GOLDEN NUMBER. A term used in the elaborate tables placed at the beginning of the Prayer Book for the finding of Easter. The Golden Number of a year marks its place in a cycle, called the Metonic Cycle (from Meton, an Athenian astronomer B.C. 432), of nineteen years. The year A.D. 1 was fixed as the second year of such a cycle. Hence the rule given to find the Golden Number, viz., "Add one to the year of our Lord, and then divide by 19; the remainder, if any, is the Golden Number; but if there be no remainder, then 19 is the Golden Number."
GOOD FRIDAY. The day regarded as the anniversary of our Saviour's death. It has been observed from the first age of the Church as a day of peculiar solemnity, to be spent in fasting and humiliation.
GOSPEL, see Bible.
GOSPELLER. The priest or deacon who, in the Communion Service, reads the Gospel, standing at the north side of the Altar. (See Epistoler.)
GRACE. Favour. A word used with various meanings in Holy Scripture.
The influence of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of man.
GRADUATE, see Degree. One who has passed through the curriculum of a University, and has had a degree conferred on him.
GREEK CHURCH, see Church, The Catholic.
GREGORIAN MUSIC, see Church Music.
GUILD. In the Church, a Society formed for a certain purpose, and governed by certain rules; to promote personal piety; or active usefulness.
HADES. Unfortunately two distinct words in the original of the New Testament have both been translated Hell. Hades is one of these words; Gehenna is the other. The latter is applied only to the place of the damned, Hades is the abode of departed spirits, good and bad, waiting for the final Judgment. When, in the Creed, we say of our Lord that He "descended into Hell," it should be "into Hades," showing that alive and dead He was perfect man.