Section 654

for thousands of years have done the same. This cir- cumstance awakens no auspicious prepossession. But not only the rude, but also the theological idea of God is worthless, for it explains no phenomena of nature. It is, moreover, full of absurdities ; for since it as- cribes moral attributes to God, it renders him human ; while, on the other hand, by a mass of negative attri- butes, it seeks to distinguish him absolutely from ev- ery other human being. The true system, the system of nature, is hence atheistic. But such a doctrine requires a culture and a courage which neither all men nor most men possess. If we understand by the word atheist one. who considers only dead matter, or who designates the moving power in nature with the name God, then is there no atheist, or whoever would be one is a fool. But if the word means one who de- nies the existence of a spiritual being, a being whose attributes can only be a source of annoyance to men, then are there indeed atheists, and there would be more of them, if a correct knowledge of nature and a sound reason were more widely diffused. But if athe- ism is true, then should it be diffused. There are, in- deed, many who have cast off the yoke of religion, who nevertheless think it is necessary for the common people in order to keep them within proper limits. But this is just as if we should determine to give a man poison lest he should abuse his strength. Ever}' kind of Deism leads necessarily to superstition, since it is not possible to continue on the stand-point of pure Deism. "With such premises the freedom and immor- tality of the soul both disappear. Man, like every other substance in nature, is a link in the chain of necessary connection, a blind instrument in the hands of necessity. If an}' thing should be endowed with self-motion, that is, with a capacity to produce mo- tion without any other cause, then would it have the power to destroy motion in the universe ; but this is contrary to the conception of the universe, which is only an endless series of necessary motions spread- ing out into wider circles continually. The claim of an individual immortality is absurd. For to af- firm that the soul exists after the destruction of the body, is to affirm that a modification of a substance can exist after the substance itself has disappear- ed. There is no other immortality than the remem- brance of posterity" (Schwcgler, History of Philosophy, § 32). The Dict'ummtire des A tines of Sylvain Mare- chal, edited by Lalande (Paris, 1799), is a flagrant specimen of the same kind. The strongest German development is Strauss's identification of God with the universal being of man, in his Dogmatik; and Feuer- bach's bald atheism, in his Wesen des Christenthums (Smith's Hagenbach, History of Doctrines, § 293). The so-called English "secularism" is an atheistic doctrine resting on, or similar to that of the Positive Philoso- phy. It holds the eternity of matter; it knows of nothing greater than nature; its creed is a stern fa- talism ; its win-ship is labor; its religion is science; its future is a " black, impenetrable curtain." One of its advocates says, "A deep silence reigns behind the curtain ; no one within will answer those he has left without; all that you can hear is a hollow echo of your question, as if you shouted into a cavern" (Hol- yoake, Logic of />■ atK). Such is the wretched atheism which is expounded by itinerant lecturers, and dissem- inated by periodical pamphlets throughout the length and breadth of Great Britain, and which is perverting and contaminating the minds of the more thoughtful and inquisitive among the working classes of that country to an unprecedented and incredible extent {London Review, xi, 20. See also Christian Examiner, Boston, Nov. 1859; Vorth British Review, Nov. 18G0). We close this article with the following admirable passage from a modern writer: "The whole history of philosophy and theology shows that, when the ma- terial world is taken by itself, it is a contradiction of God. Atheism was not coeval with man. No atheist