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The Eden Home, September 1
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there
he put the man whom he had formed.
Genesis 2:8
.
That home [the home of our first parents], beautified by the hand of
God Himself, was not a gorgeous palace. Men, in their pride, delight
in magnificent and costly edifices, and glory in the works of their own
hands; but God placed Adam in a garden. This was his dwelling. The
blue heavens were its dome; the earth, with its delicate flowers and
carpet of living green, was its floor; and the leafy branches of the goodly
trees were its canopy. Its walls were hung with the most magnificent
adornings—the handiwork of the great Master Artist.
It was the design of God that man should find happiness in the
employment of tending the things He had created, and that his wants
should be met with the fruits of the trees of the garden.
In the surroundings of the holy pair was a lesson for all time—that
true happiness is found, not in the indulgence of pride and luxury, but
in communion with God through His created works. If men would ...
cultivate greater simplicity, they would come far nearer to answering
the purpose of God in their creation.... What are the possessions of even
the most wealthy, in comparison with the heritage given to the lordly
Adam?
The Garden of Eden was a representation of what God desired the
whole earth to become, and it was His purpose that, as the human family
increased in numbers, they should establish other homes ... like the one
He had given. Thus in course of time the whole earth might be occupied
with homes and schools where the words and the works of God should
be studied, and where the students should thus be fitted more and more
fully to reflect, throughout endless ages, the light of the knowledge of
His glory.
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