"He governs all things that exist, and knows all things that are to be known: he is not eternity or infinity, but eternal and infinite: he is not duration or space, but he endures, and is present: he endures always, and is present every where; and by existing always, and every where, he constitutes the very thing, duration and space, eternity and infinity. "Since every particle of space is always, and every indivisible moment of duration every where, the Creator and Lord of all things can never be nunquam, or nusquam. "He is omnipresent, not only virtually, but also substantially; for power without substance cannot subsist. All things are contained, and move in him; but without any mutual passion: he suffers nothing from the motions of bodies; nor do they undergo any resistance from his omnipresence. "It is confessed, that God exists necessarily; and by the same necessity he exists always, and every where. Hence, also, he must be perfectly similar; all eye, all ear, all brain, all arm, all the power of perceiving, understanding, and acting; but after a manner not at all corporeal, after a manner not like that of men, after a manner wholly to us unknown. "He is destitute of all body, and all bodily shape; and therefore cannot be seen, heard, nor touched; nor ought to be worshipped under the representation of any thing corporeal. "We have ideas of the attributes of God, but do not know the substance even of any thing: we see only the figures and colours of bodies, hear only sounds, touch only the outward surfaces, smell only odours, and taste tastes; and do not, cannot, by any sense, or any reflex act, know their inward substances; and much less can we have any notion of the substance of God. ،، We know him by his properties and attributes: by the most wise and excellent structure of things, and by final causes; but we adore and worship him only on account of his dominion : for God, setting aside dominion, providence, and final causes, is nothing else but fate and nature." Newt. Philos. Nat. Princip. Math. in calce. An ingenious divine has wrought these thoughts of that admirable philosopher into form, and ripened them into a more express system, in a discourse on this subject. Maxwell's Disc. concerning God. The existence and principal attributes of the Supreme Being may be inferred very briefly from the following considerations: We must either admit that impotence and ignorance produce power and knowledge, or that the latter are absolutely necessary in themselves, Now, so necessary are power and knowledge in nature, that if we deny their absolute and inconditionate necessity, we affirm their absolute impossibility, since there was nothing in nature to produce them. This is one of these instances where it is impossible for the most disingenuons sceptic to doubt with his utmost effort. They must likewise be in finite or unlimited, for they could not have limited themselves, or made themselves less perfections than they necessarily were. That necessary power and knowledge should lessen or limit themselves, is both morally and physically impossible; and there was nothing else in nature to limit or lessen them, for nature consisted of nothing else. Ignorance and impotence are still nothing. Add to this, that it is something positive that must be infinite; and nothing is of such a positive nature as such perfections, and those necessary. Infinite joined to a negation, that is, infinite nothing, is absurd. Infinite deadness, infinite weakness, infinite ignorance, makes the perfections which are thus infinitely denied, again impossible. Lastly, they must be undivided, as well as unlimited, for the same reasons, which it is almost needless to repeat. Division is limitation. It is their nature to be united. They could not have divided themselves. Infinite power, or infinite knowledge, could not have been divided, and thereby lessened itself. This is again both morally and physically impossible. And as there was nothing else in nature, they could not have been divided: we must still remember that their contraries are nothing, and could not make a part of nature. But, as Mr. Maclaurin observes, the plain argument for the existence of the Deity, obvious to all, and carrying irresistible conviction with it, is from the evident contrivance and fitness of things for one another, which we meet with throughout all parts of the universe. There is no need of nice or subtle reasonings in this matter; a manifest contrivance immediately suggests a contriver. It strikes us like a sensation, and artful reasonings against it may puzzle us, bat without shaking our belief. No person, for example, that knows the princi ples of optics and the structure of the eye can believe that it was formed without skill in that science, or that the ear was formed without the knowledge of sounds, or that the male and female, in animals, were not formed for each other, and for continuing the species. All our accounts of nature are full of instances of this kind. The admirable and beautiful structure of things for final causes, exalt our idea of the contriver: the unity of design shows him to be one. The great motions in the system, perforined with the same facility as the least, suggest his almighty power, which gave motion to the earth and the celestial bodies with equal ease as to the minutest particles. The subtilty of the motions and actions in the internal parts of bodies, shows that his influence penetrates the inmost recesses of things, and that he is equally active and present every where. The simplicity of the laws that prevail in the world, the excellent disposition of things in order to obtain the best ends, and the beauty which adorns the works of nature, far superior to any thing in art, suggest his consummate wisdoni. The usefulness of the whole scheme, so well contrived for the intelligent beings that enjoy it, with the internal disposition and moral structure of those beings themselves, show his unbounded goodness. These are the arguments which are sufficiently open to the views and capacities of the unlearned; while, at the same time, they acquire new strength and lustre from the discoveries of the learned. The Deity's acting and interposing in the universe show that he governs as well as formed it; and the depth of his counsels, even in conducting the material universe, of which a great part surpasses our knowledge, keep up an inward veneration and awe of this great being, and dispose us to receive what may be otherwise revealed to us concerning him. It has been justly observed that some of the laws of nature now known to us must have escaped us if we had wanted the sense of seeing. It may be in his power to bestow upon us other senses, of which we have at present no idea; without which it may be impossible for us to know all his works, or to have more adequate ideas of himself. In our present state we know enough to be satisfied of our dependency upon him, and of the duty we owe to him, the Lord and Disposer of all things. He is not the object of sense; his essence, and indeed that of all other substances, is beyond the reach of all our discoveries but his attributes clearly appear in his admirable works. We know that the highest conceptions we are able to form of them are still beneath his real perfections: but his power and dominion over us, and our duty towards him, are manifest. Though God has given us no innate ideas of himself," says Mr. Locke, "yet having furnished us with those faculties our minds are endowed with, he hath not left himself without a witness since we have sense, perception, and reason, and cannot want a clear proof of him, as long as we carry ourselves about us. To show, therefore, that we are capable of knowing, that is, being certain that there is a God, and how we may come by this certainty, I think we need go no further than ourselves, and that undoubted knowledge we have of our own existence. I think it is beyond question that man has a clear perception of his own being; he knows certainly that he exists, and that he is something. In the next place, man knows, by an intuitive certainty, that bare nothing cau no more produce any real being than it can be equal to two right angles. If, therefore, we know there is some real being, it is an evident demonstration, that from eternity there has been something: since what was not from eternity had a beginning, and what had a beginning must be produced by something else. Next it is evident that what has its being from nother, must also have all that which is in and belongs to its being from another too: all the powers it has must be owing to, and received from, the same source. This eternal source then of all beings, must be also the source and original of all power; and so this eternal being must be also the most powerful. "Again, man finds in himself perception and knowledge: we are certain then that there is not only some being, but some knowing intelligent being, in the world. There was a time then when there was no knowing being, or else there has been a knowing being from eternity. If it be said, there was a time when that eternal being had no knowledge; I reply, that then it is impossible there shou'd have ever been any knowledge; it being as impossible that things wholly void of knowledge, and operating blindly, and without any perception, should produce a knowing being, as it is impossible that a triangle should make itself three angles bigger than two right ones. Thus, from the consideration of ourselves, and what we infallibly find in our own constitutions, our reason leads us to the knowledge of this certain and evident truth, that there is an eternal, most powerful, and knowing Being, which whether any one will call God, it matters not. The thing is evident; and from this idea, duly considered, will easily be deduced all those other attributes we ought to ascribe to this eternal Being. "From what has been said, it is plain to me, that we have a more certain knowledge of the existence of a God than of any thing our senses have not immediately discovered to us. Nay, I presume I may say, that we more certainly know that there is a God, than that there is any thing else without us. When I say we know, I mean there is such a knowledge within our reach which we cannot miss, if we will but apply our minds to that as we do to seve ral other enquiries. "It being then unavoidable for all rational creatures to conclude that something has existed from eternity, let us next see what kind of a thing that must be. There are but two sorts of beings in the world that man knows or conceives; such as are purely material, without sense or perception; and sensible perceiving beings, such as we find ourselves to be. These two sorts we shall call cogitative and incogitative beings; which, to our present purpose, are better than material and immaterial. "If then there must be something eternal, it is very obvious to reason that it must necessarily be a cogitative being; because it is as impossible to conceive that bare incogitative matter should ever produce a thinking intelligent being, as that nothing of itself should produce matter. Let us suppose any parcel of matter eternal, we shall find it in itself unable to produce any thing. Let us suppose its parts firmly at rest together; if there were no other being in the world, must it not eternally remain so, a dead unactive lump? is it possible to conceive that it can add motion to itself, or produce any thing? Matter then, by its own strength, cannot produce in itself so much as motion. The motion it has must also be from eternity, or else added to matter by some other being more powerful than matter. But let us suppose motion eternal too; but yet matter, incogitative matter, and motion could never produce thought. Knowledge will still be as far beyond the power of nothing to produce Divide matter into as minute parts as you will, vary its figure and motion as much as you please, it will operate no otherwise upon other bodies, of proportionable bulk, than it did before this division. The minutest particles of matter repel and resist one another just as the greater do, and that is all they can do; so that if we suppose nothing eternal, matter can never begin to be; if we suppose bare matter without motion eternal, motion can never begin to be; if we suppose only matter and motion eternal, thought can never begin to be; for it is impossible to conceive that matter, either with or without motion, could have, originally in and from itself, sense, perception, and knowledge, as is evident from hence, that then sense, perception, and knowledge, must be a property eternally inseparable from matter, and every particle of it. Since, therefore, whatsoever is the first eternal being, must necessarily be cogitative; and whatsoever is first of all things must necessarily contain in it, and actually have, at least, all the perfections that can ever after exist; it necessarily follows that the first eternal being cannot be matter. If, therefore, it be evident, that something must necessarily exist from eternity, it is also as evident that that something must be a cogitative being. For it is as impossible that incogitative matter should produce a cogitative being, as that nothing, or the negation of all being, should produce a positive being or matter. "This discovery of the necessary existence of an eternal mind sufficiently leads us to the knowledge of God; for it will hence follow that all other knowing beings that have a beginning must depend on him, and have no other ways of knowledge, or extent of power, than what he gives thein; and, therefore, if he made those, he made also the less excellent pieces of this universe, all inanimate bodies, whereby his omniscience, power, and providence, will be established; and from thence all his other attributes necessarily follow." The existence of God is also farther evinced by those arguments which have been usually alleged to prove, that the world had a beginning, and, therefore, that it must have been created by the energy of divine power. In proof of this, the history of Moses, considered merely as the most ancient historian, deserves particular regard. His testimony is confirmed by the most ancient writers among the heathens, both poets and historians. It may be also fairly alleged, that we have no history or tradition more ancient than that which agrees with the received opinion of the world's beginning, and of the manner in which it was produced; and that the most ancient histories were written long after that time. And this consideration is urged by Lucretius, the famous Epicurean, as a strong presumption that the world had a beginning: Whence, ere the Theban war, and fate of Troy, Have earlier bards no earlier action sung? GOOD. Besides, the origin and progress of learning, and the most useful arts, as is also observed by the same poet, confirm the notion of the world's beginning, and of the common æra of its creation to which also may be added, that the world itself, being material and corruptible, must have had a beginning; and many phænomena occur to the observation of the astronomer and natural historian, which furnish a strong presumption, that it could have had no long duration, and that it gradually tends to dissolution. From all these considerations we may infer the existence, attributes, and providence of God. The enquiring reader may farther consult, on this interesting topic, Baxter's Matho, vol. i., Clarke on the Attributes, Paley's Natural Theology, Hartley on Man, Doddridge's Lectures on Pneumatology, &c. Bishop Hamilton's works, vol. ii., O. Gregory's Astronomy, the concluding chapter, Brown's Compendious view of Natural and Revealed Religion, and Barrow on the Apostles' Creed. See also our articles ATTRIBUTES, CHRISTIANITY, PROVIDENCE, RELIGION, THEOLOGY, &c. And for the doctrine of three persons in one God, the article TRINITY. God is also used in speaking of the false deities of the heathens, many of which were only creatures to which divine honours and worship were superstitiously paid. The Greeks and Latins, it is observable, did not mean by the name of God an all-perfect being, whereof eternity, infinity, omnipresence, &c. were essential attributes; with them, the word only implied an excellent and superior nature, and accordingly they give the appellation gods to all beings of a rank or class higher or more perfect than that of men, and especially to those who were inferior agents in the divine administra tion, all subject to the one Supreme. Thus men themselves, according to their system, might become gods after death; inasmuch as their souls might attain to a degree of excellence superior to what they were capable of in life. The first divines, father Bossu observes, were the poets: the two functions, though now separated, were originally combined. Now the great variety of attributes in God, that is, the number of relations, capacities, and circumstances, wherein they had occasion to consider him, put these poets, &c. under a necessity of making a partition, and of separating the divine attributes into several persons; because the weakness of the human mind could not conceive so much power and action in the simplicity of one single divine nature. Thus the omnipotence of God came to be represented under the person and appellation of Jupiter; the wisdom of God under that_of Minerva; the justice of God under that of Juno. The first idols or false gods that are said to have been adored were the stars, sun, moon, &c. on account of the light, heat, and other benefits, which we derive from them. Afterwards the earth came to be deified, for furnish ing fruits necessary for the subsistence of men and animals; then fire and water became objects of divine worship, for their usefulness to human life. In process of time, and by degrees, gods became multiplied to infinity; and there was scarce any thing but the weakness or caprice of some devotee or other elevated into the rank of deity; things useless or even destructive not excepted. See D11 and My THOLOGY. To GOD. v. a. (from the noun.) To deify; to exalt to divine honours (Shakspeare). GODALMING, a town in Surrey, with a market on Saturdays. It is seated on the Wey. Lat. 51. 13 N. Lon. 0. 34 W. GODAVERY, or GUNGA, or GODOURY, a river of Hindustan, which rises about seventy miles north-east Bombay, and falls into the Bay of Bengal by several mouths, between lon. 81.40 and 82. 30 E. Greenwich; lat. 16. 20 and 16. 50 N. This river is reckoned sacred by the Hindoos. GODBOTE, in our old customs, a church fine. GO'DCHILD. s. (god and child.) A term of spiritual relation; one for whom one became sponsor at baptism, and promised to see educated as a christian. GODDAUGHTER. s. (god and daugher.) A girl for whom one became sponsor at baptism. GODDARD (Jonathan), an English physician and chemist, was born at Greenwich about 1617. He was educated at Oxford, and having studied physic at that university, he went abroad. On his return he took his doctor's degree, and in 1646 he was chosen a fellow of the college of physicians, and the following year was appointed lecturer in anatomy to that society. He was greatly patronized by Cromwell, by whom he was made head physician to the army, and afterwards appointed warden of Merton college, and one of the council of state. On the restoration, Dr. Goddard was removed from his wardenship by the king. He then removed to Gresham college, where he had been chosen professor of physic in 1655. He now constantly attended those meetings in which the royal society originated; and on the incorporation of that body, by royal charter, in 1663, he was nominated one of the first council. He was deemed an able practitioner, and so conscientious that he constantly prepared his own medicines. He died in 1674. Bishop Ward says, that Dr. Goddard was the first Englishman who made a telescope.. GODDESS, a heathen divinity, to whom the female sex is attributed. The ancients had nearly as many goddesses as gods: for under this character they represented the virtues, graces, and principal advantages of life; as truth, justice, piety, fortune, victory, &c. GODDES-LIKE. a. Resembling a goddess (Pope). GODEAU (Anthony), a French bishop, was born in 1605. He was one of those who met at the house of M. Conrart to converse on polite literature, and communicate their productions, which society gave rise to the French academy of belles-lettres, of which Godean was one of the first members. Cardinal Richelieu gave him the bishopric of Grasse, which he afterwards relinquished for that of Venice; at which place he died in 1671. He wrote an Ecclesiastical History, in 3 vols. folio; and a Translation of the Psalms into French verse. GODFATHERS, and GODMOTHERS, persons who, at the baptism of infants, answer for their future conduct; and by this means lay themselves under an obligation, which ought to be reckoned indispensable, to instruct them, or to watch closely their actions. This custom is of great antiquity in the Christian church, and was probably instituted to prevent children being brought up in idolatry, in case their parents died before they arrived at years of discretion. GODFATHERS, was also a term anciently given to a kind of seconds who attended and assisted the knights in tournaments. GODHEAĎ. s. (from god.) 1. Godship; deity; divinity; divine nature (Milton). 2. A deity in person; a god or goddess (Dryden). GO'DLESS. a. (from god.) Without sense of duty to God; atheistical; wicked; irreli gious; impious (Dryden). GO'DLIKE. a. (god and like.) Divine ; resembling a divinity; supremely excellent (Milton). "GODLING, s. (from god.) A little divini ty; a diminutive god (Dryden). GO'DLINESS. s. (from godly.) 1. Piety to God. 2. General observation of all the duties prescribed by religion (Hooker). GO'DLY. a. (from god.) 1. Pious towards God (Common Prayer). 2. Good; righteous; religious (Psalms). GO'DLY. ad. Piously; righteously (Hook.). GOʻDLYHEAD. s. (from godly.) Goodness; righteousness (Spenser). GODMANCHESTER, a large village (or, according to some, a borough) of Huntingdonshire, parted from Huntingdon by the river Ouse. It is seated in a rich and fertile soil, which yields great plenty of corn. Here is a school called The free grammar school of queen Elizabeth. When James 1. came through this place from Scotland, the inhabitants met him with 70 new ploughs, drawn by as many teams of horses; in pursuance of the tenure by which they hold their land. GODMOTHER. s. (God and mother.) A woman who has undertaken sponsion in infant baptism. GODSHIP. s. (from god.) The rank or character of a god; deity; divinity (Prior). GO'DSON. s. (god and son.) One for whom one has been sponsor at the font (Shakspeare). GODSTOW, a place northwest of Oxford, in a sort of island formed by the divided streams of the Isis after being joined by the Evenlode. It is noted for fish, and their excellent manner of dressing them; but more so for the ruins of that nunnery which fair Rosamond quitted for the embraces of Henry II. GO'DWARD.a.To Godwardis toward God. GODWIN SANDS, sandbanks off the coast of Kent, between the N. and S. Foreland. They run parallel with the coast for three leagues, at about two and a half leagues distance, and add to the security of the capacious roads, The Downs. These sands occupy the space that was formerly a large tract of low ground, belonging to Godwin, earl of Kent, father of King Harold; and which being afterwards given to the monastery of St. Augustin, at Canterbury, the abbot neglecting to keep in repair the wall that defended it from the sea, the whole tract was drowned in the year 1100, leaving these sands, upon which many ships have been wrecked. GO'DYELD. GO'DYIELD. ad. (corrupted from God shield, or protect). GOEL. a. (golep, Saxon.) Yellow(Tusser). GO'ER. s. (from go.) 1. One that goes; a runner (Shakspeare.) 2. A walker; one that has a gait or mauner of walking good or bad (Wotton). GOES, or TER GOES, the capital of South Beveland, in Zealand, one of the United Provinces. Lat. 51. 33. N. Lon. 3. 50 E. GOG, and MAGOG, the former signifying literally, the roof of a house, the latter, covering, are mentioned Ezekiel xxxviii and xxxix. and Rev. xx. and are, by most interpreters, taken in an allegorical sense for such princes and people as were enemies to the church and saints. Gog was prince of Magog, according to Ezekiel, and Magog the country or people; Magog is said to be second son of Japheth, Gen. x. 2. without mentioning Gog, whom Bochart places in the neighbourhood of Caucasus, which he calls Gogchasan, i. e. the fortress of Gog. To GOGGLE. v. n. To look asquint. GOGGLE-EYED. a. (goeglegen, Saxon). Squint-eyed; not looking straight (Ascham). GOGUET (Antony-Yves), a French writer, and author of a celebrated work, intitled, L'Origine des Loix, des Arts, des Sciences, & de leur Progres chez les anciens Peuples, 1758, 3 vols. 4to. His father was an advocate, and he was born at Paris in 1716. He was very unpromising as to abilities, and reckoned even dull in his early years; but his understanding developing itself, he applied to letters, and at length produced the above work. The reputation he gained by it was great but he en GODWIN (Mary Wollstonecroft), an ingenious writer, was born at Beverley in Yorkshire, in 1768. Her father was of a roving temper, and thereby considerably impaired his finances. In the 24th year of her age she opened a day-school at Islington, which was soon after transferred to Newington-green. She had for a partner a young lady to whom she was strongly attached, whom she accompanied in 1785 to Lisbon. On her return to England she entered into the family of lord KingsboTough, as governess to his daughters; in which, however, she remained but a short time. In 1787 she again settled in the metropolis, and had recourse to her pen for subsistence. She published a little work, intitled, Original Stories from real Life, for the use of children; translated some works from the French and German; and had some concern in the Analytical Review. In 1790 she published an answer to Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution, and the year following her Vindication of the Rights of Women. In 1792 she went to Paris, and there formed an unfortunate connec-joyed it a very short time; dying the same year tion with an American named Imlay, by by whom she had a daughter. For him she undertook a voyage to Norway to regulate some commercial concerns. This tour occasioned her Letters from Scandinavia. On her arrival in England she found herself forsaken by this man, on whom she had placed an unrequited love. In this state of distress she resolved to destroy herself, and accordingly plunged into the Thames from Putney-bridge. She was saved, however, from the water, and restored to life. In 1796 she was married to Mr. William Godwin, the well-known author of an Enquiry concerning Political Justice, and other works. She died in childbirth in August 1797, and was buried in St. Pancras church-yard. Since her death have been published her posthumous works, consisting of Letters and Fragments; in which we meet with some true touches of nature, but they are disgraced with the intermixture of many expressions which are too indelicate, not only for the public eye, but even for private letters of the most confidential nature. This lady possessed strong and original powers of mind, but her notions, particularly on political and religious subjects, were frequently wild, visionary, and romantic. GODWIT, in ornithology. See SCOLO PAX. of the small pox, which disorder it seems he always dreaded. It is remarkable that Conrad Fugere, to whom he left his library and his MSS. was so deeply affected with the death of his friend, as to die himself three days after him. The above work has been translated into English, and published in 3 vols. 8vo. GOGMAGOG HILLS, four miles E. of Cambridge, are the most elevated in the county, and afford a good prospect from their summit. They are noted for the entrenchments and other works cast up there, whence some suppose they were the site of a Roman camp. 'GOING. s. (from go.) 1. The act of walking (Shakspeare).) 2.Pregnancy (Grew.). 3. Departure (Milton). GO'LA. s. The same with CYMATIUM. GOLCONDA, a country of the Decan of Hindoostan, situated between the lower parts of the rivers Kisna and Godavery, and the principal parts of Dowlatabad. It was formerly called Tellingana, or Tilling, and is now subject to the Nizam of the Decan. Itabounds in corn, rice, and cattle; but it is most remarkable for its diamond mines, the most considerable in the world. The black merchants buy parcels of ground to search for these precious stones in. They sometimes fai! in meeting with any, and in others they find immense riches. They have also mines of salt, |