Will the church arouse? Will its members come into sympathy with Christ, so they will have His tenderness for all the sheep and lambs of His fold? For their sake the Majesty of heaven made Himself of no reputation; for them He came to a world all seared and marred with the curse, He toiled day and night to instruct, to elevate, and to bring everlasting joy to a thankless, disobedient people. For their sake He became poor, that they through His poverty might be rich. For them He denied Himself; for them He endured privation, scorn, contempt, suffering, and death. For them He took the form of a servant. This is our pattern; will we copy it? Will we have a care for God’s heritage? Will we cherish tender compassion for the erring, the tempted, and the tried?—Letter 45, 1894. (WM 24.1) MC VC

Touched With the Feelings of Our Infirmities—Christ, our substitute and surety, was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His human life was one long travail in behalf of the inheritance He was to purchase at such an infinite cost. He was touched with the feelings of our infirmities. In consideration of the value He places upon the purchase of His blood, He adopts them as His children, makes them the objects of His tender care, and in order that they may have their temporal and spiritual necessities supplied, He commits them to His church, saying, “Inasmuch as ye do it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye do it unto Me.” Matthew 25:40. —Manuscript 40, 1899. (WM 24.2) MC VC

Christ Came to Relieve Suffering—This world is a vast lazar house, but Christ came to heal the sick, to proclaim deliverance to the captives of Satan. He was in Himself health and strength. He imparted His life to the sick, the afflicted, those possessed of demons. He turned away none who came to receive His healing power. He knew that those who petitioned Him for help had brought disease upon themselves; yet He did not refuse to heal them. And when virtue from Christ entered into these poor souls, they were convicted of sin, and many were healed of their spiritual disease, as well as of their physical maladies. The gospel still possesses the same power, and why should we not today witness the same results? (WM 24.3) MC VC

Christianity the Solace of the Poor—There is a connection between the religion of Christ and poverty. Christianity is the solace of the poor. There is a false religion, endangering the souls of all who advance it, that teaches that selfish pleasure and enjoyment is the sum of happiness. But the parable of the rich man and Lazarus shows us that this is false. There came a time when the rich man would have given all he possessed to have exchanged places with Lazarus, once poor, and covered with sores. (WM 172.1) MC VC

In the humanity of Christ there are golden threads that bind the believing, trusting poor man to His own soul of infinite love. He is the great physician. In our world He bore our infirmities and carried our burdens. He is the mighty Healer of all diseases. He was poor, and yet He was the center of all goodness, all blessings. He is a reservoir of power to all to consecrate their powers to the work of becoming sons of God.—Manuscript 22, 1898. (WM 172.2) 2 I MC VC

Christ Lifted the Stigma From Poverty—Christ has ever been the poor man’s friend. He chose poverty, and honored it by making it His lot. He has stripped from it forever the reproach of scorn by blessing the poor, the inheritors of God’s kingdom. Such was His work. By consecrating Himself to a life of poverty He redeemed poverty from its humiliation. He took His position with the poor that He might lift from poverty the stigma that the world had attached to it. He knew the danger of the love of riches. He knew that this love is ruinous to many souls. It places those who are rich where they indulge every wish for grandeur. It teaches them to look down on those who are suffering the pressure of poverty. It develops the weakness of human minds and shows that notwithstanding the abundance of wealth, the rich are not rich toward God. (WM 172.3) MC VC