Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

GOAT
GODFATHER 301
doctrine was everywhere held by the chiefs
of Gnosticism . This was that the visible
creation was not the wort of the Supreme
Deity, but of the Demiurgus, a simple
emanation, and several degrees removed
from the Godhead . To the , latter, indeed,
styled by them "the unknown Father,"
they attributed the creation of the intellectual
world, the Eons and Angels, while they
made the creation of the world of matter
the work of the Demiurgus .
Gnosticism abounded in symbols and
legends, in talismans and amulets, many
of which were adopted into the popular
superstitions of the Medieval ages . It is,
too, interesting to the student of Masonic
antiquities because of its remote connection
with that Order, some of whose symbols
have been indirectly traced to a Gnostic
origin . The Druses of Mount Lebanon
were supposed to be a sect of Gnostics ; and
the constant intercourse which was maintained
during the Crusades between Europe
and Syria produced an effect upon the
Western nations through the influence of
the pilgrims and warriors .
Toward the Manicheans, the most prominent
offshoot of Gnosticism, the Templars
exercised a tolerant spirit very inconsistent
with the professed objects of their original
foundation, which led to the charge that
they were affected by the dogmas of Manicheism
.
The strange ceremonies observed in the
initiation into various secret societies that
existed in the Lower Empire are said to
have been modeled on the Gnostic Rites of
the Mithraic Cave .
The architects and stone-masons of the
Middle Ages borrowed many of the principles
of ornamentation, by which they decorated
the ecclesiastical edifices which they
constructed, from the abstruse symbols of
the Gnostics .
So, too, we find Gnostic symbols in the Hermetic
Philosophy and in the system of Rosicrucianism
; and lastly, many of the symbols
still used by Freemasonry-such, for
instance, as the triangle within a circle, the
letter G, and the pentacle of Solomonhave
been traced to a Gnostic source .
Goat, Riding the . The vulgar idea
that "riding the goat" constitutes a part
of the ceremonies of initiation in a Masonic
Lodge has its real origin in the superstition
of antiquity . The old Greeks and Romans
portrayed their mystical god Pan in horns
and hoof and shaggy hide, and called him
"goat-footed." When the demonology of
the classics was adopted and modified by
the early Christians, Pan gave way to Satan,
who naturally inherited his attributes ; so
that to the common mind the Devil was
represented by a he-goat, and his best known
marks were the horns, the beard, and the
cloven hoofs . Then came the witch stories
of the Middle Ages, and the belief in the
witch orgies, where, it was said, the Devil
appeared riding on a goat . These orgies
of the witches, where, amid fearfully blasphemous
ceremonies, they practised initiation
into their Satanic Rites, became, to the
vulgar and the illiterate, the type of the
Masonic Mysteries ; for, as Dr . Oliver says,
it was in England a common belief that the
Freemasons were accustomed in their Lodges
"to raise the Devil ." So the "riding of the
goat," which was believed to be practised
by the witches, was transferred to the Freemasons
; and the saying remains to this day
although the belief has very long since died
out .
G. O . D. The initials of Gomer, Oz
Dabar. It is a singular coincidence, and
worthy of thought, that the letters composing
the English name of Deity should
be the initials of the Hebrew words wisdom,
strength, and beauty ; the three great pillars,
or metaphorical supports, of Masonry . They
seem to present almost the only reason that
can reconcile a Mason to the use of the
initial "G" in its conspicuous suspension
in the East of the Lodge in place of the
Delta. The incident seems to be more than
an accident .
1~ - 1 Dabar, Wisdom, D .
ty Oz, Strength, O .
In; Gomer, Beauty, G.
Thus the initials conceal the true meaning
God . A belief in the existence of God
is an essential point of Speculative Masonryso
essential, indeed, that it is a landmark of
the Order that no Atheist can be made a
Mason . Nor is this left to an inference ;
for a specific declaration to that effect is
demanded as an indispensable preparation
for initiation. And hence Hutchinson says
that the worship of God "was the first and
corner-stone on which our originals thought
it expedient to place the foundation of Masonry
." The religion of Masonry is cosmopolitan,
universal ; but the required belief
in God is not incompatible with this universality
; for it is the belief of all peoples . "Be
assured," says Godfrey Higgins, "that God
is equally present with the pious Hindoo
in the temple, the Jew in the synagogue, the
Mohammedan in the mosque, and the Christian
in the church ." There never has been a
time since the revival of Freemasonry, when
this belief in God as a superintending power
did not form a part of the system. The
very earliest rituals that are extant, going
back almost to the beginning of the eighteenth
century, contain precisely the same question
as to the trust in God which is found in
those of the present day ; and the oldest manuscript
constitutions, dating as far back as
the fifteenth century at least, all commence
with, or contain, an invocation to the
"Mighty Father of Heaven ." There never
was a time when the dogma did not form
an essential part of the Masonic system .
God and His Temple, Knight of. A
degree mentioned by Fustier .
Godfather . In French Lodges the member
who introduces a candidate for initiation
is called his "parrain," or "godfather ."