GOG
628
GOLDEN
God. Goffine himself states that he had taken St.
Norbert, the founder of his order, as his model, "be-
cause St. Norbert cared and worked so much for the
salvation of souls." Observing that so manj' had
gone astray through ignorance of Catholic doctrine, he
was most anxious and always ready to instruct the peo-
ple, both old and j'oung, for whose benefit he wrote and
published no fewer than ten books. While he was at
Coesfeld he wrote his well-known work, " Handpostille
oder Christkatholische Unterrichtungen auf alle Sonn
und Feyer-tagen des ganzen Jahrs" (brief commen-
taries in the form of question and answer on the
Proper of the Mass, principally on the Epistle and
Gospel of the day). This book was ready in 1087,
and in 1088 it received the imprimatur of the Vicar-
General of Miinster, and in 1090 the approbation of
Rev. WiUiam Heimbach, Norbertine prior of Meer,
and of Rev. John Dirking, Rector of the Jesuit college
of Hildesheim. The first edition, printed at Mayence
in 1690, was soon exhausted, and a second edition was
printed at Cologne in 1692. Since then other editions
have appeared at short intervals, and it is said that
hardly any book, with the exception of the " Imitation
of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, has had as many
editions and translations as Goffine's "Handpostille".
As far as can be ascertained translations have been
made into Moravian, Bohemian, Htmgarian, English,
French, Italian, and Flemish.
A writer in " Le Magasin Catholique lUustre", says of the worth of this book; "How many souls has this book not saved and preserved from error, during the last two centuries that it has been known in Germany? Here is an instance: Wherever in this classical land of Protestantism this book has become popular, the door was shut to heres}'. Goffine's instructions, the like of which we have nothing in France, gives the dogmatic, moral, and liturgical teaching of the Church", etc. As Father Hattler, S.J., writes: "The child reads from it, for father and mother; the bride is presented with it on the day of her wedding; it is given to the emigrant when he leaves his country for the New World." Goffine also published the following books: (1) " Ausle- gung der Regel des heiligen Augustinus" (Cologne, 1692); (2) "Trostbuch in Trilbsalen " (Cologne) ; (3) Cibus animse matutinalis, etc." (Cologne, 1705); (4) "Sermons for the w-hole j'ear", 2 vols. (Nuremberg, 1705); (5) "Erklarung des Katecbismi Petri Canisii" (Cologne, 1712); (6) " Die Lehre Christi " (Cologne, 1715); (7) "Kleiner Kinder-katechismus" (Cologne, 1717); (8) "Der Wiichter des gotthchen Worts" (Cologne, 1718); (9) "Praxes Sacra; sen modus expli- candi cseremonias per annum" (Frankfort, 1719).
LiENHARDT. SpiHtus Literarius Norbert. (Augsburg, 1771) ; Hartzheim, Bibliothec. Colon, (Cologne, 1747), 222; Rasz- MANN, Nachrichten von dem Leben nnd den Schriften Munsterldnd- ischer Schriftstdler (Miinster, 1S86). 127-8; Hundhadsen in Kirchentex., s. v.; Hattler, pref. Ger. ed. (Ratisbon, 1891); Maga^n Catholique Illustre, 1856, 74-75; B.iRSCH, Das Prdmon. Munchskloster (Steinfeld, 1857), 23-24; Goovaerts, Diet. Bio- bibl. de I'Ordrede Prcmonlrc, s. \. p. M. GeUDENS.
Gog and Magog. — Names, respectively, of a king and of his supposed kingdom, mentioned several times in chapters .xxxviii and xxxix of the Book of Ezechiel, and once in the Apocalyp.se (xx, 7). In the first passage of Ezechiel we read the command of Yahweh to the prophet : " Son of man, set thy face against Gog the land of Magog . . . and prophesy of him . . .Be- hold, I come agamst thee, O Gog, the chief prince of [C'SI, Vulg. caput, Sept. 'Pus] Mosoch and Thubal" (.xxxviii, 2, 3). A similar command is found also at the beginning of chapter xxxix. These two chapters contain repeated reference to Gog and Magog, but they furnish only vague and uncertain indications as to the identity of the ruler or the location of the coun- try. In chapter xxxviii Gog is represented (verses 5 and G) as being accompanied in his invasion of the land of Israel by the Persians, Ethiopians, and Libyans, Gomer, and . . . the house of Thogorma; and in verse
15 we read: "And thou shaft come out of thy place
from the northern parts". From the number and
variety of the peoples mentioned in this connection
some writers have inferred that the name Gog may be
only a generic appellation, or figure, used in Ezechiel
to designate the host of the enemies of Israel, and in the
Apocalypse to denote the multitude of the foes of the
Church. Others conjecture that it may be a local
title expressing the royal dignity, such, for instance,
as the name Pharaoh in Egypt. But it seems more
probable that both names are historical ; and by some
scholars Gog is identified with the Lydian king called
by the Greeks Gyges, who appears as Gu-gu on the
Assyrian inscriptions. If this be true, Magog should
be identified with Lydia. On the other hand, as
Mosoch and Thubal were nations belonging to Asia
Minor, it would seem from the text of Ezechiel that
Magog must be in that part of the world. Finally,
others with Josephus identify Magog with Scythia,
but in antiquity this name was used to designate
vaguely any northern population.
Legendre in Vic, Diet, de la Bible, s. v.; ViGOUROux, Man- nel Bibliqiie. lOth ed. (Paris, 1896), II, 748; Sayce in Hast., Diet, of the Bible, s. v. JaMES F. DriSCOLL.
Golden Calf. — An object of worship among the Hebrews, mention of which occurs principally in Ex., xxxii, where the story of the molten calf of Aaron is narrated, and in III Kings, xii (cf. II Par., xi), in con- nexion with the policy of Jeroboam after the schism of the ten tribes. Various reasons make it probable that the rendering " calf" is not to be taken in a strict sense, for the Hebrew term ^JJ? has a wider significa- tion, and it is likely that in the i)resent case it stands for a young bullock just arrived at maturity. Waiv- ing all critical discussion as to the sources embodied in Ex., xxxii, the main features of the present narrative are as follows: Becoming impatient at Moses' long delay on the mount, the people ask Aaron to make them a god (D'H^N) or gods to go before them. He yields to their solicitations, and, making use of the golden earrings of the women and children, he causes a " molten calf" or bull to be fashioned. Shortly after its construction Moses returns, and, moved to wrath and indignation, destroys the idol, reducing it to dust and throwing it uito the brook from which the Israel- ites are made to drink. After the schism of the ten tribes, Jeroboam, fearing that the regular pilgrimages of the people of the northern kingdom to Jertisalem would endanger their political allegiance to himself, resorted to the natural expedient of furnishing them with a substitute for the sanctuary of the Temple (III Kings, xii); and he set up two golden calves, one in Bethel and the other in Dan. As to their construction information is lacking, but it is likely that they were life-sized bull figures constructed after the fashion of the one mentioned above . It seems also probable th at they were intended as symbols of Yahweh, for, thus considered, they would be more effective in attract- ing the pious Israelites who were accustomed to go to Jerusalem.
Most writers have accepted the view of Philo and the early Fathers, who regarded the worship of the golden calves as borrowed from the Egyptians, and in favour of this opinion is the fact that both Aaron and Jero- boam had sojourned in Egypt shortly before con- structing their respective idols; this view, however, has its difficulties, among which is the improbability of an Egyptian deity being set up as the god "who brought "Israel out of the land of Egypt". Hence, some recent scholars are inclined to seek the origin of the Hebrew bull worship in the conditions and sur- roundings of the Israelites as an agricultural people, for whom the bull was naturally an appropriate symbol of strength and vital energy.
Kennedy in Hast.. Dirt, of the Bible, s. v. Calf; Gigot, Out- lines of Jewish History, 72, 243.
James F. Dhiscoll.
