[Editorial in the Detroit (Mich.) Free Press.]

The suit in equity brought by George W. Glover, son of Mrs. Eddy, and others as "next friends" against Calvin A. Frye and other prominent Christian Science leaders has been dropped. The suit was a sensational one from the beginning, and the end is also sensational. General Streeter, the able lawyer who represented Mrs. Eddy, declared that the suit was "primarily an assault by a great newspaper on a great religion," and that the "next friends" are dropping the suit so that they may contest Mrs. Eddy's will after her death, as it is the intention of the Founder of Christian Science to leave the bulk of her property to the church. Whether this is a true explanation of the dropping of the suit is not for us to say. But it appears evident that the charge that Mrs. Eddy is insane is one that cannot be substantiated. The stenographic report of the interview of the masters with Mrs. Eddy proved to the satisfaction of the reading public that the venerable woman was in full possession of her mental faculties, and that the reports of her mental breakdown, as published in two New York newspapers, were destitute of foundation....

Very few persons live to be as old, and the fact that her mental faculties are still sound is proof enough, one would think, that she is not held a prisoner by the men and women of her faith whom she has gathered around her.

[Editorial in the Quincy (Ill.) Optic.]

So Mrs. Eddy's court case has ended. As to the merits of this suit, the general public has no definite opinion. It was a question of property rights, in which the public could only have that interest which desires to see justice done to all concerned. But there was more than the property question involved indirectly in these proceedings. It is safe to believe that there would have been no court case, had it not been for inspiration based on bitter opposition to the religious doctrine of which this remarkable woman is the Leader and Founder. It is a curious fact, one worthy of study by psychologists, that the Founder or Leader of such a peculiarly pacific faith as that of Mrs. Eddy should be subjected to such bitter, unrelenting hostility. Nor does the fact that the Leader is a refined and cultured woman of advanced age, make the slightest difference to her persecutors. This is surely not as it should be. It is certainly not a right thing in this country, in which religious freedom is one of our fundamental principles. In this republic, every instance in which a lawful religious faith is persecuted, is a distinct violation of the spirit of our institutions. This irrespective of the truth or error of the faith. As heretofore stated in these columns, we are not of Mrs. Eddy's faith. But we are distinctly a believer in fair play, in accordance with American institutions, and Mrs. Eddy has not been fairly treated. There is no question about that.

[Editorial in the Indianapolis (Ind.) Star.]

That was a wise judge who reminded the lawyers in the Eddy hearing that the tenets of religious belief are not proper objects of judicial inquiry. It would be quite as proper to subject the rhapsodies of the poet to the laws of the naturalist.

It is a curious and suggestive fact that the most devoted and able undertakings to reconcile science and religion or to interpret one in terms of the other have lamentably failed of their mark. One reason probably is that those minds are very rare in which keen interest is felt equally for mathematical and chemical laws and processes and for those emotions and experiences that fill up the realm of religious faith. Another reason doubtless is that the terminology and atmosphere of faith and of science have so little in common.

But the great fact is that the two words are distinct; and this is true even of scientists who are devout believers. With one side of their minds they explore the uniform processes of nature, with the other side they pray and praise. In most men, however, the two habits are mutually exclusive. The dominant passion of the life crowds out its less favored impulses. The classic illustration on this head is the self-confessed atrophy of Charles Darwin's spiritual nature. You cannot measure the poet's mind with that pitiful plummet of logic. You cannot weigh the prophet's utterances in the scales of historic accuracy.

Nowhere is this demarcation between science and faith more fully apprehended than in the Scriptures themselves. It was Jesus who gave thanks that the my eries of faith had been denied to the wise and prudent and revealed unto babes. It was St. Paul who reflected that not many mighty or noble are called, but rather the weak and foolish ones, and who fully realized that the gospel was to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness.

Nothing in all of our fabric of constitutional government becomes us more than the written and unwritten code that the civil power shall stay its hands at the sanctuary of religious faith. Liberty itself has no prouder title to perpetuity among the brave and free than the wall that has been raised up about the individual conscience and the secret convictions of the human soul. Against that blessed barrier the armies of princes and the emissaries of ecclesiastical inquisitions may rage in vain.

[Editorial in The Republican, Springfield, Mass.]

Those who went to the trouble of reading the report of the interview between Mrs. Eddy and the masters last week must have felt that the venerable Founder of the Christian Science religion had emerged from that contest with her colors flying. Her "competency" to control and dispose of her property did not appear to have been successfully challenged. Few women of her age could have endured the ordeal so well and made so clever an exhibition of her mental faculties under such trying circumstances....

Mr. Chandler's announcement that the end to this picturesque suit at law had come might not have been anticipated, yet now that the end has come with the retirement of the "next friends," the outcome does not seem so very surprising. The text of Mr. Chandler's formal statement to the masters is phrased most interestingly and, after noting the various points developed at the hearing, it is perhaps reasonable to conclude that the "next friends" will not be heard from again until the time comes for Mrs. Eddy's will to be probated. The world with rather confidently expect them to line up on that occasion, unless a complete and satisfactory settlement should be made in the mean time. The "next friends" are doubtless well advised by counsel. Mrs. Eddy may yet outlive them all, but it is better to wait. It is to be doubted that public sympathy is enlisted for a cause such as theirs, and it is certain that the great age of the defendant renders it peculiarly difficult to attack her "competency" in so public and slashing a style without raising up for the venerable woman and her religion more supporters than possibly could be alienated from her.

So far as Christian Science is affected by the case, it has received one more gratuitous advertisement of amplitudinous proportions, and it has been hurt as little as Mrs. Eddy herself. If the desire was to attack that faith under cover of the legal proceedings to test Mrs. Eddy's mental condition, and thus open up in the courts a line of assault upon its history and its tenets, the scheme failed the moment that the masters wisely and properly refused to open up issues outside the simple property question involved. The one question was entirely separate from the others, and these others call for the judgment of something besides the the purely legal mind.

[Editorial in the New Haven (Conn.) Register]

A suit at law by the heirs. or "next friends," of Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, head of the Christian Science Church, has developed to a point where its decision may have an important bearing on the future of the belief which she has originated, or at least developed. What New Hampshire law terms a "board of masters," substantially a commission to decide whether she is sane and able intelligently to conduct her affairs, or whether she is insane and incompetent to handle and dispose of her vast property, is now in session at Concord, examining Mrs. Eddy and such other witnesses as may be required to answer the question.

But more than the decision who is to control Mrs. Eddy's estate may depend on the outcome. Senator Chandler, chief counsel for the plaintiffs, announces his intention to prove that Mrs. Eddy is suffering from certain "systematized delusions," of which the chief is that of the "non-existence and non-reality of the physical universe," upon which fundamental and permeating delusions she has built the whole system of belief which she teaches through her books. To this delusion in particular he ascribes the peculiar teaching of Mrs. Eddy, the most implicitly believed and faithfully followed of all her tenets, that disease is only a wrong mental condition, and can be cured solely by the application of mental processes.

Christian Science has no lack of open foes and of unbelievers ready to seize on any seeming weakness to attack it. If the outcome of the present investigation at Concord shall be the decision that this fundamental delusion of Mrs. Eddy exists, they will accept that decision as the overthrow of the whole Christian Science faith. The great majority of the believers in Christian Science, as must be admitted even by those who do not agree with them, are intelligent, earnest, and faithful people. Theirs is a belief which appeals to the reason, unreasonable as some of its teachings may seem. Believers such as this are not to be overthrown and turned to retreat by the decision of any court. Even after proving Mrs. Eddy insane, there must be something of truth in her teachings, to hold so securely these many thousands of thinking persons, in this and other countries, who have followed them for years.... Christian Science is not on trial, it is the duty of nobody to adjudge it true or false. This country rests, as one of its foundation stones, on the principle of freedom of religious belief. Those who believe in Christian Science have a right to that freedom. Again concerning them it is well to repeat those wise words, said of old of a religious belief which, though then despised and persecuted vastly more than Christian Science ever could be by its worst enemies, has spread its reign over all the earth: "Let them alone; for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it."

[Editorial in the Denver (Col.) Republican.]

A court commission is undertaking to determine in its limited way the mental and physical condition of the Founder of Christian Science. This is being done not in the interest of religion or science, but at the behest of a syndicate eager to lay hands on the large fortune which Mrs. Eddy is reputed to have made from her teachings. Her "next of kin," her "blood relations," are the parties named in the legal documents and behind them are lawyers and speculators. It was alleged in the original application for the appointment of a guardian for Mrs. Eddy that she was unable to manage her affairs, and was being held in duress. Since then there have been modifications. It is charged now that she is suffering from religious delusions. The modern alienist calls it "demifou"—half insane. Let not the supporters of the aged head of the new religion be alarmed....

The gravamen is that Mrs. Eddy teaches that "all is mind." Well, that is not new. It is very old. This teaching from the cradle of civilization is being restored. In actual numbers many more believe in the doctrine that mind is all in all and that matter is but the phenomenon of mind, than that matter creates mind. As a religious belief the doctrine expressed by Mrs. Eddy for the understanding of the Western mind has vastly more adherents than has the religion to which the Eddy commission is supposed to give adherence. Since Mrs. Eddy advanced the old-new doctrine many materialists and scientists have come to a better understanding of what is meant in the Eddy metaphysics. The scoffer is not heard so often. Before the commission Mrs. Eddy has demonstrated that despite her advanced years she is alert to a degree. There is evidence in her own case that mind is triumphing over matter. Insane? When Paul was before the Romans on a like accusation he answered, "I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness." The words of the Christian Science Founder to the members of the Concord commission were eminently sober and Christian-like. As for the "next of kin" there is historic precedent in plenty for the position taken by Mrs. Eddy. The world's advance work has not been done by those whose views were bounded by blood relationship.

[Editorial in the Glens Falls (N. Y.) Daily Times.]

The legal proceeding which has for its object the declaration that an individual is incompetent to manage his affairs and the appointment of a committee to act in his stead, take possession of his property and have control of his personal affairs of all kinds, is of such a nature that it should be invoked only when absolutely necessary in the interest of the person alleged incompetent and the public. It is obvious that in this regard mistakes would be of far-reaching consequence and involve great loss and suffering. In the nature of things the person who starts such a proceeding should show himself free from ulterior motives and it should be established that it is for the good of the person alleged to be incompetent that the proceeding is instituted.

As regards the proceeding against Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, now being prosecuted by three so-called "next friends," it is not necessary that the tenets of Christian Science need to be discussed, for if it be true that belief in Christian Science is tantamount to insanity then we are forced to the conclusion that our asylums will not be large enough to take care of the large number of "Scientists," and that we will be required to build new asylums just in the proportion that new Christian Science churches are being erected in the principal cities and towns of the country. This proposition is too absurd to be discussed.

The fair-minded citizen will ask for Mrs. Eddy "the square deal," nothing more. Threshing out the belief of the Christian Science cult in New Hampshire courts in an effort to prove that the "discoverer" of "Science" is not of sound mind, will not do. This savors too much of New England persecution and two centuries ago when witches were burned at the stake and rocks rolled onto their ashes lest they should break from their graves and spread pestilence abroad.

Up to the present time it does not appear that the "next friends" prosecution is in the interest of any one but the heirs-at-law who have little claim upon the bounty of the aged woman and the lawyers who, if they are successful, we are persuaded, will be principal beneficiaries. Certain it is that Mrs. Eddy's wealth is due to the alleged hallucinations on account of which the "next friends" ask that her property be placed beyond her control. It appears, then, that these "next friends" are not averse to handling the result of the woman's hallucination while to all intents and purposes holding the woman herself a prisoner.

The "next friends" do not appear in a favorable light.

[Editorial in the Savannah (Ga.) News.]

There are so many followers of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy and so many who, though not followers, are interested in practically everything that pertains to her in her character of a teacher of a new religion or healing science, that the proceedings of the suit that has been instituted against her by her son, for the safeguarding of her property, are regarded with deep interest in all parts of the country. As is well known, a commission has been appointed to investigate her mental condition—to find out whether or not she is capable of managing her property. The commission, with the opposing attorneys have visited her at her home and asked many questions. Her answers did not disclose mental weakness so far as her material affairs were concerned. She talked as clearly about her bonds and other property as anybody possibly could. It seems from the account she managed her business affairs until recently when she turned them over to trustees, and she declared that the idea of a trusteeship originated with her. There was no suggestion from outside parties.

She may have delusions respecting the science which she teaches and other subjects. Assuming she has such delusions, and it has not yet been shown that she has, it is difficult to see what they have to do with her ability to manager her business affairs, unless it can be conclusively shown that they weaken her mind.

Her examination by the commission was full of interest. It indicated that she is a very remarkable woman for her age—she is close to ninety.... Unless the attorneys opposed to her make a better showing when the commission visits her this week it is impossible to see now how it can be held that she is not fit, mentally, to handle her own business affairs. It is a safe prediction that the investigation will show that she is able to manage them.

[Editorial in The American, Baltimore, Md.]

By the withdrawal of the suit in equity instituted by the "next friends" of Mrs. Eddy to secure responsible charge of her person and her interests, the celebrated case has been brought to a conclusion that will give satisfaction to the many followers of the Founder of the Christian Science faith. There is cause for gratification to all persons who have followed the case dispassionately, and who without regard to their opinions as to the merits of the claims of Mrs. Eddy, saw in the suit an attempt of relative out of sympathy with the Christian Science leader to financially profit by her successful career.

Although the decision of the masters not to admit in evidence the mass of testimony secured to establish the mental responsibility of Mrs. Eddy precluded expert testimony, the fact is known that the stories of her mental and physical decrepitude belie the facts. The celebrated authority upon mental diseases, Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton, has stated that with the exception of a little deafness she is in a normal state of health for a woman of her years and shows no evidence of mental impairment.

The establishment of these facts removes once and for all the doubts created in the mind of the public as to Mrs. Eddy's condition.... The frustration of the plan to deprive her of the legitimate profits of her long activities upon grounds too specious to bear court examination is a triumph of justice and personal liberty.

[Editorial in the Toledo (O.) Press.]

That commssion appointed by the court in the suit brought by Mary Baker G. Eddy's would-be guardians, to inquire into her mental condition, have had an interview with her and, so far as reprot goes, found her in pretty good mental condition.

Senator Chandler, attoney for the unbelievers, now takes the position that Mrs. Eddy's religion, rather than her incapability to transact business, evidences her mental defects.

It is passing strange that the only people interested in Mrs. Eddy's future material welfare are persons who disbelieve her creed. One is constrained to wonder if the same interest would be taken in Mrs. Eddy's affairs by these "next friends" were she a poor widow, strugling to raise a half dozen children, instead of a reputedly rich woman.

This suit against Mrs. Eddy is attracting very wide attention. How far the courts will go in what is generally regarded as a religious persecution is a question that is sure to attract interest, aside from its ludicrous phases.

[Editorial in the Grand Rapids (Mich.) News.]

The examination of Mrs. Eddy at her home in Concord as to the condition of her mental faculties caused the impression that she is a courteous and well-informed woman and remarkably well posted as to the value of her properties. This fact is in itself strongly in favor of her sanity and of her responsibility....

Mrs. Eddy's analysis or defense or commendation of Christian Science will please the adherents of that system, or so-called system, and will displease its opponents. The pleasure of the one class and the displeasure of the other are inevitable, but, like the flowers which bloom in the spring, they have nothing to do with the case of Mrs. Eddy's mental responsibility or irresponsibility, which is alone involved. The legal commission, appointed to report upon that, comprises able and impartial men. The lawyers employed to attack Mrs. Eddy's responsibility and those employed to vindicate it are able and learned men. Both the commissioners and the lawyers, and especially the judge to whom the report will be made, will realize the irrelevancy of the truth or of the error of Christian Science, so called, to the issue which they are considering.

[Editorial in the Galesburg (Ill.) Mail.]

To those who read the answers made by Mrs. Eddy to the questions propounded to her during the quiz conducted on Wednesday as a part of the investigation into her mental condition, cannot but be impressed with the belief that the Founder of Christian Science is yet far from being of incompetent mind. Mrs. Eddy's statements were given promply and without alteration. indicating as strong and active a mentality as could be expected of a woman of her age.

[Editorial in the Quincy (Ill.) Herald.]

Whatever the motive behind the proceedings to establish the mental irresponsibility of Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, it will occur to many people, regardless of their religious or medical leanings, as something contrary to the American idea of fair play, to say nothing of the American idea of gallantry, that a woman of her age should be subjected to the ordeal insisted upon by the legal representatives of the interests opposed to her.

But since this ordeal was insisted upon and since it is to be continued, it must be a source of satisfaction to find that an American woman who has long since passed the Scriptural limit proves herself upon examination to be the equal, if not the superior, of these legal representatives in intellectual capacity and strength. That Mrs. Eddy is, in the highest sense, a remarkable woman was never more clearly established than in this inquiry, says the Inter-Ocean.

[Editorial in the Dubuque (Ia.) Telegraph.]

A commission appointed by the court to examine into and report on the sanity of Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy visited the Founder of the Christian Science cult in her home and from the conversation as reported in detail in the press despatches, it is to be inferred that Mrs. Eddy is not insane. She withstood the long interview without giving evidence of mental or physical breakdown.

One need not accept the tenets of Mrs. Eddy's creed to agree that she is a remarkable woman. They are not halt and blind who are following her leadership, but persons better circumstanced than the average,—persons who have had the advantage of education and culturing influences. They were attracted by the beauty in the creed and hundreds of thousands of them have been helped spiritually.

[Editorial in the Hartford (Conn.) Times.]

Mr. W. E. Chandler, who has borne the burnt of the contest brought on behalf of George W. Glover and others against his mother, Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, with the object of breaking the arrangement made by her in February, placing her property in the hands of the trustees, seems to admit that his side "had no case." Mrs. Eddy's conversation with Judge Aldrich and the other masters appointed by Judge Chamberlin plainly indicated that she was in pretty good condition mentally for a woman nearly eighty-seven years old, and it appears that Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton, the eminent expert, has declared that she is entirely competent to manage her affairs.

[Editorial in the Boston Traveler.]

The withdrawal of the "next friends" suit against Mrs. Eddy concludes a case that was sordid and contemptible in all its characteristics. No high moral principle was apparent in the petition, and the question at issue was not to determine Mrs. Eddy's claim to be the founder and head of the great religion, but was simply a vulgar attempt to harass Mrs. Eddy into giving up some of her fortune. The spectacle of a woman being hounded for money by expectant relatives was not a pleasing one, and none of the persons on that side of the case have any particular reason to be proud of themselves.

[Editorial in The Detroit (Mich.) News.]

The abandonment of the case brought by Mrs. Eddy's "next friends," seems to rest on such flimsy grounds that in justice to the aged lady the masters in chancery ought to report informally, if possible, on her competency. The case now has the aspect of stirring up mud to no purpose but the working of hardship on the person least concerned.

[Editorial in The Kansas City (Mo.) Star.]

The charge of insanity brought against Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy is based on the assertion that she has for a long time feared that mental influences would induce her son to contest her disposition of her property. As the present proceeding shows the complete realization of Mrs. Eddy's fears, it is difficult to see wherein those fears were an evidence of an unbalanced state of mind.

[Editorial in the Bridgeport (Conn.) Standard.]

Mrs. Eddy has been examined as to her mental soundness and her counsel expresses entire satisfaction with the result of the ordeal. Counsel for the other side expresses the same feeling. According to the newspaper reports, Mrs. Eddy made a remarkable showing for a woman of her advanced years. There were no evidences of mental decrepitude in her statements.

[Editorial in the Banker and Tradesman.]

The suit brought by the "next friends" in the case of Mrs. Eddy will rank for many years as one of the most despicable suits ever brought in a court of law. If ever an action was based solely and entirely on motives of the most sordid character, it is this one. And one need not be a Christian Scientist to see it in that light either.

[Editorial in the Meriden (Conn.) Journal.]

It is just as well that the case against Mrs. Eddy, the Christian Science leader, was withdrawn. Public sympathy was not largely with those who brought it, and now that it is apparently made clear that Mrs. Eddy is not insane, it is best to let her alone and drop the court proceedings as was done to-day.

[Editorial in the Malden (Mass.) Mail.]

Mrs. Eddy showed in her examination yesterday that she had a pretty level business head. She preferred government or municipal bonds as investments and bonds of eastern cities to western. In the first round between the aged lady and the gentlemen who are examining into her mental capacity, the lady scored.

[Editorial in the Niagara Falls (N. Y.) Gazette.]

The abrupt ending of the Eddy suit was a surprise to many, but nevertheless it will give general satisfaction. The spectacle of this aged woman being hounded was not pleasant, even to those who have no part in her beliefs and doctrines. Mrs. Eddy has given abundant proof of her ability to take care of her own affairs.

[Editorial in the Troy (N. Y.) Times.]

Mrs. Eddy triumphs over her pursuers in the courts. The suit against this aged and famous woman has been discontinued. Christian Science may now speak with experience of the law as well as of the gospel, and can discuss the difference between friends and next friends.

[Editorial in the Buffalo (N. Y.) Enquirer.]

The advisers of Mrs. Eddy must have been confident of her sanity. They submitted the question to Dr. Hamilton who does not always testify as he is retained.