# The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Wilbur)

THE LIFE
OF
MARY BAKER EDDY
BY
SIBYL WILBUR
Fourth Edition
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING SOCIETY
Falmouth & St. Paul Streets
Boston, Mass., U. S. A.
IT is commonly said that, if he would be heard, none should write in advance of his times. That I do not believe. Only, it does not matter how few listen. I believe that we are close upon a great and deep spiritual change. I believe a new redemption is even now conceived of the Divine Spirit in the human heart, that is itself as a woman, broken in dreams and yet sustained in faith, patient, long-suffering, looking towards home. I believe that though the Reign of Peace may be yet a long way off, it is drawing near: and that Who shall save us anew shall come divinely as a Woman, to save as Christ saved, but not as He did, to bring with Her a sword.
* William Sharp (Fiona MacLeod) in The Isle of Dreams
CONTENTS :
| PAGE |||
| Introduction | Introduction | xi |
| CHAPTER ||
| I | Ancestry and Genealogy | 1 |
| II | Childhood Days | 9 |
| III | Education and Development | 21 |
| IV | Change and Bereavement | 38 |
| V | Formative Processes | 49 |
| VI | Illumination and Backward Turning | 67 |
| VII | The Apotheosis of a Hypnotist | 82 |
| VIII | The Mystery of the Quimby Manuscripts | 97 |
| IX | Mesmerism Dominant | 106 |
| X | The Discovery of the Principle of Christian Science | 117 |
| XI | The Test of Experience | 143 |
| XII | Germination and Unfoldment | 166 |
| XIII | Mesmerism Dethroned | 193 |
| XIV | The First Edition of Science and Health | 208 |
| XV | A Conflict of Personalities | 220 ​ |
| XVI | A Strange Conspiracy | 247 |
| XVII | Organization of Church and College | 259 |
| XVIII | Foundation Work in Boston | 282 |
| XIX | The Wide Horizon | 298 |
| XX | Withdrawal from the World | 323 |
| XXI | The Leader in Retirement | 344 |
| XXII | Life at Chestnut Hill | 371 |
| XXIII | Lift up Thy Gates | 395 |
| Index | Index | 411 |
MRS. EDDY'S HISTORY
I HAVE not had sufficient interest in the matter to read or to note from others' reading what the enemies of Christian Science are said to be circulating regarding my history, but my friends have read Sibyl Wilbur's book, “Life of Mary Baker Eddy,” and request the privilege of buying, circulating, and recommending it to the public. I briefly declare that nothing has occurred in my life's experience which, if correctly narrated and understood, could injure me; and not a little is already reported of the good accomplished therein, the self-sacrifice, etc., that has distinguished all my working years.
I thank Miss Wilbur and the Concord Publishing Company for their unselfed labors in placing this book before the public, and hereby say that they have my permission to publish and circulate this work.
Mary Baker Eddy.
The above statement by Mrs. Eddy was published in the Christian Science Sentinel of March 12, 1910.
ILLUSTRATIONS :
| Mary Baker Eddy Frontispiece ||
| From a photograph. |
| FACING PAGE ||
| Mrs. Eddy's Birthplace in Bow, New Hampshire | 10 |
| As it looked when she was a child. From a chalk drawing by Rufus Baker, steel engraved. |
| Engraving copyrighted by Rufus Baker ||
| The Congregational Church at Tilton, New Hampshire | 32 |
| Mrs. Eddy was a member of this church for many years and taught a class in the Sunday-school. |
| Home of Mark Baker in Tilton, New Hampshire | 44 |
| Where Mrs. Eddy lived as a young widow with her father after her mother's death. Erected in 1848, it has been removed from its original environment. |
| Home of Abigail Tilton, Tilton, New Hampshire | 56 |
| Where Mrs. Eddy lived with her sister before her second marriage. Removed from its original environment. |
| Cottage at North Groton, New Hampshire | 60 |
| The home in the White Mountains to which Dr. Patterson took Mrs. Eddy in 1836. |
| The Squire Bagley Homestead, Amesbury, Massachusetts | 170 |
| Where Mrs. Eddy met John Greenleaf Whittier in 1870. |
| The “Little House in Broad Street,” Lynn, Massachusetts | 212 |
| Where Mrs. Eddy completed the text of the First Edition of Science and Health. |
| The Massachusetts Metaphysical College | 288 |
| One of a series of gray stone residences in Columbus Avenue, Boston, occupied by Mrs. Eddy in 1882. ​ |
| Pleasant View, Concord, New Hampshire | 338 |
| Where Mrs. Eddy resided from 1892 until 1908, and where, from its rear balcony, she addressed a concourse of Christian Scientists in 1901. |
| The Mother Church in Boston | 354 |
| With the Temple Extension. |
| Mrs. Eddy's home, Chestnut Hill, Brookline, Massachusetts | 368 |
THE LIFE
OF
MARY BAKER EDDY
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1946, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 77 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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