- Home
- Speakers
- Mary Wilder Tileston
- Acceptance Of God's Dispensations
Mary Wilder Tileston
Mary Wilder Tileston was born on August 20, 1843, in Salem, Massachusetts, to Caleb Foote, owner and editor of the Salem Gazette, and Mary Wilder White Foote. Raised in a family with strong intellectual and religious ties—her brother Henry Wilder Foote became a Harvard-educated minister, and her brother Arthur Foote a noted composer—she attended private schools in Salem. On September 25, 1865, she married John Boies Tileston, a publisher’s son, and they had seven children: Mary, Margaret, Roger, Amelia, Wilder, Edith, and Eleanor. The family lived in Concord, Massachusetts, on a 200-acre farm from around 1874 to 1882, then moved to Salem and later Brookline, Massachusetts, where she died on July 3, 1934. Tileston’s career was centered on her literary contributions rather than preaching. Her most notable work, Daily Strength for Daily Needs, a collection of prose, verse, and scripture for daily reading, sold over 250,000 copies by 1910 and was highly regarded. She compiled other devotionals, including Prayers Ancient and Modern (1897) and children’s works like The Child’s Harvest of Verse (1910), reflecting her love for spiritual literature. While not a preacher by occupation, her anthologies served a preaching-like function, offering spiritual guidance to readers. Her legacy lies in these writings, which continue to inspire, rather than in a formal ministerial role.
Download
Topic
Sermon Summary
Mary Wilder Tileston preaches about the importance of rejoicing in Christ always, even in the midst of trials and challenges, finding joy and peace in His presence. She emphasizes the need to accept the circumstances appointed by God, trusting in His love and wisdom, and finding strength in patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. Tileston highlights that mental discomfort arises when our minds are not aligned with God's will, and encourages accepting all events with the knowledge that God is love, even when they seem contradictory to our understanding.
Scriptures
Acceptance of God's Dispensations
Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. --COLOSSIANS 1:11 REJOICE in Christ always! When earth looks heavenly bright, When joy makes glad the livelong day, And peace shuts in the night. Rejoice, when care and woe The fainting soul oppress, When tears at wakeful midnight flow, And morn brings heaviness. --JOHN MOULTRIE A GREAT point is gained when we have learned not to struggle against the circumstances God has appointed for us. --H. L. SIDNEY LEAR All mental discomfort comes from our minds being in divergence from God's; when the two are agreed no warfare occurs, for they work together, and man's mind accepts God's rule, but reason tells us that disagreement must bring conflicts. He will have His way, and would have us accept all events with the knowledge that He is love, whatever and however contradictory those events may be to our comprehension of Him. --CHARLES GEORGE GORDON Something is wrong, when the Christian cannot rejoice in all the dear dispensations of his Father's providence. --ISABELLA CAMPBELL, 1825
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download
Mary Wilder Tileston was born on August 20, 1843, in Salem, Massachusetts, to Caleb Foote, owner and editor of the Salem Gazette, and Mary Wilder White Foote. Raised in a family with strong intellectual and religious ties—her brother Henry Wilder Foote became a Harvard-educated minister, and her brother Arthur Foote a noted composer—she attended private schools in Salem. On September 25, 1865, she married John Boies Tileston, a publisher’s son, and they had seven children: Mary, Margaret, Roger, Amelia, Wilder, Edith, and Eleanor. The family lived in Concord, Massachusetts, on a 200-acre farm from around 1874 to 1882, then moved to Salem and later Brookline, Massachusetts, where she died on July 3, 1934. Tileston’s career was centered on her literary contributions rather than preaching. Her most notable work, Daily Strength for Daily Needs, a collection of prose, verse, and scripture for daily reading, sold over 250,000 copies by 1910 and was highly regarded. She compiled other devotionals, including Prayers Ancient and Modern (1897) and children’s works like The Child’s Harvest of Verse (1910), reflecting her love for spiritual literature. While not a preacher by occupation, her anthologies served a preaching-like function, offering spiritual guidance to readers. Her legacy lies in these writings, which continue to inspire, rather than in a formal ministerial role.