A WOMAN CAME UP TO THE FRONT of the church in Lima, Peru, where a meeting of Christian Scientists had just concluded. "Who is Mary Baker Eddy?" she asked. Many in the audience that evening had told how they and their families had been healed by reading Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. This woman and her husband were eager to meet the author.
After learning that Mary Baker Eddy was a 19th-century American, the couple settled (happily) for buying the book. Reading her writings is actually the best way to get know Mary Baker Eddy. And those who study them seriously often find that the answer to the question of who she was continues to unfold through the demands of spiritual practice and regeneration.
Some people in Mrs. Eddy's day may have known her primarily as the person who discovered how Christ Jesus healed. She herself healed many serious cases of disease and injury through prayer alone, and word spread. Over many years, she taught hundreds of students, who in turn taught others. Healings multiplied. One woman whose young son was given up by doctors after he swallowed carbolic acid saw him quickly healed through Christian Science treatment. She wrote, ". . . to me it meant that Christian Science had come to restore to us all that our Master had promised, and no less. Within a few days I had calls to help others, and in every case healing was realized" (Reminiscences of Annie M.Knott, p. 4, The Mary Baker Eddy Library).
To heal in Jesus' way is a claim no one should make without complete humility. The power that wipes out sickness and sin has nothing to do with personal ability. Even the Master healer said, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God" (Mark 10:18). The goodness, greatness, omnipresence, omnipotence, even the allness of God, is the truth that destroys sickness and sin.
The Science of Christ-healing that Mary Baker Eddy discovered isn't an academic technique, an emotional fervor, or the power of mind over matter. It's the consciousness of God with us. At times childlike faith and love attain it spontaneously and healing follows. A consistent healing practice requires lifelong commitment to watch, pray, and strive for the Mind and character of Christ.
At the end of her autobiography, Mrs. Eddy mentioned two aspects of that character: "I am persuaded that only by the modesty and distinguishing affection illustrated in Jesus' career, can Christian Scientists aid the establishment of Christ's kingdom on the earth" (Retrospection and Introspection, p.94).
People who read Mrs. Eddy's writings find these two qualities emphasized throughout. Her contemporary Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, said, "Love permeates all the teachings of this great woman,—so great, I believe, that at this perspective we can scarcely realize how great, —and looking into her life history we see nothing but self-sacrifice and selflessness" (Journal, February 1908, p. 697).
Modesty shouldn't prevent telling what must be known to help others. Mary Baker Eddy is the follower of Christ who exposed and disproved a mind-set that has perpetuated suffering through the ages. Through her work, the insistence that the body can't be healed by spiritual means as Jesus did was proved wrong. Her discovery that healing comes through a realization of present spiritual perfection is the Comforter Jesus promised.
A Christian Scientist starting the public practice of healing captured its spirit well in a recent letter: "I so love this work of listening to God and seeing His masterful hand at work. I've been particularly rejoicing today about how much love I feel for those who call [for help]. Truly that must be God's love for us making itself felt and known."
Perhaps continuing to develop modesty and affection in ourselves is key to answering the question, Who is Mary Baker Eddy? This exceptional, courageous woman needed these qualities in Christly measure to introduce the Science of Spirit that ends suffering in the only permanent way—a Science that materialism resists at every step. Those willing to follow her in this path are helping restore to the world no less than Christ's kingdom on earth.
