Section 1—The Divine Philosophy of Suffering and Poverty (WM 13)

Gem Thought

Sin has extinguished the love that God placed in man’s heart. The work of the church is to rekindle this love. The church is to cooperate with God by uprooting selfishness from the human heart, placing in its stead the benevolence that was in man’s heart in his original state of perfection.—Letter 134, 1902. (WM 14) 4 I

“For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy in thy land.” Deuteronomy 15, 11. (WM 15)