GOCH, gen, Johannes von (proper name, JOHANN PUPPER), German monk, precursor of the Reformation: b. Goch, Prussia, about 1400; d. Mechlin, 28 March 1475. He was edu cated at Cologne. All that is known of his subsequent life is that he established an order of canonesses at Mechlin in 1451, that he at tempted to introduce reforms in the convents there and for 24 years acted as father con fessor of the deaconesses at Thabor. He was a man of great piety and in his day was com pared with a Kempis as a theologian. In his writings he demanded that the Bible should chiefly be explained by itself and laid great stress on love, piety and on evangelical freedom. His principal works are (De Libertate Chris tiana' and (Dialogus de quator erroribus circa legem evangelicam exortis.> Consult Clemen, 'Johann Popper von Goch) (Leipzig 1896) and Ullman, 'Reformers before the Reformation.' GOD, the Supreme Being, the First Cause, and as considered nowadays throughout the civilized world, a spiritual being, self-existent, eternal and absolutely free and all-powerful, distinct from the matter which he has created in many forms, and which he conserves and controls.
There does not seem to have been a period of history where mankind was without belief in a supernatural author and governor of the universe. The most savage nations have some rudimentary ideas of God. Man is a religious as well as a rational animal. The instinct of belief in God is asserted by philosophical theists to be reconcilable with reason, although no competent apologist now stakes the existence of God on any one argument, or exhibits the proof as a series of syllogisms. It is rather maintained that the study of human history, of human nature especially on its moral and spiritual side t and of the world as far as sci ence reveals it to us make for the existence of a God, demand such a postulate as the key to the universe, and render the belief in a personal God greatly more probable than any other thesis —a subject vastly too wide for discussion here. But it is necessary to name what are often re ferred to as the four great arguments for the existence of God.
(1) The ontological argument first formu lated by Saint Anselm proceeds from the no tion of a most perfect being to infer his exist ence; without actual existence the idea would fall short of perfection. The argument was restated in a different shape by Descartes (q.v.) and by Samuel Clarke, and though very con temptuously treated by Kant, is still an element of the argument that without a God the world is a chaos.
(2) The cosmological argument, employed by Aristotle, Aquinas and a host of Christian authors, is an application of the principle of causality. We cannot conceive an infinite re
gression of finite causes; therefore beyond the last or first of the finite causes is the Infinite. From motion the argument is to a mover.
(3) The teleological argument, or argument from design, proceeds from the order and ar rangement of the universe, the reign of law and beauty and adaptation, to the intelligent and supreme fountain of order. This is the most familiar of the arguments, especially on the lines laid down by Paley. Kant was the first of the moderns to object to this mode of proof. He was followed by Mill and Spencer, whose objections are based upon the relativity of knowledge, which renders a conception of a Supreme Being essentially unintelligible. The more popular objection against the idea of God is that because it is incapable of proof, —of such proof as is given to the propositions of science.
(4) The moral argument was that relied on by Kant (q.v.) when he destructively criticized the other three, and forms a part of most mod ern theistic arguments. God is a postulate of our moral nature; and the moral law in us implies a lawgiver without us.
Consult Adeney, 'The Christian Conception of God' (New York 1912); Clarke, 'The Christian Doctrine of
(ib. 1909); Fiske, 'Through Nature to God' (Boston 1899); Martineau, 'Study of Religion' (Oxford 1888);
GOD, Name of, in Different Languages, may be seen from the following list: Elohim, Hebrew; Gott, Swiss and German; Eilah, Chal daic; Goed, Flemish; Eleah, Assyrian; Godt, Dutch; Alah, Turkish and Syraic; Alla, Malay; Goth, Teutonic; Allah, Arabic; Gude, Danish and Swedish; Teut, old Egyptian; Teun, new Egyptian; Gude, Norwegian; Teuti, Armarian; Bogo, Polish; Theos, Greek; Bung, Polacca; Jubinat, Lapp; Sire, Persian; Magatal, Tartar; Deus, Latin; Diex, Latin, low; Diu, Gallic; Dieu, French; Dios, Spanish; Deos, Portuguese; Diet, Old German; Diou, Provençal; Doue, low Breton; Dio, Italian; Dia, Irish; Deu, Olala tongue; Thios, Cretan; Jumala, Finch; As, Runic; Fetiyo, Zemblian; Istu, Pannonian; Rain, Hindostanee; Brama, Coromandel; Prussa, Chinese; Goezur, Japanese; Zannah,• Madagascar; Puchecammw, Peruvian.