God is the ground and the end of the world.  All beings strive toward him, as all came out from him.  In man the general striving toward the most perfect Being rises into conscious love to God, which is conditioned by the knowledge of God and produces virtuous action as its effect.  Enlightenment and virtue are the essential constituents of religion; all else, as cultus and dogma, have only a derivative value.  Religious ceremonies are an imperfect expression of the practical element in piety, as the doctrines of faith are a weak imitation of the theoretical.  It is a direct contradiction of the intention of the Divine Teacher when occult formulas and ceremonies, which have no connection with virtue, are made the chief thing.  The points in which the creeds agree are more important than those by which they are differentiated.  Natural religion has found its most perfect expression in Christianity, although paganism and Judaism had also grasped portions of the truth.  Salvation is not denied to the heathen, for moral purity is sufficient to make one a partaker of the grace of God.  The religion of the Jews elevated monotheism, which, it is true, made its appearance among the heathen in isolated philosophers, but was never the popular religion, into a law; but it lacked the belief in immortality.  Christianity made the religion of the sage the religion of the people.

Whatever of positive doctrine revelation has added to natural religion transcends the reason, it is true, but does not contradict it.  It contains no principles contrary to reason (whose opposite can be proved), but, no doubt, principles above reason, i.e., such as the reason could not have found without help from without, and which it cannot fully comprehend, though it is able approximately to understand them and to defend them against objections.  Hence Leibnitz defended the Trinity, which he interpreted as God’s power, understanding, and will, the eternity of the torments of hell (which brought him the commendation of Lessing), and other dogmas.  Miracles also belong among the things the how and why of which we are not in a position to comprehend, but only the that and what.  Since the laws of nature are only physically or conditionally necessary, i.e. have been enacted only because of their fitness for the purposes of God, they may be suspended in special cases when a higher end requires it.

While the positive doctrines of faith cannot be proved—­as, on the other hand, they cannot be refuted—­the principles of natural religion admit of strict demonstration.  The usual arguments for the existence of God are useful, but need amendment.  The ontological argument of Descartes, that from the concept of a most perfect Being his existence follows, is correct so soon as the idea of God is shown to be possible or free from contradiction.  The cosmological proof runs:  Contingent beings point to a necessary, self-existent Being, the eternal truths especially presuppose an