|
Many years ago, there was no earth,
nor plants, nor animals, nor sun, nor moon, nor people. All was
darkness; but God was. God is eternal; He had no beginning, He will
have no end.
God spoke, and created all things
by his wonderful power. The first day, He created light: the second
day, the blue sky; the third day, the seas and dry land, and trees; the
fourth day, the sun, and moon, and stars; the fifth day, the birds and
fishes; the sixth day, beasts, and insects, and creeping things, and
man. Then all was finished, and "God saw everything that He had
made, and behold it was very good." "The seventh day God
ended His work which He had made." God rested on that day, and
therefore He commands us to rest on the Sabbath day. He says,
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."
"The Lord God formed man of
the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and man became a living soul." God gave to the animals
beautiful and useful bodies; but to man He gave more: He gave him a
soul also, which could never die. God gave wonderful instinct to the
animals; but He gave reason to man, power to know and to love, and to
worship God. The man's name was Adam. God created him holy and
happy. "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and
there He put the man." The garden was full of beautiful trees
and flowers; the little birds sang sweetly, and the animals all played
together upon the green grass; they did not fight, nor hurt one another;
all was love and happiness, because there was no sin. It was warm
and pleasant, there was no cold wind, no snow, no winter.
"The Lord God took the man,
and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep
it." But God said, "It is not good that the man should be
alone; I will make him an help meet for him." When Adam was
asleep, God took a rib out of his side, and made it a woman, and brought
her to Adam, and she was his wife. Her name was Eve. She had a soul
and reason like Adam, and was holy and happy as he was. God said to
them, "Of every tree in the garden ye may eat; but of the fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is in the midst of the
garden, ye shall not eat, lest ye die."
Adam and Eve loved one another,
and they loved God. They walked in the beautiful garden and sang
praise to God, without pain, or sorrow, or fear; and they loved to hear
God speak to them, and to learn the wonderful things He taught them.
|
