The system of education
instituted at the beginning of the world was to be a model for man throughout
all aftertime. As an illustration of its principles a model school was
established in Eden, the home of our first parents. The Garden of Eden was the
schoolroom, nature was the lesson book, the Creator Himself was the instructor,
and the parents of the human family were the students.
Created to be "the
image and glory of God" (1 Corinthians 11:7), Adam and Eve had received
endowments not unworthy of their high destiny. Graceful and symmetrical in
form, regular and beautiful in feature, their countenances glowing with the
tint of health and the light of joy and hope, they bore in outward resemblance
the likeness of their Maker. Nor was this likeness manifest in the physical
nature only. Every faculty of mind and soul reflected the Creator's glory.
Endowed with high mental and spiritual gifts, Adam and Eve were made but
"little lower than the angels" (Hebrews 2:7), that they might not only discern
the wonders of the visible universe, but comprehend moral responsibilities and
obligations.
"The Lord God
planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.
And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every
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tree that is
pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of
the garden." Genesis 2:8,9. Here, amidst the beautiful scenes of nature
untouched by sin, our first parents were to receive their education.
In His interest for
His children, our heavenly Father personally directed their education. Often
they were visited by His messengers, the holy angels, and from them received
counsel and instruction. Often as they walked in the garden in the cool of the
day they heard the voice of God, and face to face held communion with the
Eternal. His thoughts toward them were "thoughts of peace, and not of evil."
Jeremiah 29:11. His every purpose was their highest good.
To Adam and Eve was
committed the care of the garden, "to dress it and to keep it." Genesis 2:15.
Though rich in all that the Owner of the universe could supply, they were not
to be idle. Useful occupation was appointed them as a blessing, to strengthen
the body, to expand the mind, and to develop the character.
The book of nature,
which spread its living lessons before them, afforded an exhaustless source of
instruction and delight. On every leaf of the forest and stone of the
mountains, in every shining star, in earth and sea and sky, God's name was
written. With both the animate and the inanimate creation--with leaf and flower
and tree, and with every living creature, from the leviathan of the waters to
the mote in the sunbeam--the dwellers in Eden held converse, gathering from
each the secrets of its life. God's glory in the heavens, the innumerable
worlds in their orderly revolutions, "the balancings of the clouds" (Job
37:16), the mysteries of light and sound, of day and night--all were objects of
study by the pupils of earth's first school.
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The laws and
operations of nature, and the great principles of truth that govern the
spiritual universe, were opened to their minds by the infinite Author of all.
In "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 4:6), their
mental and spiritual powers developed, and they realized the highest pleasures
of their holy existence.
As it came from the
Creator's hand, not only the Garden of Eden but the whole earth was exceedingly
beautiful. No taint of sin, or shadow of death, marred the fair creation. God's
glory "covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise." "The morning
stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Habakkuk 3:3;
Job 38:7. Thus was the earth a fit emblem of Him who is "abundant in goodness
and truth" (Exodus 34:6); a fit study for those who were made in His image. The
Garden of Eden was a representation of what God desired the whole earth to
become, and it was His purpose that, as the human family increased in numbers,
they should establish other homes and schools like the one He had given. Thus
in course of time the whole earth might be occupied with homes and schools
where the words and the works of God should be studied, and where the students
should thus be fitted more and more fully to reflect, throughout endless ages,
the light of the knowledge of His glory.