When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
Ver. 3. When I consider thy heavens] And that men should be much in this consideration, both the bolt-upright figure of their bodies may admonish them, and also that fifth muscle which God hath set in man's eye (whereas other creatures have but four) to draw it upward, Ut eius auxilio coelum intueremur, saith the anatomist, that by the help thereof we might consider the heavens (Columb. de re Anatom. l. 5, c. 9). This, those Christians that do not, shall have those heathens rising up in judgment against them: Anaxagoras Clazomenius, who used to say that he was therefore born that he might contemplate the heavens; and Ennius, who blameth Epicurus for that dum palato quid sit optimum iudicaret, coeli palatium non suspexerit, he did so purvey for his palace, that he looked not up to heaven's palace. Certain it is, that many men have so much to do upon earth that they cannot have while to cast an eye towards heaven, as the Duke of Alva told a great prince, who asked him if he had taken notice of the last eclipse. That wonderful globe of silver sent by King Ferdinand to Soliman, the Great Turk, lively expressing the wonderful motions and conversions of the celestial frame, the hourly passing of the time, the change and full of the moon, &c., was much more beheld and admired than heaven itself is by most people. True it is, that that globe was a most curious and strange piece of work, devised and perfected by the most cunning astronomers, for Maximilian the emperor, whose noble mind never spared for any cost to obtain things of rare and strange device. But what was all this to the heavens? that
Work of thy fingers] That is, most elaborate and accurate; a metaphor from embroiderers, or from them that make tapestry. Aben Ezra's note here is, Digiti sunt decem, et sphaerae sunt decem, As there are ten fingers, so there are ten spheres, &c.
The moon and the stars] No mention of the sun, because included in this word heaven; wherein by day the sun is most conspicuous, as by night, the moon and stars.
Which thou hast ordained] That was a witty speech of Cyril, They were Aθεοι κατα νυκτος, atheists by night, who worshipped the sun, and atheists by day, who worshipped the moon and stars.