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Show THE CENTENARY OF MARY BAKER EDDY - 4&';4 A - M f VtV "' Ax , 5- ' v Birthplace and child- y' V " hood home of Mary ' ' Baker Eddy, Bow, s . 1 near Concord, New -rJ)J Granite Pyramid Me-. Me-. e&i'Jt' r-iorial marking birth. -W'4 'is- j. -f?3 P'c of Mary Baker CT-T i'r , 1 Eddy .t Bow. On July 10th Hie thought of hundreds hun-dreds of thousands of earnest Christian Chris-tian people will turn In loving memory mem-ory toward the little town of Bow, New Hampshire, where one hundred years ago was born the child who later la-ter became known to the world as Mary Baker Eddy, the founder and discoverer of the most remarkable of all modern spiritual movements. A few years ago a writer In a great London magazine, when commenting Mrs. Eddy's "strength of character mingled with extraordinary tenderness tender-ness for humanity,'' said her "one paramount par-amount impulsion has ever been the good of mankind." While only the sober estimate of posterity can rightly estimate the work of , the human figures that pass across the world stage, the world Is now , Inclined to accept the view of some of Its more thoughtful leaders that among the great and good women of history, none will have a more enduring en-during .place than . Mary Baker Eddy. Born of sturdy Scotch-English ancestry, an-cestry, her forbears were among those who carved the mighty American nation na-tion out of the wilderness. Apparently Appar-ently of that high type of character which with deliberation chooses the spiritual things of life, Mrs. Eddy blazed a pathway "of light along which have traveled with joy and gratitude millions of human beings'. At an age when the average . person counts his best, work finished, Mrs. Eddy, began her greatest effort, and unlike, other spiritual leaders of history, she lived to see her teachings established as a recognized Influence for good In the world. - " Mrs. Eddy's ancestry includes some (f the most distinguished families of ICugland and Scotland. A direct ancestor an-cestor was a da tighter of a king of Scotland, and so her. line Is connected with the present royal house of Great Britain, and thus according to some authorities, straight back to David, king of Israel. it was on February 4, 1806, at Swainpscott, near Lynn, Mass., that Mrs. Eddy experienced a remarkable spiritual healing from the effects of a tall which had beea pronounced fatal. This experience, with further Scriptural Scrip-tural study,- led to her discovery that all causation is mind and all effects menial phenomena, and that there 13 a definite spiritual law which, understood, under-stood, governs all human affairs. She spent the next nine years In working out, proving, and teaching the truth of her discovery, and then published her hook, "Science and Health," In 1875. In June of the same year she opened regulur services at her home in Lynn, nnd gave to the little group who there worshipped with her, the uame "Christian Scientists." These students commenced at once to practice prac-tice Christian Science healing, and from that day to this the healing of the sick and the regenerating of the 6lnful have constituted the practical ministry of Christian Science. In June, 1878, Mrs. Eddy began her Christian Science work In Boston, and on Patriots' day, April 19, 1879, She formally organized the first Christian Science church which she declared was "designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and Its lost element of healing." There followed the establishment of a college for the teaching of the new Science, and in 1SS3 the publication of the first of the influential periodicals period-icals which have helped so tremendously tremen-dously td spread the teachings of Christian Science. Ten years after founding her church Id Boston, Mrs. Eddy returned to her native state of New Hampshire and established her home at Concord, almost within siht of her childhood home at Bow. Then followed a period of almos: twenty years of retirement at bei beautiful estate, "Pleasant View." There her time nnd thought were given giv-en to further spiritual research und plans for the further extension of the i great religious Movement she bad es- tabllsbed and lu which she held the honored title of Pastor Emeritus I Perhaps her most Important nccoiu-i nccoiu-i pllshmeut during this period was the 1 development f a coda ot rules to govern the members of her church and to provide for Its orderly and continuous con-tinuous extension. These rules or "by-laws," together with certain other Important matter, are contained In the church "Manual." The provisions of this "Manual" are jealously guarded guard-ed by Christian Scientists because they consider that It embodies the essential es-sential requirements for guiding them Individually and collectively and insuring in-suring the ultimate understanding and acceptance of Christian Science by the world at large. In fact, some Christian Scientists believe that this manual is designed to Identify and protect the progressive minority in euch successive stage of the development develop-ment of the church body and to stimulate stim-ulate the more rapid unfoldment of each advancing footstep in the line of spiritual evolution. Some also believe be-lieve that a system that will Insure the successful accomplishment of these results when honestly and intel-ligeutly intel-ligeutly applied to a collective body or community, means far more than at first appears on the, surface; in fact, that Mrs. Eddy has evolved a scientific system which will ultimately affect all human government and organization or-ganization and insure the world's progress on a definite and practical basis by impelling the more rapid dawn of each succeeding stage of progressive pro-gressive unfoldment and the elimination elimina-tion of the long and bitter struggles which have always obstructed humanity's human-ity's advancing footsteps. In the 42 year- 'ice her first church was organized, ... . s. Eddy's teachings have spread throughout the world, through approximately two thousand distinct organizations, and have become be-come a powerful influence in the lives of millions of people. The Christian Science publications, Including the Christian Science Monitor, a daily newspaper of universally recognized excellence, carry their messages throughout the world. The earthly pilgrimage of die venerable ven-erable Founder of this great religious movement came to a close on December Decem-ber 3, 1910, and on that occasion appeared ap-peared In the press of the world a remarkable re-markable tribute to the work of this great religious figure. Agreement or disagreement with her teachings had nothing to do apparently with the sincere sin-cere nnnreetntion pvnressed on pverv hand that this gentle Amerlcau woman wom-an had lifted up a standard of conduct and character that had worked vastly in the Improvement of the moral standards stan-dards of the world. As an indication of the estimate In which she was held by- those who knew her best, the city council of her home city. Concord. N. H., on this occasion passed a formal resolution declaring "that by the death of the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy the world has suffered an Irreparable loss and the citizens of Concord the loss of an honored and a devoted friend of our city whose motto was 'to injure no man, but to bless nil mankind.'" That the citizenship of Mary Baker Eddy was of a high order may perhaps per-haps be gleaned from a sentence published pub-lished In a Boston paper many years ago when Mrs. Eddy was asked for her political beliefs: "1 have none In reality, other than to help support a righteous government, to love God supremely, su-premely, and my neighbor as myself." When one has climbed the green-clad green-clad hills of Bow rising from the beautiful beau-tiful waters of the Merrimack, he reaches the roillirg uplands wh?re stood the Baker homestead. Marking the birthplace today, like a silent. Immovable Im-movable sentinel, stands a great granite gran-ite pyramid memorial hewn from 'he largest block of granite ever quarried In New Hampshire. It seems to appropriately ap-propriately symbolize the life work of Mary Baker Eddy which Christian Scientists believe to have been the discovery dis-covery that principle is God and that Christianity and Science are In reality Identical. On one of the bronze tablets tab-lets on this memorial appear these words, quoted from Mrs. Eddy's writings: writ-ings: "This truth Is the rock which the builders rejected, but 'the same Is become be-come the head of the corner.' This is the chief corner stone, the basis and support of creation, the Interpreter Interpre-ter of one God, tk Infinity and unit; t good." |
