On Original Religion

...from whichever side it was viewed. If he directed his attention toward the existence of humanity, he found motives sufficient enough to signal his approval. He knew that he existed now, but from this it did not yet follow that he had always truly possessed his existence. The death of a thousand others taught him that it was still not within his power to be what he was The author uses a classic cosmological argument: because humans are mortal and "contingent" (not self-caused), there must be an external "necessary" cause for our existence.. The various changes to which his existence was subject served to convince him that he was not a necessarily existing being, and consequently could not himself be the cause of his own existence. If he examined other things that were around and beside him, his reason told him that the ground of existence could be found even less in them, because they were without understanding and will, and consequently far more imperfect than he himself. No more certain conclusion remained for him than that there must be a far higher being outside of himself, who was in himself necessary, eternal, perfect, and unchangeable; in this way, the strictest philosopher was convinced: there is a God.

The nature of this doctrine for less-contemplative people

For the less-contemplative person, this doctrine was planted into the heart through sensory objects. It was the great creation of nature, both as a whole and in its individual parts, which was able to bring about the most powerful conviction. As often as he turned his eye upward, he beheld the beautiful blue firmament, illuminated by a golden sun which flashed with the purest fire. In the evening as well as at night, a silver moon presented itself to his eye against a dark background, along with softly glowing plane- The text breaks off here; the catchword indicates the next word is "Planeten" (planets).