=32.= Atheism, as before stated, is the denial of the existence of God; in a milder form it may consist in the mere ignoring of Deity. But the professed atheist, in common with his believing fellow-mortals, is subject to man's universal passion for worship; though he refuse to acknowledge the true and the living God, he consciously or unconsciously deifies some law, some principle, some passion of the human soul, or perchance some material creation; and to this he turns, to seek, in contemplation of the unworthy object, a semblance of the comfort which the believer finds in rich abundance before the throne of his Father and God. I doubt the existence of a thorough atheist,--one who with the sincerity of a settled conviction denies in his heart the existence of an intelligent Supreme Power. The idea of God is an essential characteristic of the human soul. The philosopher recognizes the necessity of such an element in his theories of being. He may shrink from the open acknowledgment of a personal Deity, yet he assumes the existence of a "governing power," of a "great unknown," of the "unknowable," the "illimitable," the "unconscious." Oh, man of learning though not of wisdom! why reject the privileges extended to you by the omnipotent, omniscient Being to whom you owe your life, yet whose name you will not acknowledge? No mortal can approach Him while contemplating His perfections and might with aught but awe and speechless reverence; regarding Him only as Creator and God, we are abashed in thought of Him; but He has given us the right to approach Him as His children, to call upon Him by the endearing name of Father! And even the atheist feels, in the more solemn moments of his life, a yearning of the soul toward a spiritual Parent, as naturally as his human affections turn toward the father who gave him mortal life. The atheism of to-day is but a species of idolatry after all.