ATHEISM, (from It priv. and ow, God,) may be defined to be, the total want of religious principle.
The word is generally employed by modern wri ters to signify, the absolute denial of an Intelligent First Cause. This has been called pure atheism. But we conceive, that those who habitually doubt this fundamental doctrine, or who object to all the proofs which have ever been offered in its support, must be considered as subjecting themselves to the same charge, although they may not have arrived at such a degree of hardiness, as formally to avow their unqualified disbelief. Lord Shaftesbury thinks it hard that any man should be pronounced an atheist, whose whole thoughts are not steadily and invariably bent, at all times, and in all circumstances, against every supposition of design in things. For the same reason, no man can be called a theist, who is not uni formly and constantly convinced that au omnipo tent mind has produced the universe ; and, if this language be admitted, we know not what name to assign to those who fluctuate in their opinions con cerning the origin of the world. We cannot form a conception of the incongruous combination which his lordship calls a mixture of theism and atheism,— a co-operation of God and chance.
The appellation Atheist may, we think, be ap plied, with strict prdpriety, first, to those who pre tend that they are unable to discover any evidences of wise design in the formation of the universe ; se condly, to those, who not only withhold their assent, but decidedly maintain, that there arc no such evi dences ; and, thirdly, to those who undertake to ac count for the origin of things without having re course to the agency of mind. We would extend the term still farther : To those who have no idea of God at all, if any such persons there be ; and also to those whose notions of the creating or superintend ing mind, are completely incompatible with every definition of Deity which has been given by enlight ened reason. He who admits that the world exhi bits marks of contrivance, and that inconceivable power must have been exerted in bringing it into ex istence, but at the same time denies, or refuses to re cognise, the moral attributes of the Supreme Being, is to be accounted an atheist, inasmuch as he does not believe in a Being possessed of those excellencies, which are as essential to the idea of a Divinity as eternity, ubiquity, and omnipotence. if •there be
such an opinion as what has been called perfect Da: monism, the belief in a malignant first principle, we hesitate not to rank it among the modifications of atheism.
Though this is not the usual acceptation of the word, it is sanctioned by many great authorities. The ancient Stoics applied the name Atheists equally to those who acknowledged no God, and to those who thought or spoke in terms repugnant to the di vine perfection,--roK 11 itarric4; .9sa, Amofteoois. St Paul, in writing to the Ephesian converts, formerly the votaries of Diana, addresses them as having late ly been if-9w i7 r 7:ocree!t, atheists in the world, be cause they had paid their adorations to beings who, in the characters ascribed to them, were devoid of eve ry attribute of divinity,-1-04 ft?) cpvc-f.I ovo-s To the same purpose Dr Clarke expresses his opinion, that all who deny the principal attributes of the di vine nature are to be numbered among the atheists. In this particular, the language of Mr Hume coincides with that of these Christian writers. All polytheists and idolaters, he remarks, are to be considered as superstitious atheists, because they acknowledged no being who corresponds with our idea of Deity. The fathers of the Christian church branded all the idol atrous Gentiles with this reproachful term ; and they, in their turn, retorted the accusation, as Justin Mar tyr declares in his Apology,-496os x.Ezioyziaa, &e. Both parties proceeded on the supposition, that the objects of worship, to whom their adversaries render ed homage, were unworthy of the name of gods : the former abhorring the heathen deities as vanities and dumb idols ; and the latter the proselytes of the new faith for setting up Meru °al:out, strange and unheard of demons, because they spoke of Jesus and Anastasis (the resurrection).