The Southern race has been neglected. Men have passed by on the other side, as the priest and the levite passed by the wounded, robbed, bruised, and beaten one. But a certain samaritan, as he journeyed that way, not only saw him, but he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, set him on his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. How many have left the colored race to perish by the wayside? Since the slaves gained their freedom at terrible loss of life both to the North and to the South, they have been greatly neglected by those who professed to know God, and as a result thousands of them have failed to gain spiritual freedom. But shall this indifference continue? Shall not decided efforts be made to save them? Sin has degraded and corrupted the human family, but Christ did not leave men to perish in their degradation. He who was one with the Father came to our world to bridge the gulf that sin had made, which separated man from God because of transgression. Christ, the brightness of His Father’s glory, beheld humanity in its wretchedness and sinfulness, beheld souls tainted with corruption, depraved and deformed. He knew that the fallen race tended more to evil than to good, and practiced the most hateful vices. The heavenly hosts looked upon the world as undeserving of the sympathy and love of God. Angels marveled that Christ should undertake to save man in his lost, and as it seemed to them, hopeless condition. They marveled that God could tolerate a race so foul with sin as to be a blot upon His creation. They could see no room for love, but Christ saw that souls must perish unless an arm strong to deliver was reached forth to save. (SW 26.1) MC VC

Satan is the destroyer, but Christ is the restorer. From the first it was Satan’s purpose to cause men to transgress the law of God. He misrepresented the character of the Father, trampled upon His law, and cast contempt upon His precepts. He inspired men with his own spirit, and made them partakers of his own attributes, and caused them to transgress the law of God. When he had accomplished his work of ruin, he pointed to the degraded, sin-polluted souls whom he had made subject to a thousand vices, and declared that they were too degraded, too wretched, to be redeemed by Heaven. He sought to present mankind in the most discouraging aspect, so that reformation might seem hopeless. Though he could not prevail with his temptations in assailing Christ, or cause Him to fail or be discouraged, yet he often succeeds too well with those who should be laborers together with God. But his plans to cause the work to cease are not wholly successful. Through the grace of God those whom the enemy has oppressed for generations, rise up to the dignity of God-given manhood and womanhood and present themselves as sons and daughters of the Most High. This result is generally brought about through well-directed, persevering missionary labor. (SW 26.2) MC VC