Adam and Eve and their Eden home
God, in counsel with His Son, formed the plan of creating man in
His own image. Man was to be placed upon probation. He was to be
tested and proved; if he should bear the test of God, and remain loyal
and true through the first trial, he was not to be beset with continual
temptations, but was to be exalted equal with the angels and made,
thenceforth, immortal.
Adam and Eve came forth from the hand of their Creator in the
perfection of every physical, mental, and spiritual endowment. God
planted for them a garden, and surrounded them with everything that
was lovely and attractive to the eye, which their physical necessities
required. This holy pair looked upon a world of unsurpassed loveliness
and glory. A benevolent Creator had given them evidences of His
goodness and love in providing them with fruits, vegetables, and
grains, and in causing to grow out of the ground every variety of tree
for usefulness and beauty.
The holy pair looked upon nature as a picture of unsurpassed
loveliness. The brown earth was clothed with a carpet of living green,
diversified with an endless variety of self-perpetuating flowers. Shrubs,
flowers, and trailing vines regaled the senses with their beauty and
fragrance. The many varieties of lofty trees were laden with delicious
fruit of every kind, adapted to please the taste and meet the wants of
the happy Adam and Eve. This Eden home God provided for our first
parents, giving them unmistakable evidences of His great love and
care for them.
Adam was crowned king in Eden. To him was given dominion over
every living thing that God had created. The Lord blessed Adam and
Eve with intelligence such as He had not given to any other creature.
[11]
He made Adam the rightful sovereign over all the works of His hands.
Man, made in the divine image, could contemplate and appreciate the
glorious works of God in nature.
Adam and Eve could trace the skill and glory of God in every spire
of grass, and in every shrub and flower. The natural loveliness which
6