may be justly regarded as the
grand parent sin, the universal characteristic of fallen humanity.[14]
It is not Atheism in profession, it is Atheism in practice. Those who
are chargeable with it may "profess that they _know_ God, but in works
they _deny_ Him." As distinguished from theoretical or speculative
Atheism, it is fitly termed _ungodliness_. It does not necessarily imply
either the denial or the doubt of the existence or government of God,
but consists mainly in the forgetfulness of His character and claims.
Speculative Atheism always implies habitual ungodliness; but the latter
may exist where the former has never been embraced, and has even been
openly and sincerely disclaimed. Yet such is the _connection_ between
the two, that Speculative Atheism invariably presupposes and perpetuates
practical ungodliness; and that the latter has also a tendency to
produce the former, since the habitual disregard of God in the practical
conduct of life indicates a state of mind in which men are peculiarly
exposed to the seductions of infidelity and prone to yield to them,
especially in seasons of revolutionary excitement or of prevailing
epidemic unbelief. It would be wrong to rank every ungodly man among
professed or even conscious Atheists, for he may never have denied or
even doubted the existence and government of God; yet it were equally
wrong to represent or treat him as a true believer, since he shows that,
practically, "God is not in all his thoughts;" and hence the necessity
of our _first_ distinction between [Transcriber's note: Original had
"beetween"] _theoretical_ or _speculative_, and _practical_ or
_habitual_ Atheism.

Speculative Atheism, again, is either _dogmatic_ or _skeptical_. It is
_dogmatic_, when it amounts to an affirmation, either that there is no
God, or that the question of his existence is necessarily insoluble by
the human faculties. Atheism has been distinguished from Anti-theism;
and the former has been supposed to imply merely the non-recognition of
God, while the latter asserts His non-existence. This distinction is
founded on the difference between _unbelief_ and _disbelief_;[15] and
its validity is admitted in so far as it discriminates merely between
dogmatic and skeptical Atheism. But Anti-theism is maintained, in the
strictest sense of the term, where it is affirmed either that there is
no God, or that the existence of the Supreme Being _cannot_ in any
circumstances become an object of