God Prepared Man's First Home. --The Eden home of our first parents was
prepared for them by God Himself. When He had furnished it with everything that
man could desire, He said: "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our
likeness." . . .
The Lord was pleased with this last and noblest of all His creatures, and
designed that he should be the perfect inhabitant of a perfect world. But it was
not His purpose that man should live in solitude. He said: "It is not good
that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him."
God Himself gave Adam a companion. He provided "an help meet for
him"--a helper corresponding to him--one who was fitted to be his
companion, and who could be one with him in love and sympathy. Eve was created
from a rib taken from the side of Adam, signifying that she was not to control
him as the head, nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but to stand
by his side as an equal, to be loved and protected by him A part of man, bone of
his bone, and flesh of his flesh, she was his second self; showing the close
union and the affectionate attachment that should exist in this relation.
"For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth
it." "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall
cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one."
First Marriage Performed by God. --God celebrated the first marriage. Thus
the institution has for its originator the Creator of the universe. "Marriage is honourable"; it was one
of the first gifts of God to man, and it is one of the two institutions that,
after the fall, Adam brought with him beyond the gates of Paradise. When the
divine principles are recognised and obeyed in this relation, marriage is a
blessing; it guards the purity and happiness of the race, it provides for man's
social needs, it elevates the physical, the intellectual, and the moral nature.
He who gave Eve to Adam as a helpmeet performed His first miracle at a
marriage festival. In the festal hall where friends and kindred rejoiced
together, Christ began His public ministry. Thus He sanctioned marriage,
recognizing it as an institution that He Himself had established. . . .
Christ honoured the marriage relation by making it also a symbol of the union
between Him and His redeemed ones. He Himself is the Bridegroom; the bride is
the church, of which, as His chosen one, He says, "Thou art all fair, My
love; there is no spot in thee."
Every Want Was Supplied. --Adam was surrounded with everything his heart
could wish. Every want was supplied. There were no sin and no signs of decay in
glorious Eden. Angels of God conversed freely and lovingly with the holy pair.
The happy songsters carolled forth their free, joyous songs of praise to their
Creator. The peaceful beasts in happy innocence played about Adam and Eve,
obedient to their word. Adam was in the perfection of manhood, the noblest of
the Creator's work.
Not a shadow interposed between them and their Creator. They knew God as
their beneficent Father, and in all things their will was conformed to the will
of God. And God's character was reflected in the character of Adam. His glory was
revealed in every object of nature.
Labour Was Appointed for Man's Happiness. --God is a lover of the beautiful.
He has given us unmistakable evidence of this in the work of His hands. He
planted for our first parents a beautiful garden in Eden. Stately trees were
caused to grow out of the ground, of every description, for usefulness and
ornament. The beautiful flowers were formed, of rare loveliness, of every tint
and hue, perfuming the air. . . It was the design of God that man should find
happiness in the employment of tending the things He had created, and that his
wants should be met with the fruits of the trees of the garden.
To Adam was given the work of caring for the garden. The Creator knew that
Adam could not be happy without employment. The beauty of the garden delighted
him, but this was not enough. He must have labour to call into exercise the
wonderful organs of the body. Had happiness consisted in doing nothing, man, in
his state of holy innocence, would have been left unemployed. But He who created
man knew what would be for his happiness; and no sooner had He created him than
He gave him his appointed work. The promise of future glory, and the decree that
man must toil for his daily bread, came from the same throne.
God Is Honoured by a Christian Home. --Fathers and mothers who make God first
in their households, who teach their children that the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom, glorify God before angels and before men by presenting to
the world a well-ordered, well-disciplined family--a family that love and obey
God instead of rebelling against Him. Christ is not a stranger in their homes; His name is a household name, revered and glorified. Angels
delight in a home where God reigns supreme and the children are taught to
reverence religion, the Bible, and their Creator. Such families can claim the
promise, "Them that honour Me I will honour." As from such a home the
father goes forth to his daily duties, it is with a spirit softened and subdued
by converse with God.
The presence of Christ alone can make men and women happy. All the common
waters of life Christ can turn into the wine of heaven. The home then becomes as
an Eden of bliss; the family, a beautiful symbol of the family in heaven.