ed at
Atheism--though persuaded its professors, 'of all earth's madmen, most
deserve a chain;' and, though constantly abusing them, are still unable
to believe in the reality of such persons. These, among all the
opponents of Atheism and Atheists, may fairly claim to be considered
most mysterious; for, while lavishing on deniers of their Gods every
kind of sharp invective and opprobrious epithet, they cannot assure
themselves the 'monsters' did, or do actually exist. With characteristic
humour, David Hume observed 'There are not a greater number of
philosophical reasonings displayed upon any subject than those which
prove the existence of Deity, and refute the fallacies of Atheists, and
yet the most religious philosophers still dispute whether any man can be
so blinded as to be a speculative Atheist;' 'how (continues he) shall we
reconcile these contradictions? The Knight-errants who wandered about to
clear the world of dragons and of giants, never entertained the least
doubt with regard to the existence of these monsters.' [10:1]

The same Hume who thus pleasantly rebuked 'most religious philosophers,'
was himself a true Atheist. That he lacked faith in the supernatural
must be apparent to every student of his writings, which abound with
reflections far from flattering to the self-love of religionists, and
little calculated to advance their cause. Many Deists have been called
Atheists: among others Robert Owen and Richard Carlile, both of whom
professed belief in something superior to nature, something acting upon
and regulating matter, though not itself material. [11:1] This something
they named _power_. But Hume has shown we may search 'in vain for an
idea of power or necessary connection in all the sources from which we
would suppose it to be derived. [11:2] Owen, Carlile, and other
Atheists, falsely so called, supposed power the only entity worthy of
deification. They dignified it with such appellations as 'internal or
external cause of all existence,' and ascribed to it intelligence, with
such other honourable attributes as are usually ascribed to 'deified,
error.' But Hume astonished religious philosophers by declaring that,
'while we argue from the course of nature and infer a particular
intelligent cause, which first bestowed, and still preserves order in
the universe, we embrace a principle which is both uncertain and
useless. It is uncertain, because the subject lies entirely beyond the
reach of human experie