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).
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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).
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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).
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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).
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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].
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(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).
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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.
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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).
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Adam: Temptation Removed as Far as Possible—The plan of salvation was so arranged that when Adam was tested, temptation was removed from him as far as possible. When Adam was tempted, he was not hungry (The Signs of the Times, April 4, 1900).
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Man a Free Agent—God had power to hold Adam back from touching the forbidden fruit; but had He done this, Satan would have been sustained in his charge against God′s arbitrary rule. Man would not have been a free moral agent, but a mere machine (The Review and Herald, June 4, 1901).
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Every Inducement to Remain Loyal—It certainly was not God′s purpose that man should be sinful. He made Adam pure and noble, with no tendency to evil. He placed him in Eden, where he had every inducement to remain loyal and obedient. The law was placed around him as a safeguard. (Ibid.).
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7. Fig Leaves Will Not Cover Sin—Adam and Eve both ate of the fruit, and obtained a knowledge which, had they obeyed God, they would never have had,—an experience in disobedience and disloyalty to God,—the knowledge that they were naked. The garment of innocence, a covering from God, which surrounded them, departed; and they supplied the place of this heavenly garment by sewing together fig-leaves for aprons.
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This is the covering that the transgressors of the law of God have used since the days of Adam and Eve′s disobedience. They have sewed together fig-leaves to cover their nakedness, caused by transgression. The fig-leaves represent the arguments used to cover disobedience. When the Lord calls the attention of men and women to the truth, the making of fig-leaves into aprons will be begun, to hide the nakedness of the soul. But the nakedness of the sinner is not covered. All the arguments pieced together by all who have interested themselves in this flimsy work will come to naught (The Review and Herald, November 15, 1898).
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10, 11. Drew on Robes of Ignorance—Had Adam and Eve never disobeyed their Creator, had they remained in the path of perfect rectitude, they could have known and understood God. But when they listened to the voice of the tempter, and sinned against God, the light of the garments of heavenly innocence departed from them; and in parting with the garments of innocence, they drew about them the dark robes of ignorance of God. The clear and perfect light that had hitherto surrounded them had lightened everything they approached; but deprived of that heavenly light, the posterity of Adam could no longer trace the character of God in His created works (The Review and Herald, March 17, 1904).
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15. Adam Knew Original Law—Adam and Eve at their creation had knowledge of the original law of God. It was imprinted upon their hearts, and they were acquainted with the claims of law upon them. When they transgressed the law of God, and fell from their state of happy innocence, and became sinners, the future of the fallen race was not relieved by a single ray of hope. God pitied them, and Christ devised the plan for their salvation by Himself bearing the guilt. When the curse was pronounced upon the earth and upon man, in connection with the curse was a promise that through Christ there was hope and pardon for the transgression of God′s law. Although gloom and darkness hung, like the pall of death, over the future, yet in the promise of the Redeemer, the Star of hope lighted up the dark future. The gospel was first preached to Adam by Christ. Adam and Eve felt sincere sorrow and repentance for their guilt. They believed the precious promise of God, and were saved from utter ruin (The Review and Herald, April 29, 1875).
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Christ the Immediate Surety—As soon as there was sin, there was a Saviour. Christ knew that He would have to suffer, yet He became man′s substitute. As soon as Adam sinned, the Son of God presented Himself as surety for the human race, with just as much power to avert the doom pronounced upon the guilty as when He died upon the cross of Calvary (The Review and Herald, March 12, 1901).
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Continent of Heaven—Jesus became the world’s Redeemer, rendering perfect obedience to every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. He redeemed Adam’s disgraceful fall, uniting the earth, that had been divorced from God by sin, to the continent of heaven [Obviously the word “continent” is here employed in a broader sense than is commonly understood today. It is in keeping with usage now obsolete, which permitted the word “continent” to apply to “the ‘solid globe’ or orb of the sun or moon” (See Oxford English Dictionary).—Editor.] (Bible Echo and Signs of the Times, August 6, 1894).
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