The subject of “Everlasting Punishment” most surely meant a great deal to Mrs. Eddy, as the concept was such a major part in the development of her understanding of God, especially at the tender age of 12, when she took issue with her father, Mark Baker, and his Congregational church – making her stand, and not backing down. Imagine our beloved Mrs. Eddy being so courageous to stand by her convictions on this controversial subject when just a child!
From Sibyl Wilbur’s biography, “The Life of Mary Baker Eddy”:
“Her religious experience reached a grave crisis when she was twelve years of age . . . . her father’s relentless theology was alarmed at her frequent expression of confidence in God’s love. He held to a hard and bitter doctrine of predestination and believed that a horrible decree of endless punishment awaited sinners on a final judgment day. . . . Can any one suppose it an easy thing to resist a father so convicted with belief in dogma, a father, too, whom all their world honored and heeded? We may be sure it was not easy; that, indeed, to do so tortured this little child’s heart. But Mark Baker was acting according to his conscience, and the child knew and respected him. . . . The struggle, it may be seen, was no casual argument, but a deep wrestle of souls. At last the child succumbed to an illness and the family doctor was summoned. . . . ‘My mother, as she bathed my burning temples, bade me lean on God’s love, which would give me rest if I went to Him in prayer, as I was wont to do, seeking His guidance. I prayed; and a soft glow of ineffable joy came over me. The fever was gone and I rose and dressed myself in a normal condition of health. Mother saw this and was glad. The physician marveled; and the “horrible decree” of Predestination – as John Calvin rightly called his own tenet – forever lost its power over me.’ [Retrospection and Introspection, p. 22]”
This healing is referred to in Doris Grekel’s biography of Mrs. Eddy, Discovery of the Science of Man, Vol. I, pp. 7-8, as the “culmination” of Mrs. Eddy’s “religious experience,” and it was the day when a “celestial phenomenon” occurred over Boston that was described as “an exhibition. . . which was probably more extensive and magnificent than any here-to-fore recorded” (see Forum Highlights, Issue 202, Dec. 2021).
Wilbur continues: “. . . She was examined at the age of twelve by the pastor who eagerly put to her the usual ‘doleful questions,’ declaring that he must be assured that she had been truly regenerated. With the eyes of the church members upon her and her own father’s haggard face visible from his place in their family pew, she answered without a tremor: “I can only say in the words of the psalmist, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’” Her childish, but resolute figure, and the grave words so earnestly spoken, brought about a reaction in her favor and the oldest church members wept. Her pastor relented toward her and the ordeal was over. However, it was not until the age of seventeen that she united with the Congregational church” (pp. 28-31).
It’s hard to not also be welled up with tears upon re-reading this account of such a pivotal point in Mrs. Eddy’s young life. It brings to mind when Jesus, also at age 12, was found back in Jerusalem by his parents, “in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, . . . And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luke 2:46, 47). This scene is so clearly portrayed by the author, and the fact that she obviously had her “face set like a flint” is so apparent, as to cause one to stand in awe, while simultaneously being on bended knee in gratitude for our dear Leader’s courage and conviction! She replied as Jesus did when he was tempted of the devil – by quoting Scripture – always one’s best defense. I can imagine that she possibly also had this in mind as she faced her pastor’s questions: “For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed” – Isa. 50:7 (See PF Website – Instructive Testimonies from Mrs. Singleterry, CS – “Set your face like a flint”).