THE LIMITS OF ATHEISM

PREFACE.

The object of these pages* is not to defend the intellectual accuracy of
Atheism (which could not be attempted in this brief space), the object
is to explain its case, to vindicate its moral rectitude, and the right
of those who hold these views, to legal equality. There are two Atheisms
in literature--the ancient one of mere negation; and the affirmative
form, whose relevant name is Cosmism, and of which Humboldt, in
his 'Cosmos,' is a great illustrator, and Comte, in his 'Positive
Philos...