GOD 



controverfy to wiiich we liavc referred, ar.d by his fuffefingb 

 in vindication of his favourite doftrine. In the year 1 650, 

 the celebrated Ma^'iiin pubhihed at Paris, in two volumes 

 4to. a collection of the early treatiies. produced on boih 

 liies of this controverfy, entitled " Veterum Auaorum qui 

 iiono fxculo de Prscdcllinatione ct Gratia fcripferunt, &c." 

 GOD-FAT HLRS, and God-Woiuers, perfons who 

 direft and attend at the baptifm of infants, or other per- 

 fons; who give the name, and who become furctics for the 

 faith and good conduft of the infant baptized. Hence they 

 are called Jiij'ccptnrs, or more commonly fpoiijors. To this 

 purpofe Dr. Nichols, (Def. part ii. p. 273.) fays, that 

 •' the fureties in baptifm religioully engage for the faitli of 

 the baptized ; that they fliall finccrcly believe all that is re- 

 vealed in the gofpel, and fliall direct the fiibfequent aftions 

 of their lives by the laws of Chrill." Againll this practice 

 Proteftant difTenters have alleged, that the parents, to whom 

 both God and nature have committed the education o£ their 

 child, are the proper perfons to Hand forth at its baptifm, 

 and take upon them this great and important truft ; and to 

 bind therafelves by a folemn vow faithfully to difcharge it. 

 They objeft to tlie order and praftice of the ellabhfhcd 

 church, that without fufficient authority from reafon, or 

 fcripture, or the ancient pratlice of the Chrillian churcli, 

 paretits are fet afide in this folemnity, and forbidden to 

 Hand forth, and take upon them this great charge to which 

 God hath called them. For the 29th canon exprefsly com- 

 mands, " that no parent fhall be urged to be prcfent at his 

 child's baptifm, nor be admitted to anfwer as god-father for 

 his own child.'' They alfo objeft, that the forms of the 

 church Ihould require other perlons to appear inllead of the 

 parents, and to take upon them this important trull, and 

 Cioil folemnly to promife before God and the church the 

 performance of that, which few of them ever do, or per- 

 haps ever intended to perform, or are capable of perform- 

 ing. It has been pleaded, and even generally allowed, that 

 fp jiifors in baptifm were not known or thought of in the 

 primitive apoilolic church. Tertulhau, who hved about 

 A.D. 200, feems to have been the lirft of all Chrillian wri- 

 ters w!io mentions perfons of this delcription : " What 

 neceffity is there,'' fays he, (De Baptilni.) "that fponfors 

 fhould expofe themfelves to danger, who, through death, 

 may fail of the performance of their promifes, or may be 

 deceived by the wicked difpoiilion of t'lofe for whom they 

 promife.'' " Wliether the ufe of fponfors was from the 

 apollles' days," (fays lord King, in his Enquiry into tlie 

 Conllitution, &c. of tlie Primitive Church,) " I cannot de- 

 termine, unlefs the negative may be conjedlured from .TuiUn 

 Martyr, TcrtuUian's fenior by 50 years, who, wlien he 

 Enumerates the method and form of baptilm, fays not one 

 word of fponfors or god-fathers, as may be feen in his fecond 

 apology, p. 93, 94.'' St.Aullin, one of the earliell of 

 Chrillian writers who mention fponfors, who lived about 

 .'V.D. 390, informs us when, and upon wliat occafion, thefe 

 fponfors were admitted: " A great many,"' fays he, " are 

 offtred to baptifm, not by their parents, but by others, as 

 intant-.laves are fometimes offered by their mailers; and 

 fomctiraes' when the parents otc dey.d, the infants are bap- 

 tized, being 'offei-cd by any wiio can afford to Ihew this coni- 

 piidioa to them. AikI fonietimes infants, whom their 

 -parents ha VT cruelly e.ypofed, to be brought up by thofe 

 who iigiit on tliem, 'arc now and then taken up by the holy 

 ■virgin?, and offered to baptifm by tliem who liave no chil- 

 drea of their own, nor delign to have any." Upon thefe 

 words of A'-iilin, Dr. Wall ingenuoully confe}Tes, (Hiil. 

 ii:i'. B'?pt. yo\. I.) " Here w-c lee die ordmn/y ufe there was 



GOD 



iot pannts to anfwer for the cliildren ; but yet that thi,^ wa^ 

 not counted fo nece/fary, as that a child could not be bap- 

 tized without it." Hence it has been inferred, tlial parenH 

 were never let afide, when they were capable and v.ilhng to 

 ofter their children; and that only in cafes of the incapacity 

 of parents, were fponfors admitted; and in all Inch cafes, 

 provided that the practice be not enforced as a Chrillian i]i- 

 llitution, and as abfolutely indifpenlable, the dilfenler,;, we 

 conceive, could nor rcalonably object to it. Mr.Wheatly, 

 a well-known writer on the Common Prayer, obferves, that 

 the god-fathers and god-mothers of perfon; baptized at 

 riper years " are only appointed as 'zvUtte^/is of the engagi-- 

 ment, and undertake no more than to remind them hereafter 

 of the vow and profeflion, which they made in their pre- 

 fence." And yet our church catcchilm exprefaly alferts, 

 and repeats the affertion, tliat the Iponlors, engaging for 

 //^i;n/j, engage, that they fliall believe and repent; for the 

 infants are faid to promife both thefe things by their lure- 

 ties. Free and Candid Dilquilitions, p. 131. 



The number of god-fathers and god-mothers is now re- 

 duced to tliree in the church ot England, and two in that of 

 Rome: anciently, they had as many as they picafed. 



The Romanills have alfo god-fathers and god-mother9 

 at their conlirmation. They even give-god-fathers. Sec. to 

 bells, at their baptifm. 



Among the ancients it was the cuftom for perfons of qua- 

 lity to have others of like quality cut their children's hair 

 the firft time; by whicli they became reputed a fort of god- 

 fathers: and the like was praclifed with regard to the hair 

 of tlie beard. 



GoD-F.-^THEii wa.s alfo a name anciently given to a kind 

 of feconds, who attended and alfilled the knights in tourna- 

 ments, or lingle combats. 



The god-fathers of duels were a kind of advocates, wlio 

 were chofen by the two parties, to reprelent the realons of 

 their combat to the judges. 



Something of this kind was long retained at folemn 

 caroufals. There were two or more in each quadrill. Slc 

 Qu.^DniLL. 



The inllitution of god-fathers and god-mothers, patrimi 

 and malrimi, is originally Roman. They are faid to have 

 been people who, in the games of the Circus, attended th^J 

 chariots, fliows, and images, of the gods. Cicero makes 

 mention of them, iu his oration De Harufpicum Refponfis. 

 Their office was much like that of the children in fome 

 Roniilh ceremonies, wlio are drefTed in the habit of angels, 

 to ilrew flowers, bear incenfe-pots, lights, &;c. and accom- 

 pany the relics and images ef faints. 



GODFREY of Bouillon, in Biography, celebrated for 

 the part which he took in the lirll crulade, and king of 

 .lerufalem, was the fon of Eullace II., count of Boulogne. 

 The appellation of Bouillon was derived from his lordlhip of 

 that name in the Ardennes. In his youth he ferved in the armies 

 of Henry IV., wlio, as a reward of his valour and fidehiy, 

 conferred upon him tlie title of duke of Lorrain. V/hen 

 the religious enthufiafm of the times fet on foot an expedi- 

 tion for the recovery of tlie Holy Land from the pcflcflioa' 

 of the Saracens, Godfrey was one of the earliell and iroft 

 illuflrious of the princes who took the crofs. The corr- 

 mand of the principal army was cntrufted to his care, 

 and it is agreed that none among tlie leaders were ac- 

 tuated by purer motives than Godfrey. He gaye a diftin- 

 guilhing proof of the dilintereltednefs of his conduct, by 

 incriliciag almoll all his property to defray the ncceflary 

 cxpenccs of the evpedition. Godfrey fet out in the autumn 

 cf 1096;, and proceeded with his holl through Germany 



and' 



