child, and be to it a spiritual father and a guide in
the road of salvation."

Reply Obj. 1: Christ was baptized not that He might be regenerated,
but that He might regenerate others: wherefore after His Baptism He
needed no tutor like other children.

Reply Obj. 2: In carnal generation nothing is essential besides a
father and a mother: yet to ease the latter in her travail, there is
need for a midwife; and for the child to be suitably brought up there
is need for a nurse and a tutor: while their place is taken in
Baptism by him who raises the child from the sacred font.
Consequently this is not essential to the sacrament, and in a case of
necessity one alone can baptize with water.

Reply Obj. 3: It is not on account of bodily weakness that the
baptized is raised from the sacred font by the godparent, but on
account of spiritual weakness, as stated above.
_______________________

EIGHTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 67, Art. 8]

Whether He Who Raises Anyone from the Sacred Font Is Bound to
Instruct Him?

Objection 1: It seems that he who raises anyone from the sacred font
is not bound to instruct him. For none but those who are themselves
instructed can give instruction. But even the uneducated and
ill-instructed are allowed to raise people from the sacred font.
Therefore he who raises a baptized person from the font is not bound
to instruct him.

Obj. 2: Further, a son is instructed by his father better than by a
stranger: for, as the Philosopher says (Ethic. viii), a son receives
from his father, "being, food, and education." If, therefore,
godparents are bound to instruct their godchildren, it would be
fitting for the carnal father, rather than another, to be the
godparent of his own child. And yet this seems to be forbidden, as
may be seen in the Decretals (xxx, qu. 1, Cap. Pervenit and Dictum
est).

Obj. 3: Further, it is better for several to instruct than for one
only. If, therefore, godparents are bound to instruct their
godchildren, it would be better to have several godparents than only
one. Yet this is forbidden in a decree of Pope Leo, who says: "A
child should not have more than one godparent, be this a man or a
woman."

_On the contrary,_ Augustine says in a sermon for Easter (clxviii):
"In the first place I admonish you, both men and women, who have
raised children in Baptism, that ye stand before God as sureties for
those whom you have been seen to raise from the sacred font."

_I answer that,_ Ever