Before the entrance of sin not a cloud rested upon the minds of our first parents to obscure their perception of the character of God. They were perfectly conformed to the will of God. For a covering a beautiful light, the light of God, surrounded them. This clear and perfect light illuminated everything which they approached.
(8T 255.1)
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Nature was their lessonbook. In the Garden of Eden the existence of God was demonstrated, His attributes were revealed, in the objects of nature that surrounded them. Everything upon which their eyes rested spoke to them. The invisible things of God, “even His everlasting power and divinity,”(Romans 1:20) were clearly seen, being understood by the things that were made.
(8T 255.2)
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But while it is true that in the beginning God could be discerned in nature, it does not follow that after the Fall a perfect knowledge of God was revealed in the natural world to Adam and his posterity. Nature could convey her lessons to man in his innocence. But transgression brought a blight upon the earth and intervened between nature and nature’s God. Had Adam and Eve never disobeyed their Creator, had they remained in the path of perfect rectitude, they would have continued to learn of God through His works. But when they listened to the tempter and sinned against God, the light of the garments of heavenly innocence departed from them. Deprived of the heavenly light, they could no longer discern the character of God in the works of His hand.
(8T 255.3)
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“O how love I Thy law!
It is my meditation all the day.”Psalm 119:97. “Thy statutes have been my songs
In the house of my pilgrimage.”Psalm 119:54. “Thy testimonies are wonderful;
Therefore doth my soul keep them.”Psalm 119:129. “The opening of Thy words giveth light;
It giveth understanding unto the simple.”Psalm 119:130. “Thy commandments make me wiser than mine enemies;
For they are ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers;
For Thy testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged,
Because I have kept Thy precepts....”Psalm 119:98~100. “Through Thy precepts I get understanding:
Therefore I hate every false way.”Psalm 119:104.
(8T 324.1)
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“Thy word is very pure; Therefore Thy servant loveth it.”Psalm 119:140. “The sum of Thy word is truth; And every one of Thy righteous ordinances endureth forever.”Psalm 119:160.
(8T 324.2)
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“Great peace have they that love Thy law; And they have no occasion of stumbling. I have hoped for Thy salvation, O Jehovah, And have done Thy commandments. My soul hath observed Thy testimonies; And I love them exceedingly.”Psalm 119:165~167.
(8T 324.3)
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“I have longed for Thy salvation, O Jehovah;
And Thy law is my delight.
Let my soul live, and it shall praise Thee;
And let Thine ordinances help me.”Psalm 119:174-175. Psalm 119:174~175. “Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever;
For they are the rejoicing of my heart.”Psalm 119:111. , A. R. V.
(8T 324.4)
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He who has a knowledge of God and His word through personal experience is prepared to engage in the study of natural science. Of Christ it is written: “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.”John 1:4. When Adam and Eve in Eden lost the garments of holiness, they lost the light that had illuminated nature. No longer could they read it aright. But for those who receive the light of the life of Christ, nature is again illuminated. In the light shining from the cross, we can rightly interpret nature’s teaching.
(8T 324.5)
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He who has a knowledge of God and His word has a settled faith in the divinity of the Holy Scriptures. He does not test the Bible by man’s ideas of science. He brings these ideas to the test of the unerring standard. He knows that God’s word is truth, and truth can never contradict itself; whatever in the teaching of so-called science contradicts the truth of God’s revelation is mere human guesswork.
(8T 325.1)
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To the really wise, scientific research opens vast fields of thought and information. The ways of God as revealed in the natural world and in His dealings with man constitute a treasury from which every student in the school of Christ may draw.
(8T 325.2)
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The real evidence of a living God is not merely in theory; it is in the conviction that God has written in our hearts, illuminated and explained by His word. It is in the living power in His created works, seen by the eye which the Holy Spirit has enlightened.
(8T 325.3)
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Those who judge of God from His handiwork, and not from the suppositions of great men, see His presence in everything. They behold His smile in the glad sunshine, and His love and care for man in the rich fields of autumn. Even the adornments of the earth, the grass of living green, the lovely flowers of every hue, the lofty and varied trees of the forest, the dancing brook, the noble river, the placid lake, testify to the tender, fatherly care of God and to His desire to make His children happy.
(8T 325.4)
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