Preface.

...things they do not understand, merely laugh; who consider the doctrine of rewards and punishments beyond the grave to be an absurdity, and unhesitatingly become scoundrels as often as the opportunity arises, provided the authorities cannot reach them with their laws. To the third class, I finally count those who teach the people and have taken an official oath original: "Amtseid"; specifically referring to the oaths of orthodoxy taken by clergy or professors to uphold specific church doctrines that they will always represent the opinions of the Church Fathers The influential early Christian theologians whose writings established traditional orthodoxy as divine truths, even if they should doubt one or the other of them.

My book cannot harm readers of the first class; rather, it must be of use to them, because they will grant me that I have sought the truth. They find in the traditional systems of popular religions original: "Volksreligionen"; referring to the established, institutionalized faiths of the common people as opposed to a "natural religion" based on reason various dogmas that contradict not only reason but also each other, often directly. God is, as almost every religion teaches, most perfect in all His attributes. But to the highest perfection belongs no suffering. Nevertheless, God is said to have taken on a human body and suffered on earth for mankind, merely to satisfy His own justice. Now, however, there are infinitely many globes original: "Erdkugeln"; the author is referencing the Enlightenment-era scientific belief in the "plurality of worlds," suggesting that other planets are inhabited by rational beings, on all of which surely creatures similar to humans dwell, who without doubt are not quite perfect, not quite without sin, just as we are—otherwise they would have to be equal to God, that is, God Himself in the literal sense. Should God then go from one world, from one globe to another, to [save] all...