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

GOODALL
GORMOGONS 303
Goodall . The reputed author of the
exposure of Masonry, known as "Jachin and
Boaz ." It is said that he was at one time
Master of the W . India and American Lodge,
now known as the Lodge of Antiquity . but
this statement has never been confirmed .
Good Samaritan . An androgynous,
honorary or side degree conferred in the
United States with rather impressive ceremonies
. It is, of course, as a degree to be
conferred on females, unconnected with
Masonic history or traditions, but draws its
allusions from the fate of Lot's wife, and
from the parable of the Good Samaritan
related in the Gospels. The passages of
Scripture which refer to these events are
read during the ceremony of initiation . This
degree is to be conferred only on Royal
Arch Masons and their wives, and in conferring
it two Good Samaritans must always
be present, one of whom must be a Royal
Arch Mason . Much dignity and importance
bas been given to this degree by its possessors ;
and it is usual in many places for a certain
number of Good Samaritans to organize
themselves into regular, but of course independent,
bodies to hold monthly meetings
under the name of Assemblies, to elect
proper officers, and receive applications for
initiation . In this manner the assemblies
of Good Samaritans, consisting of male and
female members, bear a very near resemblance
to the female Lodges, which, under
the name of "Maconnerie d'Adoption,"
prevail in France .
Good Shepherd . Our Savior called
himself the Good Shepherd . Thus, in
St . John's Gospel (x. 14, 15, 16), he says :
"I am the Good Shepherd, and know my
sheep, and am known of mine . As the
Father knoweth me, even so know I the
Father : and I lay down my life for the sheep .
And other sheep I have, which are not of
this fold : them also must I bring, and they
shall hear my voice ; and there shall be one
fold, and one Shepherd ." Hence, in Masonic
as well as in Christian symbolism,
Christ is naturally called the Good Shepherd .
Good Shepherd, Sign of the . When
Jesus was relating (Luke xv .) the parable
in which one having lost a sheep goes into
the wilderness to search for it he said : "And
when he hath found it, he layeth it * on his
shoulders, rejoicing." Mr . Hettner, a German
writer on Greek customs, says : "When
the Greek carries home his lamb, he slings
it round his neck, holding it by the feet
crossed over the breast . This is to be seen
with us also, but the sight is especially
attractive at Athens, for it was in this manner
that the ancients represented Hermes as
the guardian and multiplier of flocks ; so
stood the statue of Hermes at Olympia,
Occhalia, and Tanagra . Small marble statues
of this kind have even come down to us, one
of which is to be seen in the Pembroke collection
at Wilton House ; another, a smaller
one, in the Stoa of Hadrian, at Athens .
This representation, however, appears most
frequently in the oldest works of Christian
art, in which the laden Hermes is turned
into a laden Christ, who often called himself
the Good Shepherd, and expressly says
in the Gospel of St . Luke, that when the
shepherd finds the sheep, he lays it joyfully
on his shoulder."
Now, although the idea of the Good
Shepherd may have been of Pagan origin,
yet derived from the parable of our Savior
in St . Luke and his language in St . John,
it was early adopted by the Christians as a
religious emblem . The Good Shepherd bearing
the sheep upon his shoulders, the two
hands of the Shepherd crossed upon his
breast and holding the legs of the sheep,
is a very common subject in the paintings
of the earliest Christian era . It is an expressive
symbol of the Savior's love-of
him who taught us to build the new temple
of eternal life-and, consequently, as Didron
says, "the heart and imagination of Christians
have dwelt fondly upon this theme ; it has
been unceasingly repeated under every
possible aspect, and may be almost said to
have been worn threadbare by Christian
art . From the earliest ages, Christianity
completely made it her own ." And hence
the Christian degree of Rose Croix has very
naturally appropriated the "sign of the
Good Shepherd," the representation of
Christ bearing his once lost but now recovered
sheep upon his shoulders, as one of its most
impressive symbols .
Goose and Gridiron . An alehouse with
this sign, in St . Paul's Church Yard, London .
In 1717, the Lodge of Antiquity met at the
Goose and Gridiron, and it was there that
the first quarterly communication of the
Grand Lodge of England, after the revival
of 1717, was held on the 24th of June, 1717 .
It was the headquarters of a musical society,
whose arms-a lyre and a swan-were converted
into Goose and Gridiron.
Gormogons . A secret society established
in 1724, in England, in opposition
to Freemasonry . One of its rules was that
no Freemason could be admitted until he
was first degraded, and had then renounced
the Masonic Order . It was absurdly and
intentionally pretentious in its character ;
claiming, in ridicule of Freemasonry, a great
antiquity, and pretending that it was descended
from an ancient society in China .
There was much antipathy between the
two associations, as will appear from the
following doggerel, published in 1729, by
Henry Carey :
"The Masons and the Gormogons
Are laughing at one another,
While all mankind are laughing at them ;
Then why do they make such a pother?
"They bait their hook for simple gulls,
And truth with bam they smother ;
But when they 've taken in their culls,
Why then 't is-Welcome, Brother!"
The Gormogons made a great splutter in
their day, and published many squibs against