The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1921-07-15


On July 10th the thought of hun
dreds of thousands of earnest Chris.
tan people VIII turn In loving mem
DRY toward the little town of Bow.
| New Hampshire, where one hundred
years ago was born the child who L.
ter became known to the world as
Mary Baker Eddy, the founder and
'dfscoverer of the most remarkable
or all modern spiritual movements.
few years ago a writer In a great
London magazine, when commenting
on Mrs. Eddy's strength of character
mingled with extraordinary tender
ness for humanity" said her zone 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 en-
during place than Mary Baker Eddy.
Born of sturdy Scotch English an
cestry, her forbears were among those
who carved the mighty American ma
ton cut of the wilderness. Appar-
emily Of that high type of character
which with deliberation chooses the
spiritual things of life, Mrs Eddy
blazed pathway of light along which
have Travelled 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 I
Of the most distinguished families of
England and Scotland. A direct an
cestor was daughter of a king of
Scotland, and so her line is connected
with the present royal house of Great
Britain, and thus according TO some
straight back TO David,
king of Israel
1t was on February 4, 1866, at /,
Swampscott, near Lynn, Mass. tat
Mrs. Eddy experienced a re1larkabIel
spiritual healing from the r<acts of q
all which had been pr~,nounced fatal
This experience, With further Scrip.
ural study. Ie' 70 her discovery that.
III C"uS's' On is mind and all effects
ne,lS phenomena, and that there is
4efinite spiritual law which, 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 book, Science and Health" in
1873. In June of the same year she
opened regular services at her home
in Lynn, and gave to the little group
who there worshipped with her, the
name Christian Scientists These
students commenced at once TO prac-
tice Christian Science healing, and
from that day to this the healing Of
the sick and the regenerating of the
sinful 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 10, 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 1888 the publication
of the first of the influential period
icals which have helped so tremcn-
dously to spread the teachings Of
Christian Science. Ten years after
founding her church in Boston, Mrs |
Eddy returned TO her native state of |
New Hampshire and established her |
home at Concord almost within sight |
of her childhood home at Bow.
Then followed a period of almost |
twenty years of retirepeet at her
beautiful estate, pheasant View" |
There her time and thought we're Civ
en- 10 further spiritual research and
plans for the further extension OF the
great religious Movement she had es-
tablished and in which she held the
honored title of Pastor Emeritus.
Perhaps her most important accom-
pliShment during this period was the
development of a code Of rules TO
govern the members of her church
and to provide for its orderly and 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 jealousy guard
ed by Christian Scientists because
they consider that il embodies the es-
sential requirements for guiding them
individually and collectively and In