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16
True Education
With leaf and flower and tree, and with every living creature, the
dwellers in Eden held converse, gathering from each the secrets of
its life. God’s glory in the heavens, the innumerable worlds in their
orderly revolutions, “the balancings of the clouds” (
Job 37:16
), the
mysteries of light and sound, of day and night—all were objects of
study by the students of earth’s first school.
The laws and operations of nature, and the great principles of
truth that govern the spiritual universe, were opened to their minds
by the infinite Author of all. In “the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God” (
2 Corinthians 4:6
), their mental and spiritual
powers developed, and they realized the highest pleasures of their
holy existence.
As it came from the Creator’s hand, not only the Garden of Eden
but the whole earth was exceedingly beautiful. No taint of sin or
shadow of death marred the fair creation. God’s glory “covered the
heavens, and the earth was full of His praise.” “The morning stars
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.”
Habakkuk
3:3
;
Job 38:7
. The earth was a fit emblem of Him who is “abundant
in goodness and truth”
Exodus 34:6
. It was a fit study for those who
were made in His image.
The Garden of Eden was a representation of what God planned
that the whole earth would become. It was His purpose that, as
the human family increased in numbers, they would establish other
homes and schools like the one He had given. Thus in time the
whole earth would be occupied with homes and schools where the
words and works of God would be studied, and where the students
would be fitted more and more fully to reflect, throughout endless
ages, the light of the knowledge of His glory.
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