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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.
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Mary Wilder Tileston preaches about the profound love of God as demonstrated in John 3:16, emphasizing the sacrificial nature of God's love through the gift of His Son for the salvation of the world. The sermon encourages believers to reflect God's expansive love by embracing all of His creation and loving others unconditionally, mirroring the love that God has for all His children. Believers are urged to let their hearts be filled with faith, love, mercy, and bountifulness, following the example of God's character and attributes.
God So Loved
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. JOHN 3:16 LET your love be wide as His, With the whole world around His knees; Gather into your warm heart All His creatures,--not a part; So your love shall be like His. KATHARINE TYNAN HINKSON GOD hath made all that is made, and God loveth all that He hath made; and he that loveth all his fellow Christians, for God's sake, he loveth all that is. MOTHER JULIANA YOUR God is love; love Him and in Him all men, as His children in Christ. Your Lord is a fire; do not let your heart be cold, but bum with faith and love. Your Lord is light; do not walk in darkness. Your Lord is a God of mercy and bountifulness; be also a source of mercy and bountifulness to your neighbors. FATHER JOHN "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself;" and then go on thy way. The way in which God shall lead thee may be over rocks and deserts, over mountains and oceans, amid things perilous to the sight and the touch; but still go on thy way rejoicing. THOMAS C. UPHAM
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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.