232
Healthful Living
men lecture and write upon these subjects from a merely human stand-
point, they will assuredly come to wrong conclusions. The greatest
minds, if not guided by the word of God in their research, become
bewildered in their attempts to investigate the relations of science and
revelation. The Creator and his works are beyond their comprehension;
and because they cannot explain these by natural laws, Bible history is
considered unreliable. Those who doubt the reliability of the records
of the Old and New Testaments will be led to go a step farther, and
doubt the existence of God; and then, having let go their anchor, they
are left to beat about upon the rocks of infidelity. Moses wrote under
the guidance of the Spirit of God, and a correct theory of geology will
[288]
never claim discoveries that cannot be reconciled with his statements.
The idea that many stumble over, that God did not create matter when
he brought the world into existence, limits the power of the Holy One
of Israel.—
The Signs of the Times, March 13, 1884
.
1188. Before the fall of Adam, not a cloud rested on the minds of
our first parents to obscure their clear perception of the divine character
of God. They were perfectly conformed to the will of God. A beautiful
light, the light of God, surrounded them. Nature was their lesson book.
The Lord instructed them in regard to the natural world, and then left
with them this open book, that they might behold beauty in every
object upon which their eyes should rest. The Lord visited the holy
pair, and instructed them through the works of his hands.
The beauties of nature are an expression of the love of God for
human intelligences, and in the garden of Eden the existence of God
was demonstrated in the objects of nature that surrounded our first
parents. Every tree planted in the garden spoke to them, saying that
the invisible things of God were clearly seen, being understood by the
things which were made, even his eternal power and Godhead.
But while thus God could be discerned in nature, this affords no
solid argument in favor of a perfect knowledge of God being revealed
in nature to Adam and his posterity after the fall. Nature could convey
her lessons to man in his innocence; but sin and transgression brought
a blight upon nature, and intervened between nature and nature’s God.
Had man never disobeyed his Creator, had he remained in his state of
[289]
perfect rectitude, he could have understood and known God. But when
man disobeyed God, he gave evidence that he believed the words of
an apostate rather than the words of God. He was told by the enemy