Observations en route to Geneva
The Alps are the major system of mountains in south central Europe, forming a 680-mile arc from southeastern France across Switzerland, a portion of southern Germany, Austria, through Yugoslavia, to Albania. Mont Blanc (15,781 feet) is the highest point in the chain. The magnificent sweep of giant peaks forms the seat of a mammoth footstool, the legs of which stretch south into Yugoslavia and Italy. Gorgeous lakes of blue and more somber hues dot the alpine foothills, and streams flow north and south, east and west, from the snowclad summits.
Ellen White was deeply impressed as she viewed these mountains from her coach window while traveling northward through Italy and France into Switzerland. Her unique description of these scenic wonders, penned as she traveled, reveals a keen appreciation for natural beauty and, more important, a reverent and worshipful spirit.
The lessons she drew from nature's grand spectacle are worth repeating:
"The scenery is very grand on this route. With pen in hand, I sketch down the scenery as the cars move swiftly along. Now on either side of us rise almost perpendicular
mountains, pointing towards the heavens, and between these mountain gaps are seen in the distance mountain peaks above mountain peaks....
"Villages are quite frequent here and there on the mountain sides and in the valleys are planted forests of evergreens. Then we come to rocks, bleak and bare like masonry towering up to an immense height. We pass through a tunnel and look down thousands of feet into a wild rocky ravine where the green waters are running over the rocks....
"Then we reach again the high precipitous mountains. Houses are built, terrace after terrace, to the mountaintop, that looked as if hanging like nests to the very rocks....
"Our track was cut through the heart of rocky mountains.... We come to a village. It is very old. Its name is Chilamonte. It stands two thousand feet above the level of the sea. These houses are roofed with dark brown flat stones, which give them an ancient appearance....
"We pass through tunnel after tunnel. We emerge from one quickly to enter another. With pen in hand I have not chance to write more than one word before we are enclosed in darkness. We emerge from the fifteenth tunnel, and a beautiful scene is opened to our view.* Down, down, a long way below us is a valley which is nicely cultivated land. This smooth plain of grass and grain of living green extends to some distance. There are houses far below us. There is a stone wall--large, but in ruins--while on the tops of high mountains are buildings and ruined castles....
"After traveling some hours we reached ... France, which is a beautiful country and the climate is mild and healthful. This scenery is composed of hills and mountains, with beautiful trees. The earth is now most lovely, clothed in her garments of living green, the trees are covered with the loveliest green foliage, and the fruit trees, many of them, are in full bloom. The apple, plum, peach, and horse chestnut and hedges of lilac make the air fragrant with their blossoms. There are trees that bear a rich pink and red blossom resembling a tulip in shape. There are also trees with pure white blossoms of the same description.* These broad valleys with the mountains in the background are clothed with forest trees. Up on the high mountain summits are built round towers and observatories and castles.
"The varied scenery is a scene of indescribable loveliness. As I look upon the marvelous works of God in nature I am filled with amazement at the ingratitude of men, that their hearts are not drawn out in love and adoration to God....
The World Before the Flood
"If everything in God's works looks to us so beautiful, and the majestic mountains and towering stern old rocks have attractions, how far exceeding it in beauty, in grandeur and loveliness, was the world before the flood, which was destroyed because of man's sinfulness. God has surrounded them with the precious things of earth because He loved them. But these blessings were turned into a curse, and they used the precious things of earth to gratify their pride and to glorify themselves until the Lord destroyed them and the earth which was defiled by their violence and corrupting works....
"We come to scenery that appears to our senses as indescribably grand. Mountain peaks rise above mountain peaks, the massive, curiously splendid shaped rocks that were heaved up by mighty agencies and sculptured by the storms of ages. The bare, naked crags, rough hewn. Then there comes a little tableland high between jutting rocks....
"The great God has reared His mighty structures in the granite rocks, in the towering mountains, in clefts, in the gulches, in the gorges, and in the castle rocks and the caves of the earth and with these surroundings of evidences of God's power....
"We trace in unmistakable tokens the handiwork of the great Architect. There is beauty in the valley's awful grandeur, in the solemn, massive, cleft rocks; there is majesty in the towering mountains that look as if they touched the heavens. There are the lofty trees with their delicately formed leaves; the spires of grass, the opening bud and blossoming flower, the forest trees, and every living thing,--they all point the mind to the great and living God. Every faculty of our being testifies that there is a living God and we may learn the mostprecious lessons from the open book of nature in regard to the Lord of heaven.
"In this study the mind expands, is elevated and uplifted, and becomes hungry to know more of God and His Majesty. We have awakened in our hearts feelings not only of reverence and awe, but of love, of faith, of trust and entire dependence upon One who is the giver of all good. And as I look at His marvelous works and see the evidences of His power I instinctively inquire, 'What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?' Psalm 8:4. All the greatness and glory of these wonderful things in God's house can only be appreciated as they are connected in the mind or associated with God, and the future home of bliss He is preparing for those who love Him. The precious things of the lasting hills we enjoy, but these will be as nothing compared with the glories that shall be awarded to the worshipers of the true God.
Evidences of the Flood
"Men may trace, in the broken surface of the earth, the evidences of the flood. Men think themselves wiser than God, and altogether too wise to obey His law and keep His commandments and obey the statutes and precepts of Jehovah. The rich things of earth which God had given them did not lead them to obedience, but away from obedience because they misused their choice favors of heaven, and made the blessings given them of God objects to separate from God. And because they became satanic in their nature, rather than divine, the Lord sent the flood of waters upon the old world and the foundations of the great deep were broken up.
"Clay, lime, and shells that God had strewn in the bottoms of the seas, were uplifted, thrown hither and thither, and convulsions of fire and flood, earthquakes and volcanoes buried the rich treasures of gold, silver, and precious stone beyond the sight and reach of man. Vast treasures are contained in the mountains. There are lessons to be learned in God's book of nature....
"We see in the broken face of nature, in the cleft rocks, in the mountains and precipices, that which tells us a great wrong has been done, that men have abused God's gifts, forgotten the Creator, and that the Lord was grieved and punished the wicked transgressors of His law, and as the result we have its effects in creation. Storms rage with destructive violence. Harm comes to man and beast and property. Because men continue to transgress God's law, He removes their defense. Famine, calamity by sea, and the pestilence that walketh at noonday, follow because men have forgotten their Creator. Sin, the blight of sin, defaces and mars our world, and agonized creation groans under the iniquity of the inhabitants thereof. God has given us faculties to be cultivated, to be improved to His glory and for eternity."--Manuscript 62, 1886.
She thought also of the saints who would arise on the resurrection morning, from the rocks and the caves of those majestic mountains.
"Martyrs have perished here, and these places will never reveal their sacred trust until the Lifegiver shall call them.... They died in exile, some by starvation, others by the cruel hand of man. They walked with God, and will walk with Him in white because they are found worthy."--Manuscript 62, 1886.
The journey was one of unforgettable interest to the Lord's messenger. And because of her diary notes, the experience has been repeated here for thousands of others to enjoy.