atheistn.adj.

?1555 M. Coverdale tr. Hope of Faythful Pref. f. iii^v Eate we and drink we lustely, tomorow we shal dy. which al y^e Epicures protest openly, & the Italian atheoi.]

1571 A. Golding in tr. J. Calvin Psalmes of Dauid with Comm. Ep. Ded. sig. *.iii The Atheistes which say..there is no God.

1604 S. Rowlands Looke to It sig. C4 Thou damned Athist..That doest deny his power which did create thee.

1699 Ld. Shaftesbury Inq. conc. Virtue i. i. 8 To believe nothing of a designing Principle or Mind, nor any cause or measure or rule of things, but Chance..is to be a perfect Atheist.

1876 W. E. Gladstone in Contemp. Rev. June 22 By the Atheist I understand the man who not only holds off, like the sceptic, from the affirmative, but who drives himself, or is driven, to the negative assertion in regard to the whole Unseen, or to the existence of God.

1577 M. Hanmer tr. Bp. Eusebius in Aunc. Eccl. Hist. iv. xiii. 63 The opinion which they conceaue of you, to be Atheists, or godlesse men.

1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. viii. 93 An Atheist is taken two waies, for him who is an Enemy to the Gods, and for him who believeth there are no Gods.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 495 When the Priest Turns Atheist, as did Ely's Sons. View more context for this quotation

1827 J. C. Hare & A. W. Hare Guesses at Truth I. 65 Practically every man is an Atheist, who lives without God in the world.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vi. 370 The Atheist crew. View more context for this quotation

1821 J. G. Lockhart Valerius II. xi. 316 Borne from its wounded breast an atheist cry Hath pierced the upper and the nether sky.