The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1872-09-25
Lodges in Upper Rooms.
BY DIR. A. g. MACKEf.

4
Lodges in the upper rooms of house
is so universal, that in all my expert
ence I have no knowledge of singh
instance in which q Lodge has beer
holden in a room on the first floor o
the building. The most apparent rea
son for this is, that security from be-
ing overseen and overheard may be
thus obtained, and hence Dr. Oliver
says, in his "Book ofthe Lodge" (p al,
that "a Masonic hall should be isolated
and, if possible, surrounded with lofty
walls.
As, however, such a situation, in large
towns, where Masonry is usually prac-
ticed, can seldom be obtained with
convenience to the brethren, the Lodge
should be formed in an upper story
This, as a practical reason, will be,
perhaps, sufficient to Masons in gen.
eral. But to those who are more Gu.
rious, it may be we'll to say, that 70,
this custom there is also a mystical
reason of great antiquity.
Gregory, in his "Notes and Observa.
TORS on some Passages of Scripture
Q67l, p. ~ says, "The upper rooms
in Scripture were places in that part Of
the house which was highest from the
ground set apart by the Jews for tLei,
private prisons ana devotions, to be
addressed toward solomon's Temple
This room received, in the Hebrew
language, the appellation of Allah,
which has been translated By the Greek,
buperoom and improperly by the Latin,
cBnaculum. The Hebrew and the
Greek both have the Specification Of an
upper room, while the Latin appella-
tive would give the idea of dining
room or place for eating, TINS taking
away the sacred character of the
apartment. The Allah was really a
secret chamber or recess in the upper
part of the house, devoted to religious
uses. Hence, the wise men or rabbis
Of Israel are called BY the Talmudists
benz Allah, or ''the sons of the upper
or secret room.' And SO, in Psalm civ,
2, 8, the Psalmist speaks of God as
stretching out the heavens like cur
tain, and laying the beams of his cham
bers in the waters, where, in the origi-
nal, the word here transplanted, "cham-
bers" il. the plural of Allah, and should
more properly be rendered "his secret
chambers: an allusion, as DR.. Clarke
thinks, to the holy ofholies of the tab
ernacle. Again, in II Chronicles. tx:
8, 4, it is said that the Queen of Sheba
had seen the wisdom ofSolomon, and
the house that he had built-his pro-
visions, servants, and cup bearers
land his ascent by which he went up
into the house of the Lord-there was
no more spirit in her." The word
which eur translators have rendered
"his ascent" is again this word Allah,
and the passage should be rendered
CHS secret chamber" or copper ROOM"
the one by which, through private
way, he was enabled to pass into the
temple.
On the advent Of Christianity, this
Jewish custom of worshipping private
~ in an upper room was adopted by the
apostles and disciples, and the New
Testament contains many instances of
the practice, the word Allah being, as
l have already remarked, translated
by the Greek baperoon, which has a
similar meaning. Thus in Acts i: 10,
we find the apostles praying in an up
per room; and again, in the xxth chap
tor, the disciples are represented as
having met at Ephesus in an upper
room, where Peter preached to them.
But it is unnecessary to multiply in
stances of this usage. The evidence
is complete that the Jews, and after
them the primitive Christians, per-
formed heirdevotions iu upper rooms.
And the care with which Allah, 6upcr-
Don, or upper chamber, is always used
to designate the place Of devotion,
abundantly indicates that any other
place would have been considered i'm
proper.
Hence we may trace the practice of
holding Lodges in upper rooms to this
ancient custom; and that, again, has
perhaps some connection with the sa-
cred character always given by the an.
clients to "high places" SO that it is
said, in our Masonic lectures, that our
ancient brethren met on the highest
hills. And although the reason there
assigned is that they might "guard
against SURPRISE" we should remember
that this is but the latter thought Of
some modern ritualist. 1t is much bet.
ter to refer to the long established
principles of symbolism, and to seek
the true derivation of this custom Of
meeting in upper rooms in the mysti.
cal Specification Of superior holiness
which was always given to high places,
because there, as Hutchinson says, 81,
was supposed that the Spirit Of God
was peculiarly diffnsed." The He.
brews, as we'll as all other ancient ma.