ppeals. He rejects religion,
because religion is based on principles of imaginative ignorance. Bailly
defines it as 'the worship of the unknown, piety, godliness, humility,
before the _unknown_.' Lavater as 'Faith in the supernatural, invisible,
_unknown_.' Vauvenargus as 'the duties of men towards the _unknown_.'
Dr. Johnson as 'Virtue founded upon reverence of the unknown, and
expectation of future rewards and punishments.' Rivarol as 'the science
of serving the _unknown_.' La Bruyere as 'the respectful fear of the
unknown.' Du Marsais, as 'the worship of the _unknown_, and the practice
of all the virtues.' Walker as 'Virtue founded upon reverence of the
_unknown_, and expectation of rewards or punishments: a system of divine
faith and worship as opposed to other systems.' De Bonald as 'Social
intercourse between man and the _unknown_.' Rees as 'the worship or
homage that is due to the _unknown_ as creator, preserver, and with
Christians as redeemer of the world.' Lord Brougham as 'the subject of
the science called Theology:' a science he defines as 'the knowledge and
attributes of the _unknown_;' which definitions agree in making the
essential principle of religion a principle of ignorance. That they are
sufficiently correct definitions will not be disputed, and upon them the
Atheist is satisfied to rest his case. To him the worship or adoration
of what is confessedly _unknown_ is mere superstition; and to him
professors of theology are 'artists in words,' who pretend to teach what
nobody has any conception of. Now, such persons may be well-intentioned;
but their wisdom is by no means apparent. They must be wonderfully
deficient of the invaluable sense so falsely called 'common.' Idolisers
of 'thingless names,' they set at naught the admirable dictum of Locke,
that it is 'unphilosophic to suppose names in books signify real
entities in nature, unless we can frame clear and distinct ideas of
those entities.'

Theists of every class would do well to calmly and fully consider this
rule of philosophising, for it involves nothing less than the
destruction of belief in the supernatural. The Jupiter of Mythologic
History, the Allah of Alkoran, and the Jehovah of 'Holy Scripture,' if
entities at all, are assuredly entities that baffle human conception. To
'frame clear and distinct ideas of them' is impossible. In respect to
the attribute of _unknowability_ all Gods are alike. They are all
supernatural; and the merely natural