God and sinless angels. He who would enjoy the beautiful and wonderful home which Christ is preparing for those who are faithful, must develop a character which will fit him for it.

Adam and Eve were innocent and holy when they

came from the creative hand of

God, but their character had not been formed. Therefore the choice of right or wrong was left open to them. Every opportunity to study the character of God and the justice of His commands was given them. The blessings of obedience and the awful consequences of sin were carefully taught them by their heavenly visitors. But full liberty was given them either to believe, obey, and live, or to doubt, disobey, and die.

Self-indulgence was the cause of Satan's fall. The test for man was made on this same point. By "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" their faith, love, and obedience were tested. Of every other tree they could freely eat, but of this one God said, "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." Gen. 3:3.

DEVELOPMENT OF

CHARACTER.

"God placed man under law as an indispensable condition of his very existence. He was a subject of the divine government, and there can be no government without law. God might have created man without the power to transgress His law; He might have withheld the hand of Adam from touching the forbidden fruit; but in that man would have been, not a free moral agent, but a mere automaton.

case

"Without freedom of choice, man's obedience would not have been voluntary, but forced. There could have been no development of character. Such a course would have been contrary to God's plan of dealing with the inhabitants of other worlds. It would have been unworthy of man as an intelligent being, and would have sustained Satan's charge of God's arbitrary rule."-Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 48, 49.

Here Satan was

allowed to come with his temptations; but if man remained true, his probation would finally end, and the

human race be placed beyond the power of the enemy.

Having himself lost the peace and happiness of heaven, Satan could not endure the sight of the happiness of Adam and Eve in Eden. Moved by envy, he resolved to lead them into disobedience and sin.

Every art which he possessed he

determined should be used in

causing their overthrow.

Moreover,

by leading

the first

Satan could reach
them only beside
the forbidden tree.

pair into

sin, he hoped to obtain possession of

the earth, and make

it his per

manent

home and

the seat of

his gov

ernment.

"Our first parents were not left with

out warning of the danger that threatened them. Heavenly messengers opened to them the history of Satan's fall, and his plots for their destruction, unfolding more fully the nature of divine government, which the prince of evil was trying to overthrow."

shall ye touch it, lest ye die." As this tree was the only test, Satan could reach them only when they were beside it. Hence, had they obeyed God and kept away from it, they would never have known evil.

Curiosity finally led Eve to examine this tree, which had connected with it such terrible consequences. By so doing she placed herself in the very path of Satan's temptations, and he was there to meet her, as he always meets us when we go in the way of temptation.

Satan did not come in his true form, but in the shape of a serpent, which creature was then, without doubt, the most beautiful and intelligent of all the creatures which God had made. Had Satan come in his true form, Eve would have recognized him. We do not now see the serpent as he was, but as he has become since the curse of God was pronounced upon him. See Gen. 3:14. Never does Satan come to us as he really is, but always as a deceiver.

The serpent told Eve that the fruit of the tree was good, and began to eat of it. She saw no immediate evil come to the serpent, yet she made a feeble protest. She said that the Lord had forbidden them to eat of it, and if they did they should "surely die."

But the serpent replied, "Ye shall not surely die." "See, I am eating of it, and it does me no harm. In fact, I feel better all the time I am eating of it." "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." Gen. 3:3. He claimed that God was withholding from them some. wonderful good which would come to them by eating that special fruit.