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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 intimate relationship between God and His people, using beautiful imagery to describe the blessings of God's presence and the transformation that occurs when we fix our eyes on Him. She emphasizes the joy and contentment found in beholding God and experiencing His peace, leading to a deep union with Him where both God and His people find delight and rest. Through this union, our spirits find their true home and rest in undisturbed peace, becoming a dwelling place for God's divine light and love, bringing glory to Him for eternity.
Experience His Rest
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. NUMBERS 6:24-26 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. DEUTERONOMY 33:27 THOU wilt in time experience that thou dost belong not only to this life, but also art capable of enjoying and beholding God and eternal things, to thy perfect contentment and rest. Thou wilt then fix thine eyes, like a little innocent child, upon the face of God, steadfastly and joyfully; and He in return, like a faithful and loving mother, will keep His eyes upon thee, by which thou wilt be made holy through and through, and transformed into the same image from glory to glory. All thy delight, joy, and bliss will be in God, and God, in return, will have His joy and good pleasure in thee. He will rest and dwell in thee, as in His serene throne of peace; and thy spirit, that had so long gone astray, like a friendless child in a foreign land, will again sweetly repose in its true rest and home, in undisturbed peace. And thus thou wilt become a clear heaven of the ever-blessed God, in which He will dwell, and which He will fill with His divine light and love, and in which He will be glorified in time and in eternity. GERHARD TERSTEEGEN
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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.