DURING the World War a picture appeared in a certain magazine entitled, "The First Service Star." This picture portrayed Mary and Joseph with the child Jesus in the foreground, sharing shelter with the flocks and herds in the city of Bethlehem of Judea. In the distance the star of Bethlehem was pictured; and these significant words from the gospel of John were written at the bottom of the picture-poem: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
As a star was placed in a window of his home for each son who entered the great war for freedom, which involved more nations than any other war in history, it was of inestimable value for fathers and mothers to remember that their sons were not making the first sacrifice in the warfare with evil. Nearly two thousand years ago Christ Jesus served the world in this capacity. He fought the greatest warfare ever waged against the combined forces of evil, gaining a complete victory over every material condition which threatened to destroy harmony and life. He proved that there is really but one victory to be won by mankind, and that is the entire overcoming of all that is unlike God, good. The difficulties manifested to mortals as sin, disease, separation from loved ones, impairment, inability, and defeat are the offshoots of the one evil, thus making the problem of mankind one.
Jesus' earthly mission was to map out the way for mortals to work out their salvation. But mortals have not fully appreciated him as the Way-shower, because too often they have looked upon his works as miracles, and have not, therefore, known how to make his teachings practical. Mrs. Eddy's metaphysical interpretation of the word "miracle" in the Glossary of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" takes away the mystery which has enshrouded the works of the Master. She has written (p. 591): "Miracle. That which is divinely natural, but must be learned humanly; a phenomenon of Science." At no other time in modern history than now has it been more urgent and insistent upon mankind to learn of the divine Principle which explains the record the Master left as a soldier of God.
