Very well, the man who disputes none of them we concede to be entitled to go at large—­but that is concession enough; we cannot go any further than that; for we know that in all matters of mere opinion that same man is insane—­just as insane as we are; just as insane as Shakespeare was, just as insane as the Pope is.  We know exactly where to put our finger upon his insanity; it is where his opinion differs from ours.

That is a simple rule, and easy to remember.  When I, a thoughtful and unbiased Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any question every Mohammedan is insane; not in all things, but in religious matters.  When a thoughtful and unbiased Mohammedan examines the Westminster Catechism, he knows that beyond any question I am spiritually insane.  I cannot prove to him that he is insane, because you never can prove anything to a lunatic—­for that is a part of his insanity and the evidence of it.  He cannot prove to me that I am insane, for my mind has the same defect that afflicts his.  All democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it; none but the republicans and mugwumps know it.  All the republicans are insane, but only the democrats and mugwumps can perceive it.  The rule is perfect; in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.  When I look around me I am often troubled to see how many people are mad.  To mention only a few: 

The Atheist, The Shakers,
The Infidel, The Millerites,
The Agnostic, The Mormons,
The Baptist, The Laurence Oliphant
The Methodist, Harrisites,
The Catholic, and the other The Grand Lama’s people,
  115 Christian sects, the The Monarchists,
  Presbyterian excepted, The Imperialists,
The 72 Mohammedan sects, The Democrats,
The Buddhist, The Republicans (but not
The Blavatsky-Buddhist, the Mugwumps),
The Nationalist, The Mind-Curists,
The Confucian, The Faith-Curists,
The Spiritualist, The Mental Scientists,
The 2,000 East Indian The Allopaths,
  sects, The Homeopaths,
The Peculiar People, The Electropaths,
The Swedenborgians,

The—­but there’s no end to the list; there are millions of them!  And all insane; each in his own way; insane as to his pet fad or opinion, but otherwise sane and rational.

This should move us to be charitable toward one another’s lunacies.  I recognise that in his special belief the Christian Scientist is insane, because he does not believe as I do; but I hail him as my mate and fellow because I am as insane as he—­insane from his point of view, and his point of view is as authoritative as mine and worth as much.  That is to say, worth a brass farthing.  Upon a great religious or political question the opinion of the