Name by a symbol.

GAVEL. What is called in Masonry a common gavel is a stone-cutter's
hammer; it is one of the working tools of an Entered Apprentice, and is a
symbol of the purification of the heart.

GLOVES. On the continent of Europe they are given to candidates at the
same time that they are invested with the apron; the same custom formerly
prevailed in England; but although the investiture of the gloves is
abandoned as a ceremony both there and in America, they are worn as a part
of masonic clothing.

They are a symbol of purification of life.

In the middle ages gloves were worn by operative masons.

GOD, UNITY OF. See _Unity of God_.

GOD, NAME OF. See _Name_.

GOLGOTHA. In Hebrew and Syriac it means _a skull_; a name of Mount
Calvary, and so called, probably, because it was the place of public
execution. The Latin _Calvaria_, whence Mount Calvary, means also a skull.

GRAVE. In the Master's degree, a symbol which is the analogue of the
pastos, or couch, in the ancient Mysteries.

The symbolism has been Christianized by some masonic writers, and the
grave has thus been referred to the sepulchre of Christ.

GRIPS AND SIGNS. They are valuable only for social purposes as modes of
recognition.

H

HAND. The hand is a symbol of human actions; pure hands symbolize pure
actions, and impure or unclean hands symbolize impure actions.

HARE. Among the Egyptians the hare was a hieroglyphic of _eyes that are
open_, and was the symbol of initiation into the Mysteries of Osiris. The
Hebrew word for _hare_ is _arnabet_, and this is compounded of two words
that signify _to behold the light_. The connection of ideas is apparent.

HELLENISM. The religion of the Helles, or ancient Greeks who immediately
succeeded the Pelasgians in the settlement of that country. It was, in
consequence of the introduction of the poetic element, more refined than
the old Pelasgic worship for which it was substituted. Its myths were more
philosophical and less gross than those of the religion to which it
succeeded.

HERMAE. Stones of a cubical form, which were originally unhewn, by which
the Greeks at first represented all their deities. They came in the
progress of time to be especially dedicated by the Greeks to the god
Hermes, whence the name, and by the Romans to the god Terminus, who
presided over landmarks.

HERO WORSHIP. The worship of men deified after death. It is a theory of
some, both ancient and modern writers,