Then all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands. Nehemiah 8:6.

God says by the psalmist, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.” The worship of God consists chiefly of praise and prayer. Every follower of Christ should engage in this worship. No one can sing by proxy, bear testimony by proxy, or pray by proxy. As a rule, too many dark testimonies are borne in social service [prayer meeting], savoring more of murmuring than of gratitude and praise.

When the word of God was spoken to the Hebrews anciently, the Lord said to Moses, “And let all the people say, Amen.” This response, in the fervor of their souls, was required as evidence that they understood the word spoken and were interested in it.

When the ark of God was brought into the city of David and a psalm of joy and triumph was chanted, all the people said, Amen. And David felt that he was fully repaid for his labor and anxiety….

There is too much formality in the church…. We should be so connected with the Source of all light that we can be channels of light to the world. The Lord would have His ministers who preach the Word energized by His Holy Spirit. And the people who hear should not sit in drowsy indifference or stare vacantly about, making no response to what is being said. The spirit of the world has paralyzed the spirituality of such, and they are not awake to the precious theme of redemption. The truth of God’s Word is spoken to leaden ears, and hard, unimpressible hearts…. These dull, careless ones show ambition and zeal when engaged in the business of the world, but things of eternal importance do not engross the mind and interest them as do worldly things….

Fruitful Christians will be connected with God and intelligent in the things of God. The truth and the love of God is their meditation. They have feasted upon the words of life, and when they hear it spoken from the desk, they can say, as did the two disciples who were traveling to Emmaus when Christ explained to them the prophecies in reference to Himself, “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?”

All who are connected with the light will let their light shine to the world, and will, in their testimonies, praise God, to whom their hearts will flow forth in gratitude.—The Review and Herald, January 1, 1880.

From From the Heart

By the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20.

The law of God is the mirror to show men and women the defects in their characters. But it is not pleasant to those who take pleasure in unrighteousness to see their moral deformity. They do not prize this faithful mirror because it reveals to them their sins. Therefore, instead of instituting a war against their carnal minds, they war against the true and faithful mirror, given them by Jehovah for the very purpose that they may not be deceived, but that they may have revealed to them the defects in their characters. Should the discovery of these defects lead them to hate the mirror, or to hate themselves? Should they put away the mirror which discovers these defects? No. The sins which they cherish, which the faithful mirror shows them as existing in their characters, will close before them the portals of heaven unless they are put away, and they become perfect before God.

Listen to the words of the faithful apostle, “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” These people who are zealous to abolish the law had far better manifest their zeal in abolishing their sins….

The Lord made humanity upright, but we have fallen and become degraded because we refuse to yield obedience to the sacred claims which the law of God has upon us. All our passions, if properly controlled and rightly directed, will contribute to our physical and moral health and insure to us a great amount of happiness. The adulterer, the fornicator, and the wanton do not enjoy life. There can be no true enjoyment for the transgressor of God’s law. The Lord knew this; therefore He restricts us. He directs, commands, and He positively forbids….

Sin does not appear as sinful unless viewed in the truthful mirror God has given us as a test of character. When men and women acknowledge the claims of the law of God and plant their feet upon the platform of eternal truth, they will stand where the Lord can give them moral power to let their light so shine before men that they may see their good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.

Their course will be marked with consistency. They will not justly earn the charge of hypocrisy and sensualism. They can preach Christ with power, being imbued with His Spirit. They can utter truths which will melt and burn their way to the hearts of the people.—The Review and Herald, March 8, 1870.

From From the Heart

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. Genesis 3:15.

Adam and Eve should have been perfectly satisfied with the knowledge of God in His created works, and by the instruction of the holy angels…. The high state of knowledge to which they thought to attain by eating of the forbidden fruit plunged them into the degradation of sin and guilt.

The angels who had been appointed to guard Adam and Eve in their Eden home before their transgression and expulsion from paradise were now appointed to guard the gates of paradise and the way of the tree of life, lest they should return and gain access to the tree of life and sin be immortalized.

Sin drove Adam and Eve from paradise. And sin was the cause of paradise being removed from the earth. In consequence of transgression of God’s law, they lost paradise. In obedience to the Father’s law and through faith in the atoning blood of His Son, paradise may be regained….

Satan made his exulting boasts to Christ and to loyal angels that he had succeeded in gaining a portion of the angels in heaven to unite with him in his daring rebellion. And now that he had succeeded in overcoming Adam and Eve, he claimed that their Eden home was his. He proudly boasted that the world which God had made was his dominion. Having conquered Adam, the monarch of the world, he had gained the race as his subjects, and he should now possess Eden and make that his headquarters. And he would there establish his throne and be monarch of the world.

But measures were immediately taken in heaven to defeat Satan in his plans. Strong angels, with beams of light representing flaming swords turning in every direction, were placed as sentinels to guard the way of the tree of life from the approach of Satan and the guilty pair….

A council was held in heaven, which resulted in God’s dear Son undertaking to redeem the human race from the curse and from the disgrace of Adam’s failure, and to conquer Satan. Oh, wonderful condescension! The Majesty of heaven, through love and pity for fallen humanity, proposed to become their substitute and surety.—The Review and Herald, February 24, 1874.

From From the Heart

Of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” Genesis 3:3.

Eve went from the side of her husband, viewing the beautiful things of nature in God’s creation, delighting her senses with the colors and fragrance of the flowers and the beauty of the trees and shrubs. She was thinking of the restrictions God had placed upon them in regard to the tree of knowledge. She was pleased with the beauties and bounties which the Lord had furnished for the gratification of every want. All these, said she, God has given us to enjoy….

Eve had wandered near the forbidden tree, and her curiosity was aroused to know how death could be concealed in the fruit of this fair tree. She was surprised to hear her queries taken up and repeated by a strange voice. “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Eve was not aware that she had revealed her thoughts by conversing to herself aloud; therefore she was greatly astonished to hear her queries repeated by a serpent. She really thought the serpent had a knowledge of her thoughts and that he must be very wise.

She answered him, “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.” …

Eve had overstated the words of God’s command. He had said to Adam and Eve, “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 Eve’s controversy with the serpent, she added the clause, “Neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” … This statement of Eve gave him advantage, and he plucked the fruit, and placed it in her hand, and used her own words, “He hath said, ‘If ye touch it, ye shall die.’ You see no harm comes to you from touching the fruit, neither will you receive any harm by eating it.” … She ate the fruit, and realized no immediate harm. She then plucked the fruit for herself and for her husband….

Adam and Eve should have been perfectly satisfied with the knowledge of God in His created works, and by the instruction of the holy angels…. It was for their happiness to be ignorant of sin.—The Review and Herald, February 24, 1874.

From From the Heart

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. Genesis 2:17.

The Lord knew that Adam and Eve could not be happy without labor; therefore He gave them the pleasant employment of dressing the garden. And, as they tended the things of beauty and usefulness around them, they could behold the goodness and glory of God in His created works. Adam and Eve had themes for contemplation in the works of God in Eden, which was heaven in miniature. God did not form them merely to contemplate His glorious works; therefore He gave them hands for labor, as well as minds and hearts for contemplation. If the happiness of His creatures consisted in doing nothing, the Creator would not have given them their appointed work. In labor, Adam and Eve were to find happiness as well as meditation. They could reflect that they were created in the image of God, to be like Him in righteousness and holiness. Their minds were capable of continual cultivation, expansion, refinement, and noble elevation; for God was their teacher, and angels were their companions.

The Lord placed Adam and Eve upon probation, that they might form characters of steadfast integrity for their own happiness and for the glory of their Creator. He had endowed the holy pair with powers of mind superior to any other living creature that He had made. Their mental powers were but little lower than those of the angels. They could become familiar with the sublimity and glory of nature, and understand the character of their heavenly Father in His created works. Everything that their eyes rested upon in the immensity of the Father’s works, provided with a lavish hand, testified of His love and infinite power….

The first great moral lesson given to Adam and Eve was that of self-denial. The reins of self-government were placed in their hands. Judgment, reason, and conscience were to bear sway…. Adam and Eve were permitted to partake of every tree in the garden save one. There was only a single prohibition. The forbidden tree was as attractive and lovely as any of the trees in the garden. It was called the tree of knowledge, because in partaking of that tree, of which God had said, “Thou shalt not eat of it,” they would have a knowledge of sin, an experience in disobedience.—The Review and Herald, February 24, 1874.

From From the Heart