While the Bible should hold the first place in the education of children and youth, the book of nature is next in importance. God’s created works testify to His love and power. He has called the world into being, with all that it contains. God is a lover of the beautiful; and in the world which He has fitted up for us He has not only given us everything necessary for our comfort, but He has filled the heavens and the earth with beauty. We see His love and care in the rich fields of autumn, and His smile in the glad sunshine. His hand has made the castle-like rocks and the towering mountains. The lofty trees grow at His command; He has spread earth’s green velvet carpet, and dotted it with shrubs and flowers.
Why has He clothed the earth and trees with living green, instead of with dark, somber brown? Is it not that they may be more pleasing to the eye? And shall not our hearts be filled with gratitude as we read the evidences of His wisdom and love in the wonders of His creation?
The same creative energy that brought the world into existence is still exerted in upholding the universe and continuing the operations of nature. The hand of God guides the planets in their orderly march through the heavens. It is not because of inherent power that year by year the earth continues her motion round the sun, and produces her bounties.... It is through His power that vegetation flourishes, that the leaves appear, and the flowers bloom.
The whole natural world is designed to be an interpreter of the things of God.—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 185, 186. WGD 340
More than eighteen hundred years have passed since the Saviour gave the promise of His coming. Throughout the centuries His words have filled with courage the hearts of His faithful ones. The promise has not yet been fulfilled; ... but none the less sure is the word that has been spoken.—The Review and Herald, November 13, 1913 quoted in Our High Calling, 367. Hvn 25
Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea: which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. Job 9:8-9. KJV