The history of Christianity shows that those who have understood themselves to be chosen of God for a special mission—those conscious of living and fulfilling God's purpose—have often been misunderstood and not believed. Mrs. Eddy was no exception.

When Moses was to go into Egypt and lead the children of Israel out of bondage, he despaired of making them believe that he had been sent by God. In Exodus we read, "And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." ^{Ex. 4:1;} Being obedient, Moses was able to lead his people out of Egypt, and the Red Sea parted. Even after further clear proof of divine guidance and protection, in which quail covered the ground and water flowed from the rocks, they turned back more than once to their false idols and threatened to stone Moses; they began to doubt that God was guiding him each step of the way.

The prerequisites that God requires for leadership are not always in accord with human standards. When Samuel was sent to Jesse to choose a king from among his sons to reign over Israel, all those who were felt to be qualified were called in. But, as Samuel expressed it, God had not chosen them. After further inquiry the youngest son, who was tending the sheep, was sent for. When he arrived, Samuel received God's message: "Arise, anoint him: for this is he." ^{I Sam. 16:12;} This was David, who was probably not felt by those around him to be qualified for kingship. However, the qualities needed for leadership—humility, meekness, courage, and steadfast reliance on God—were already being expressed by him, and he had already had proofs of God's guidance.

Christ Jesus, our Way-shower, the humblest but mightiest of men and the greatest benefactor of mankind, was born in a stable. There was no pomp or ceremony. To some who grew up with Jesus or knew him as a lad he must have seemed no different from the rest of his associates, and yet he was to proclaim himself the Son of God, coming in fulfillment of prophecy to show mankind a higher concept of life than they had ever known before. In one instance the people murmured, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?" ^{John 6:42;} The fact that multitudes were healed and the dead were raised did not convince some that he had a divine mission. The truths Jesus loved and taught, centuries ago, remain today to heal and bless those who are receptive. Truth, or Christ, is timeless.

In this era, Mrs. Eddy was inspired of God to bring to mankind the Science of Christianity, Christian Science. Mrs. Eddy's work is in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Some of the arguments that confronted Moses, David, Christ Jesus, and others, faced her. Why was she the one? Why not someone else? Similarly, there must have been those who wondered why Moses, David, and even the Apostle Paul had special missions. God's ways and methods are not always understood from a merely human point of view. Like Mrs. Eddy, each of these individuals was ready for his particular task. In Isaiah we read "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." ^{Isa. 55:8, 9;}

While reading an account of Jesus' healing work, Mrs. Eddy had an immediate healing of serious injuries. She then devoted the next three years to a deeper and more searching study of the Bible than ever before to see how she had been healed and to seek the spiritual law she felt must lie behind the healing. She discovered that a law, or Science, underlay Jesus' healing and that this law was available for all mankind to prove. The rest of her life was devoted to bringing this truth to the world in a form that they could understand and use, just as Jesus had demonstrated it when he healed the sick, fed the multitudes, and raised the dead.

Like many in the Bible who suffered for a righteous cause, Mrs. Eddy endured many hardships. Not only was the validity of her teachings questioned, but the fact that a woman would dare to declare to the world that God's truth had been revealed to her brought disdain from some. In spite of everything that she had to endure, she never doubted that this was God's work and that He would enable her to complete the work He had given her to do.

Among the many healed by Truth there are some who feel antagonistic to the Discoverer while enjoying the blessings of the discovery. After years of studying Christian Science, during which my family and I had experienced many healings and proofs of protection, I was not completely free from antagonism toward Mrs. Eddy. In reading articles where Mrs. Eddy was quoted, I would skip the part where she was mentioned as author. Biographies of her interested me primarily where they brought out her teachings. I did not study the textbook, Science and Health, in depth. Everything seemed easier to understand than the textbook; I felt and expressed gratitude for its teachings, but not always for the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. After all, self-justification whispered, God gave us this Science. At different times after becoming aware of this, I had prayed to be able to see Mrs. Eddy in the right light.

In reading the biography for young people called Mary Baker Eddy: The Golden Days, one incident in the book brought the illumination I had been seeking. It reads as follows: "The huge domed Extension of The Mother Church, one of the largest church structures in the United States, was completed in 1906.

"Mary Baker Eddy never visited the beautiful new church, though great must have been her desire to see it. She had found that people tended to pay too much attention to her and not enough to the truths she wished them to grasp. One day, however, when she was living in nearby Chestnut Hill, she decided that she would go after all to visit the imposing structure. She started to leave her home, but got only as far as the front door, then turned back. Returning her shawl to Laura Sargent, one of her devoted students, Mrs. Eddy said, 'That was Mary wanting to go.' Always she endeavored to keep it God's way— not Mary's." ^{Jewel Spangler Smaus, Mary Baker Eddy: The Golden Days (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1966), p. 165;}

This made a deep impression because I realized that if Mrs. Eddy had been seeking self-aggrandizement and praise, here would have been a legitimate occasion. I finally understood that only the deepest love for God enabled her to express this type of selflessness. My troubled sense of her personality was completely effaced. The divine Principle which Mrs. Eddy revealed, not her personality, is what she wanted her followers to cling to and to cherish. With this unfoldment my resistance and antagonism melted, replaced with a great sense of gratitude for her example of selfless love. Always she turned her students to God, that they might know and love Him as she did. She writes, "I again repeat, Follow your Leader, only so far as she follows Christ." ^{Message to The Mother Church for 1902, p. 4;}

She didn't consider herself a saint; she had human shortcomings that had to be overcome. Mrs. Eddy discovered the laws of God, which had always existed. She wrote the truth as God unfolded it to her.

Few recognize the impact of her message and its tremendous potential for eliminating the ills that plague mankind. The scope of her work is such that to write about the facts and events of her life, even in an article like this, might appear to some as hero-worship. Sometimes Christian Scientists are misunderstood, and thought to be worshiping or deifying her; this is, of course, totally false.

When sometimes one hears a student express gratitude to God, gratitude for Christ Jesus, and in the next breath gratitude for Mrs. Eddy, this doesn't mean he thinks of her as a god—far from it. Nor does he feel she is a second Jesus. Jesus is unique. He has his place, which cannot be usurped. Christ Jesus is known as the Way-shower; his teachings and works are fundamental to Christian Science. Mrs. Eddy deeply loved the Bible. The textbook is not "our Bible." It does, however, enable anyone to understand the Bible and love it, so that the Bible becomes a guide for everyday living. The Christian Scientist's gratitude is for the deep love Mrs. Eddy expressed in bringing this Science to the world. He understands the many hardships she was willing to endure to share the truth, so that all mankind might use and prove it as Jesus expected his followers to do. Such expressions endeavor to "give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works"—more than any words—"praise her in the gates." ^{Prov. 31:31.}