Physical Power Long Preserved—Man came from the hand of his Creator perfect in organization and beautiful in form. The fact that he has for six thousand years withstood the ever-increasing weight of disease and crime is conclusive proof of the power of endurance with which he was first endowed (Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 7).
(1BC 1082.1)
MC
VC
8. Adam Crowned King in Eden—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. 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 (Redemption; or the Temptation of Christ, 7).
(1BC 1082.2)
MC
VC
15. Eden, Heaven in Miniature—Adam had themes for contemplation in the works of God in Eden, which was heaven in miniature. God did not form man merely to contemplate His glorious works; therefore, He gave him hands for labor, as well as a mind and heart for contemplation. If the happiness of man consisted in doing nothing, the Creator would not have given Adam his appointed work. Man was to find happiness in labor, as well as in meditation (Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 7, 8).
(1BC 1082.3)
MC
VC
16, 17 (Genesis 1:26; Isaiah 43:6, 7). To Re-populate Heaven After Test—God created man for His own glory, that after test and trial the human family might become one with the heavenly family. It was God′s purpose to re-populate heaven with the human family, if they would show themselves obedient to His every word. Adam was to be tested, to see whether he would be obedient, as the loyal angels, or disobedient. If he stood the test, his instruction to his children would have been only of loyalty. His mind and thoughts would have been as the mind and thoughts of God. He would have been taught by God as His husbandry and building. His character would have been moulded in accordance with the character of God (Letter 91, 1900).
(1BC 1082.4)
MC
VC
17 (John 8:44; Genesis 3:4). Seeds of Death Satan′s Work—Christ never planted the seeds of death in the system. Satan planted these seeds when he tempted Adam to eat of the tree of knowledge which meant disobedience to God (Manuscript 65, 1899) [published in F. D. Nichol, Ellen G. White and Her Critics].
(1BC 1082.5)
MC
VC
(Revelation 13:8). Death Penalty Not Enforced at Once—Adam listened to the words of the tempter, and yielding to his insinuations, fell into sin. Why was not the death penalty at once enforced in his case?—Because a ransom was found. God′s only begotten Son volunteered to take the sin of man upon Himself, and to make an atonement for the fallen race. There could have been no pardon for sin had this atonement not been made. Had God pardoned Adam′s sin without an atonement, sin would have been immortalized, and would have been perpetuated with a boldness that would have been without restraint (The Review and Herald, April 23, 1901).
(1BC 1082.6)
MC
VC
1-6. A Succession of Falls—If the race had ceased to fall when Adam was driven from Eden, we should now be in a far more elevated condition physically, mentally, and morally. But while men deplore the fall of Adam, which has resulted in such unutterable woe, they disobey the express injunctions of God, as did Adam, although they have his example to warn them from doing as he did in violating the law of Jehovah. Would that man had stopped falling with Adam. But there has been a succession of falls. Men will not take warning from Adam′s experience. They will indulge appetite and passion in direct violation of the law of God, and at the same time continue to mourn Adam′s transgression, which brought sin into the world.
(1BC 1082.7)
MC
VC
From Adam′s day to ours there has been a succession of falls, each greater than the last, in every species of crime. God did not create a race of beings so devoid of health, beauty, and moral power as now exists in the world. Disease of every kind has been fearfully increasing upon the race. This has not been by God′s especial providence, but directly contrary to His will. It has come by man′s disregard of the very means which God has ordained to shield him from the terrible evils existing (The Review and Herald, March 4, 1875).
(1BC 1082.8)
MC
VC