"THE law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." Before man was created, the heavenly intelligences were governed by the principles of the law of God.
When man was created, God gave to Adam and Eve a knowledge of His ten precepts. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, God laid the foundation for marriage and for the Sabbath institution. In their happy innocency, the Lord placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and gave them employment in dressing and keeping the garden which He had made for them. In activity of body and mind they had the means of obtaining good, and of glorifying their heavenly Father. Like the angels of God, who are ever engaged in doing good, in carrying out God's commands, man was ever to engage in earnest work.
Adam and Eve were placed upon trial, that it might be demonstrated as to whether they would obey the word of their Creator, or disobey His requirements. The Creator of man was his Father, and had an entire right to the service he could render. Body, soul, and spirit, man was the sole property of God. God revealed Himself to the innocent pair in Eden, and conversed with them freely. God was their teacher, and instructed them in regard to their work. He made it plain to them that by obedience to His holy law they would retain happiness, and finally be blessed with immortality. Eternal life should be theirs if they regulated their conduct according to the principles of the law of God. Man was not left in uncertainty to suppose as to what course he should pursue, or to take any risk by venturing on some line of conduct which he might think a safe course. As children are educated by faithful parents, so Adam and Eve were instructed as to what was required of them as intelligent creatures of God. Every provision was made whereby blessings might be secured to the human race, and but one mild restriction was placed upon the sinless pair to test their loyalty to God.
The Lord had said unto them, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." In every matter God was to be obeyed; but the test of man's obedience in everything was to be found in his faithfulness in carrying out one particular command, in abstaining from taking of the forbidden tree. The result of obedience would be eternal life, and the outworking of disobedience would be death. Adam and Eve were tempted of Satan. The tempter came to them, saying: "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."
"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." They believed the words of the serpent, that were in contradiction to the words of God, their Maker. Falsehood was taken instead of truth, and the flood-gates of wo were opened upon our world.
It was as Eve was standing near the forbidden tree that Satan gave utterance to the query of her mind, and thus the controversy on earth was begun. For when she saw that the tree was "good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Satan presented to man the bribe of attaining to a higher position, of gaining knowledge and wisdom beyond that with which their Creator had endowed them, through an act of disobedience to His divine will. Satan had lost his derived power and glory, had lost heaven, through pride and ambition; for he thought to place his throne above the stars of God, and to be like the Most High. And now, at a favorable opportunity, he presents the temptation which originated with himself, in order to lead the creatures of God to doubt divine wisdom, and to cast reflection upon divine provi-4dences.
Satan did not scruple at deception in order to gain his purpose and bring shadow over the life and character of the holy pair, to cause sorrow and grief in heaven, and to thwart the purpose of God in the creation of man. Pretending to be the friend of man, he placed himself as the enemy of God, and used all his power to prove that Jehovah had made a mistake in instituting the law to regulate the conduct of His creatures. But in casting contempt upon the law of God he was only seeking to further his hellish design of bringing the human race under his own control.
Our first parents were without an experience for themselves; but had they lived by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, they would not have disobeyed their Creator. The terrible and tremendous effects of their disobedience opened their eyes. They discerned that the holy covering of light that God had provided for them had departed from them, and that they were naked. O, if they had but heeded the instruction that God had given them,—to call upon Him when they were threatened with evil from the fallen foe,—they would have had the presence of angels to shield them in the hour of temptation, and the fascinating charm of Satan would have been broken! But they did not look for the fallen foe to come to them with soft words and fair speeches, as a friend who would give them information fraught with weighty importance to them. Had Satan come to them with rough words, charging God with dishonesty, accusing Him of being overbearing, and of giving them commandments that would require the degradation of their independence, they would have understood his attack; but in flattering their pride, in presenting to them a prospect of exaltation, he caused them to forget God, and sin entered into the world. The beings that God had created placed themselves on the enemy's side. The human family was lost.
Will God abolish His law because Adam sinned? Had He done this, He would have immortalized sin, which is the transgression of His law. No, this would have been impossible. Wherever there is a kingdom there must be statutes and laws; and the law of God is the transcript of His character. But provisions had been made in the counsels of the Father and the Son to meet this emergency. It had been provided that, should Adam fall a prey to the tempter's power, a ransom should be found in the Son of God, who should become man's Redeemer. An opportunity should be given to man to repent of his sin, and, through faith in Christ as his personal Saviour, to be restored to the divine image and favor. After the fall, the Lord said to the serpent, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
We have the example of Adam before us to warn us from treading on the dangerous ground upon which Adam fell. Adam accepted the false suggestions and the foul misrepresentations concerning God, rather than a plain "Thus saith the Lord." Let not the presumptuous assertions and claims of men be reiterated as the voice of God. Let those who would serve God remember that it is written, "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."
