywork_." § 29. The clouds, prepared by the hand of God for the help of man, varied in their ministration--veiling the inner splendor--show, not His eternal glory, but His daily handiwork. So He dealt with Moses. I will cover thee "with my hand" as I pass by. Compare Job xxxvi. 24: "Remember that thou magnify his work, which men behold. Every man may see it." Not so the glory--that only in part; the courses of these stars are to be seen imperfectly, and but by a few. But this firmament, "every man may see it, man may behold it afar off." "Behold, God is great, and we know him not. For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapor thereof." § 30. "Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. They have no speech nor language, yet without these their voice is heard. Their rule is gone out throughout the earth, and their words to the end of the world." Note that. Their rule throughout the earth, whether inhabited or not--their law of right is thereon; but their words, spoken to human souls, to the end of the inhabited world. "In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun," &c. Literally, a tabernacle, or curtained tent, with its veil and its hangings; also of the colors of His desert tabernacle--blue, and purple, and scarlet. Thus far the psalm describes the manner of this great heaven's message. Thenceforward, it comes to the matter of it. § 31. Observe, you have the two divisions of the declaration. The heavens (compare Psalm viii.) declare the eternal glory of God before men, and the firmament the daily mercy of God towards men. And the eternal glory is in this--that the law of the Lord is perfect, and His testimony sure, and His statutes right. And the daily mercy in this--that the commandment of the Lord is pure, and His fear is clean, and His judgments true and righteous. There are three oppositions:-- Between law and commandment. Between testimony and fear. Between statute and judgment. § 32. I. Between law and commandment.