I
BEGINNINGS
When the fires of conflict were first kindled in August, 1914, it took some months for the enlightened nations of the earth to awaken to the fact that a gigantic struggle for human liberty had been forced upon them. Christian Scientists, however, though at first but faintly, perceived the true nature of the problem which the world was vainly trying to solve through a dependence upon human means and methods. They became more and more convinced that it was impossible to maintain an attitude of neutrality towards the world war for the reason that only those nations which had some understanding of Principle, as revealed in Christian Science, were adequately armed and equipped to carry a righteous cause to a victorious conclusion. Until the American nation as a whole attained to some realization of this fact, Christian Scientists in that country were obliged to work more or less as individuals, but the constant desire to help in the solution of the world problem crystallized itself in the establishment of the War Relief Fund by the Board of Directors of The Mother Church, and accordingly the following announcement appeared in the Christian Science Sentinel of October 24, 1914:
A RELIEF FUND
“The many Christian Scientists who have desired to contribute to the relief of those of our people who are enduring
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