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God’s Wisdom and Love Revealed in Nature, August 3
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill
the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the
birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:28
, NKJV.
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-propagating, 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 fruit of every kind, and of delicious flavor, 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 as 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 the animal creation. He made Adam the rightful
sovereign over all the works of His hands....
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 surrounded them like a
mirror reflected the wisdom, excellence, and love of their heavenly Father. And their
songs of affection and praise rose sweetly and reverentially to heaven, harmonizing
with the songs of the exalted angels, and with the happy birds who were caroling
forth their music without a care. There was no disease, decay, nor death anywhere.
Life, life was in everything the eye rested upon. The atmosphere was impregnated
with life. Life was in every leaf, in every flower, and in every tree.
The Lord knew that Adam could not be happy without labor, therefore He gave
him the pleasant employment of dressing the garden. And as he tended the things
of beauty and usefulness around him, he could behold the goodness and glory of
God in His created works. Adam had themes for contemplation in the works of
God in Eden, which was heaven in miniature.
God did not form human beings merely to contemplate His glorious works;
therefore He gave them hands for labor, as well as minds and hearts for contempla-
tion. If the happiness of humans consisted in doing nothing, the Creator would not
have given Adam his appointed work. In labor, humanity was to find happiness as
well as in meditation.—
The Review and Herald, February 24, 1874
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