THE EARTH—PAST AND PRESENT.
WHAT the world was at first bears testimony to what it shall be at last. “God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good.” Man was very good. He was made in the image and likeness of God—a faithful mirror reflecting the wisdom and goodness of his Creator. God's great design in all his great works is the manifestation of his own glory. God's glory is then manifested when the thing formed answers exactly the end for which he formed it. Man in Paradise gave this response; he was very good. He was qualified to appreciate the divine perfections of Jehovah, who had made all things for himself, to proclaim his wisdom, grace, and power. His intellectual and moral powers were perfect. God's law was in his heart. The will of God was to the will of unfallen Adam, what the pole is to the needle—it was full of attraction, and the heart of the creature followed that attraction with a spontaneouness of love without effort. All his affections and passions were in submission to, and in accord with, the will and law of his God. Love stood before the altar, and pouring on the sacred incense, kept up the hallowed flame. Holy fear with reverential awe, bowed before the sanctuary where as yet no veil had hid the presence of the Deity. Joy told its raptures in hosannas of never-ceasing praise, and sought on earth to join these songs which angels poured forth before the throne of God. Hope was not there. Man had nothing to hope for. He was full. His blessedness was perfect. The inferior creatures were all very good, each in its kind answering the object of its creation; and all in peaceful subjection to man, and in harmony with one another. The wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the kid, the cow and the bear, the lion and the ox, all met in peace before Adam, to receive their names from him, and whatsoever he called each of them that was their appointed title. Their food was the herbs of the field. There was no occasion for the shedding of blood, or the infliction of pain, no touch of conception, no trace of death. The trees and shrubs and flowers were very good, presenting proofs innumerable of the tenderness and loving kindness, as well as exquisite skill of Him who made them all. There was no drawback, no disturbing phenomena, no shattering storm, no nipping frost or blighting fog to cause the least embarrassment in the mind of their thoughtful human master concerning the character of God, that had made the scene. Oh! what a glimpse of the world as it shall be, in this transient scene of the world as it was; it was pleasing to him that made it, and he will make it pleasing to himself again. This lovely scene was transient, it is true; but though transient, it was real. And brief as it was, it has left behind it the imperishable lesson, namely, that there is no necessary connection between matter and sin, matter and decay, matter and death. The connection we now experience is an adventitious one, brought in by sin, and to be driven out by righteousness. It is no way inherent, whether it be the globe we tread upon, or that of which man is formed; and the lesson here taught, I repeat, is that there may be matter where there is no sin.—Selected.