The moon and stars to rule by night - Genesis 1:16.
For his mercy ... - As a proof also of his benignity and mercy. By all the beauty of the moon and stars in their course through the heavens - by all that there is in the harmony and order of their movements - by all that there is to make night less hideous and fearful - by all that there is to reveal a countless number of worlds whose existence could not have been discovered but for the night - by all that there is to guide the mariner on the ocean, enabling him to determine his position and to mark his course when on the deep - and therefore by all the blessings of navigation and commerce, binding the different parts of the world together, by all that there is in the “North-star,” fixed and true in guiding those who flee from bondage - by all these and kindred things without number, do we see the benignity, the goodness, the mercy of God, in forming the moon and stars “to rule by night.”