pacy. The Rev. Archibald Boyd [q. v.], then curate in Derry Cathedral, subsequently dean of Exeter, had issued ‘Sermons on the Church’ in 1838, in which he attacked presbyterianism. In 1839 four ministers of the synod of Ulster, of whom Goudy was one, published a reply entitled ‘Presbyterianism Defended, and the Arguments of Modern Advocates of Prelacy examined and refuted.’ The other authors were the Revs. W. D. Killen of Raphoe, afterwards professor of church history in the assembly's college, Belfast, William McClure and James Denham, ministers in Londonderry. Boyd having replied in a book entitled ‘Episcopacy, Ordination, Lay Eldership, and Liturgies, in five letters,’ the four ministers published ‘The Plea of Presbytery,’ which soon became a standard work on the subject. This Boyd reviewed in ‘Misrepresentation Refuted,’ which called forth ‘Mene Tekel’ from the four ministers. The last work in the controversy was by Boyd, and was entitled ‘Episcopacy and Presbytery.’ Goudy's part in this battle of the books was very ably done. Shortly after he took a large share in the agitation caused by a decision of the House of Lords (elicited by an appeal from the Irish courts), which affirmed the invalidity of a marriage celebrated by a presbyterian minister, where one of the parties was an episcopalian, an agitation which was ended by the passing of the Marriages (Ireland) Act (7 & 8 Victoria, chap. 81), which legalises all such marriages. From this time Goudy took rank as one of the leading debaters in his church, and had a prominent part in all its business. In 1851 he received the degree of D.D. from Jefferson College, U.S. In 1857 he became moderator of the general assembly. He died unexpectedly in Dublin 14 Dec. 1858. In addition to the works mentioned above he published several sermons and pamphlets.
[Life of Dr. Goudy by Professors Croskery and Witherow; newspaper reports.]
GOUGE, ROBERT (1631?–1705), independent divine, was born, according to Calamy, at Chelmsford, Essex, and sent to Christ's College, Cambridge. According to the college register, Robert, son of Robert Gouge, born at Chelmsford and educated there, was admitted 8 June 1647 at the age of seventeen as a sizar. Another entry in Christ's College register records the admission on 11 March 1646–7 of one Robert Gooch of Great Yarmouth, with whom the independent divine has been wrongly confused. Calamy adds that Gouge was sent to Cambridge ‘by the Lord Fitzwalter.’ At that time there was no Lord Fitzwalter, but the reference may be to Benjamin Mildmay, who became Baron Fitzwalter in 1669. Gouge was a pupil of Henry More, the platonist. On leaving the university his first settlement was at Maldon, Essex, as master in the grammar school and preacher at one of the churches. About 1652 he obtained the rectory of St. Helen's, Ipswich, the patron being Robert Dunkon, an independent. Here he gathered a congregational church. A letter of sympathy from ‘the church at Hellen's in Ipswich’ to a congregational church at Bury St. Edmunds, dated ‘third month, day 1st, 1656,’ is signed by Gouge and Dunkon. On 17 Aug. 1658 Samuel Petto of South Elmham, Suffolk, describes him as ‘a very gracious man.’ He was silenced by the Uniformity Act of 1662, but continued in Ipswich for upwards of ten years. He then removed to Coggeshall, Essex, as pastor of a congregational church gathered in a licensed house by John Sames (d. December 1672). About 1674 Gouge fitted up a barn at Coggeshall as a place of worship, in which he ministered for some thirty years. Calamy says that ‘a decay of his intellectuals through age, gave him his quietus.’ He died in October 1705; his successor, Edward Bentley, was appointed in 1706. He was father of Thomas Gouge (1665?–1700) [q. v.] He published ‘The Faith of Dying Jacob,’ &c., 1688, 4to (funeral sermons for Isaac Hubbard, with life).
[Calamy's Account, 1713, p. 645; Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, 1779, ii. 505; Browne's Hist. Congr. Norf. and Suff. 1877, pp. 366, 401, 598; extract from admission book, per the Master of Christ's College, Cambridge.]
GOUGE, THOMAS (1609–1681), nonconformist divine and philanthropist, eldest son of William Gouge [q. v.], was born in London on 29 Sept. 1609. He was educated at Eton, and was admitted scholar at King's College, Cambridge, on 16 Aug. 1625 (entry of his admission). He graduated B.A. and M.A., and was admitted fellow on 16 Aug. 1628. Between Lady day and midsummer 1634 he took orders. He left Cambridge in 1635, and shortly afterwards was presented to the rectory of Coulsdon, Surrey, which he held till 1638, when he became vicar of St. Sepulchre's, London (admitted 6 Oct.). He took no part in public movements; but his name is attached to both the manifestoes of January 1649 against the trial of the king. He does not seem to have been noted as a preacher; his catechetical classes, which he held ‘every morning,’ were attended by persons of all ages. To encourage the attendance of the aged poor, he distributed money among them once a week, carefully
