This is made clear by the fact that, when such a determining influence comes from outside, it is evidently a soul that does not, by itself, produce knowledge and will in the receiving soul, except through the latter’s own capacity to receive them. That capacity cannot depend upon another; otherwise, this would entail either an infinite regress between two finite endpoints or a circular dependence in which each cause must precede the other. Both are necessarily impossible, as all rational people agree.

This shows that the soul possesses a capacity that favors the true religion over others. The person addressing it merely draws its attention to what it does not know so that it may know it, reminds it of what it has forgotten so that it may remember it, or urges it to desire what it does not desire, and so forth.

All these things can occur through thoughts arising within the soul that prompt it to take notice, remember, and act.

Reflecting on one’s own experience makes this evident, for the equivalent of what a person hears others say can occur to him within his own heart.

Thus, innate nature can come to acknowledge the Maker, love Him, and devote itself sincerely to Him without an external cause; the soul itself may suffice for this.

It is well known that, if the cause of this is present within the soul and no opposing factor is assumed to exist, then a cause free of any countervailing opposition must produce its effect. Thus, sound innate nature, if no one reaches it to corrupt it, will acknowledge the Maker and worship Him.

If it is objected:

These thoughts that occur to a person may arise in some people but not others, depending on the causes that happen to be present, just as some people may have