ely, if ever, surpassed.

The unpopularity of that creed it would be vain to deny. A vast majority
of mankind associate with the idea of disbelief in their Gods every
thing stupid, monstrous, absurd, and atrocious. Absolute Atheism is
thought by them the inseparable ally of most shocking wickedness,
involving as it manifestly does that 'blasphemy against the Holy Ghost'
which we are assured shall not be forgiven unto men 'neither in this
world nor in that which is to come.' Educated to consider it 'an
inhuman, bloody, ferocious system, equally hostile to every restraint
and to every virtuous affection,' the majority of all countries detest
and shun its apostles. Their horror of them may be likened to that it is
presumed the horse feels towards the camel, upon whom (so travellers
tell us) he cannot look without _shuddering_.

To keep alive and make the most of this strong religious feeling has
ever been the object of Christian priests, who rarely hesitate to make
charges of Atheism, not only against opponents, but each other; not only
against disbelievers but believers in God. The Jesuit Lafiteau, in a
Preface to his 'Histoire des Sauvages Americanes,' [13:1] endeavours to
prove that only Atheists will dare assert that God created the
Americans. Scarcely a metaphysical writer of eminence has escaped the
'imputation' of Atheism. The great Clarke and his antagonist the greater
Leibnitz were called Atheists. Even Newton was put in the same category.
No sooner did sharp-sighted divines catch a glimpse of an 'Essay on the
Human Understanding' than they loudly proclaimed the Atheism of its
author. Julian Hibbert, in his learned account 'Of Persons Falsely
Entitled Atheists,' says, 'the existence of some sort of a Deity has
usually been considered undeniable, so the imputation of Atheism and the
title of Atheist have usually been considered as insulting.' This
author, after giving no fewer than thirty and two names of 'individuals
among the Pagans who (with more or less injustice) have been accused of
Atheism,' says, 'the list shews, I think, that almost all the most
celebrated Grecian metaphysicians have been, either in their own or in
following ages, considered, with more or less reason, to be
Atheistically inclined. For though, the word Atheist was probably not
often used till about a hundred years before Christ, yet the imputation
of _impiety_ was no doubt as easily and commonly bestowed, before that
period, as it has been