§ 1. What is meant hy Anti-Theism.
As Theism is the doctrine of an extramundane, personal God, the creator, preserver, and governor of all things, any doctrine which denies the existence of such a Being is anti-theistic. Not only avowed Atheism, therefore, but Polytheism, Hylozoism, Ma- terialism, and Pantheism, belong to the class of anti-theistic theories.
Atheism.
Atheism does not call for any separate discussion. It is in itself purely negative. It affirms nothing. It simply denies what The- ism asserts. The proof of Theism is, therefore, the refutation of Atlieism. Atheist is, however, a term of reproach. Few men are willing to call themselves, or to allow others to call them by that name. Hume, we know, resented it. Hence those who are really atheists, according to the etymological and commonly received mean- ing of the word, repudiate the term. They claim to be believers in God, although they assign to that word a meaning which is entirely unauthorized by usage. Thus Helvetius ^ says, " There is no man of understanding who does not admit an active principle in nature ; therefore there is no atheist. He is not an atheist who says that motion is God ; because in fact motion is incomprehensi- ble, as we have no clear idea of it, because it only manifests itself by its effects, and by it all things are performed in the universe." Cousin 2 says, " Atheism is impossible, because the existence of God is implied in every affirmation. If a man believes that he exists, he must believe in the power of thought, and that is God." In like manner Herbert Spencer claims to be religious. He does not oppose religion, but dogmas. He acknowledges inscrutable power. He reduces all our knowledge to the two facts, " That force is," and " Force is persistent." Force, however, is perfectly inscrutable and incomprehensible. On this principle he attempts
1 " De THomme," Works, edit. Paris, 1793, vol. iii. p. 221, note.
2 Introduciion to the General History of Philosophy, vol. i. p. 169.