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Every varying mood of nature is an index finger to the power and glory of the Creator. His works lie open beside His Word, — the one a volume of illustrations, the other a book of inspired principles. In the 19th Psalm these double volumes of revelation are bound together. There is both a world book and a word book in the Psalmist's thought. Both are bearing eternal witness to the Creator.

I. THE WITNESS OF THE HEAVENS. In the clear dry air of the East the heavens shine with a strange brilliancy. To the reverent soul of David, the stars in their courses and the moon in her phases were nightly lessons of wonder and of God. To the Psalmist's eye the whole firmament was written over, and the whole universe was resonant to his ear with the name of God. And to the eyes of this devout shepherd, this witness of creation to its Creator was continuous. And yet this witness of the heavens is silent. It is their silence which puts such terrible emphasis upon the testimony of the heavens; for silence is the great law of the universe. This witness is also universal in its reach and influence. The stars preach a gospel of Divine law and power, before which worshippers of all races and generations have kneeled in reverence and awe. But man, made in the likeness of God, is not measured by physical, but by moral standards. The moral law written upon conscience and soul has brought man into fellowship with the Infinite, and there follows that sharp transition in thought which cuts this Psalm like the keen stroke of a knife when David remembers the glory of God's law. Grander than that of the heavens is —

II. THE WITNESS OF THE MORAL LAW. In this sudden rebound from the glory of the sun to the greater glory of the truth the Psalmist seems to chide himself for having forgotten the greater in the less. For what the sun is in the natural world, bringing light and inspiring growth, the law of God is in the spiritual, revealing moral darkness and quickening the life of souls. Climbing up adjectives of admiring descriptions, David unfolds the nature of the Word of Jehovah. It is "perfect," with a completeness which fits all needs and encompasses all souls. It is "sure," — an eternal verity to which men may anchor and never drift. It is "right," with an absolute rectitude and justice. This Divine law not only reveals the glory of Jehovah, but also —

III. IT REVEALS THE HEART OF MAN. Without the revelation of the mirror man is a stranger to his own face; without the revelation of God's law we were strangers to the guilt of sin. For the law lays a man bare to himself. Gather up the lesson of the Psalm —

1. That there is no conflict between God's works and God's Word. There may be conflict between the flippant guesses of men and the "Thus saith the Lord" in the Book. But the world book and the word book are one and the same truth.

2. The Psalm reveals the vastness and variety of the witnesses which God has put about us. The heathen of all lands have deified the forces of nature and the planets of the sky, and worshipped. Such witness is ours, but supplemented by the written Word, the enlightened conscience, the civilised state, and the Christian Church.

(Monday Club Sermons.)

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KJV: {To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.} The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

WEB: The heavens declare the glory of God. The expanse shows his handiwork.