Rightness.

Rule . Rules of action may be either subordinate or supreme . Having in a former number determined that the centre of moral authority is vested in Gor > , and as all Masons " trust in GOD , " we most assuredlv must determine that the Will

of GOD is the supreme rule of conduct . All other wills must he subordinate ; as of parents , of the churches , of national governments , & o . 1 st . UNSATISFACTORY THEORIES . A . THE FIRST GENERAL THEORY is , that the authority of the State is the supreme

rule . Hobbes advocated this theory , and it is ono of the forms of experientialism . "No one has a right to go back of the law and judge it by some imaginary standard ; the civil authority is ultimate , and the citizen has nothing to do but to obey . The whole duty , where the State has

legislated , is to read the law and act accordingly . " In answer to this , we are simply to collect the laws of different states or nations and show , that which is right in one state is wrong in another , which at once destroys tho moral force of this dictum and shows the will of the state to be a subordinate rule .

B . SECOND GENERAL THEORY : The Nature of Things the Supreme Rule . Moralists differ very greatly respecting what it is in the nature of things that furnishes the standard by which moral obligation is decided . " Under this second head writers have classed , a . Fitness in things

themselves , " e . g . in love and honour towards parents . " Dr . Clarke said , " that from the eternal and necessary differences of things there naturally and necessarily arise certain moral obligations , which are of themselves incumbent on all rational creatures antecedent to all positive

institution and to all expectation of reward and punishment . " He taught that actions have a nature or character antecedent to all will or law . He maintained that this arises from the congruity between certain actions and certain relations , which are founded on the eternal and necessary

differences of things . " This congruity , as perceived bv reason , furnishes the supreme rule of human conduct . That course which is decided by this rule to be fit and reasonable is right , and that which is not fit and reasonable is wrong . " 1 . The truth of Things : " There is a truth in

everything , which obligates men to regard and treat everything according to its nature , e . g ., man is a rational being , and therefore ought to be treated as such . " Wollaston said that those propositions are true which express things as they are . A true proposition may be denied , or things

may be denied to be what they are , by deeds as well as by words . When a man lives as if he were wealthy when he is not , he does wrong . He lives a lie . The supreme rule of human conduct is , therefore , truth . Whatever action is opposed to facts , or the true , is morally wrong . Every

action conformable to facts or truth must be right . " c , " Relation of Things : There are constantly certain relations between all existing things , or facts , and there must he found the supreme standard of right and the true

ground or foundation of that which is obligation . So soon as one perceives so clearly as to know these true relations , he sees the duties involved in them . Dr . Wayland says : " We all stand in various and dissimilar relations to all the

sentient beings , created and uncreated , with which we are acquainted . Among our relations to created beings are those of man to man , or that of substantial equality ; of parent and child ; of benefactor and recipient ; of husband and wife ; of brother and sister ; citizen and citizen ;

citizen and magistrate , dec , & c . " The Infinite Being in whom the Mason puts his trust" is in the relation of Creator to be created ; Preserver to the protected ; Benefactor to the recipient ; Law-giver to the subject ; Judge to the accused . We are to him in the relation of dependent ,

helpless , ignorant and sinful creatures . The mind of man becomes conscious of its moral obligation , connected with the very conception of this relation . " These relations are thus the rule and measure of obligation . Conformity to them is right ; want of conformity is wrong . " cl .

Completeness of All Being : Edwards taught that " true virtue most essentially consists in benevolence to beino- in general It is that consent , propensity , and union pf h eart , to being in general that is immediately exercised

m a general good will . "Benevolence , " therefore , is the lule and measure of obligation . "That action which is benevolent is right ; that action which is without benevolence is wrong . "

C . THIRD GENERAL THEORY : The Nature of Man gives the supreme rule . Say some authors : " The standard of fcwral obligation is found in the nature of man . " Different

Rightness.

views aro entertained as to what the something is in the nature of man which binds him to the right , a . An Immediate Intellectual Intuition . Kant said , " The conscience is simply the power of perceiving by intellectual intuition the great moral principles which constitute man ' s

supreme law . It is absolutely infallible . " Says Calderwood : " An erring conscience is a chimera ; conscience is a faculty which , from its very nature , cannot be educated . Education , either in the sense of instruction or of training , is impossible . As well propose to teach the eye how and

what to see ; and the ear , how and what to hear -, as to teach reason how to perceive the self-evident and what truths are of this nature . All these have been provided for in the human constitution . " " This provision in the conscience furnishes the supreme rule of right . " b . An

Inner Sense , or Feeling , which gives moral Distinctions . Some have taught that there is a peculiar faculty of the mind whose office it is to porceive and discriminate moral

distinctions , which is called moral sense . Hutchinson , receiving this idea from Shaftesbury , made it the basis of his moral system . It was carried to its extreme results b y Hume " constituting virtue and vice matters of taste or

sentiment . As tastes and colours , and all other sensible qualities , lie not in the bodies but merely in the senses ; so right and wrong do not denote any independent quality in any object thus designated , but only an effect or sensation produced in our own minds . The agent ' s moral sense , or

power of perceiving moral distinctions , is the supreme rule of moral conduct . That is right which conforms to this moral sense ; that is wrong which does not . " e . The Moral Emotion ' s : Our notions of right and wrong are derived from our moral emotions . Savs Dr . Thomas Brown :

" We have a susceptibility of moral emotions ; and the emotions spring directly from the contemplation of actions ; without any exercise of judgment or comparison , by which the actions are referred to any previous notions of right or

wrong " These moral emotions furnish the supreme rule of right . " cl . Inherent Spiritual Worthiness or Excellency of Man : Dr . Hickox said this furnishes the supreme rule of right .

Having thus in a very hasty and cursory manner reviewed the Unsatisfactory Theories , we now proceed to examine the True Theory of the Supreme Rule . I . TRUE THEORY CONFIRMED , a . Mutual Relations of God and Man . Masonry is founded upon that "faith "

which admits GOD as the infinitely wise , Beneficent and Holy Creator and Preserver of the entire Universe ; and if there be such a faculty in His creation as a moral sense , or that faculty which can distinguish between right and wrong , GOD must of necessity be tho only centre of moral

authority for the world and of man as in tho world . " The supreme rule by which mart ' s conduct is to be regulated must , therefore , be the will of GOD , the Supreme Governor . " Therefore Theism must , ex necessitate , be the basis . If any man has this " faith , " or " trust in GOD , " he must

also believe that ho is dependent on HIM ; he must know himself , therefore , to be subject to GOD as his Governor ; and , consequently , accountable to Him only as his Supreme Judge ; and he will find in Him alone the true end of his beiner . This is the ultima ratio or final

conconclusion of tho " dogma " of the Entered Apprentice ' s degree : " Holding such relations to GOD , it is evident that he can find the supreme rule of his conduct only in the will of GOD . b . Moral Consciousness—divided into two

cases ; 1 st , " where there is no direct and conscious reference of the moral conduct to the will of GOD ; and 2 nd , where there is such reference . " If there be no conscious reference of the moral conduct to the will of GOD as the

standard or centre of moral obligation , and where there is no definite knowledge of GOD , oven then " the sense of responsibility—one of the facts of man ' s moral nature , necessarily involved in the idea of moral obligation—is itself the recognition of the rule of the Supreme Governor . '"

When in the course of experience and development , the idea of GOD springs up into full consciousness , so that there may be a direct and conscious reference of the moral conduct to Him , man cannot but feel that it is the duty of all intelligent creatures to be conformed to the Divine will . "

a . Dr . Alexander says : " As soon as we get the idea of GOD , we cannot but feel that it is the duty of all creatures to be conformed to His will . But if the question be

whether , in judging an action to be virtuous it is necessary to consider distinctly of its conformity to the will of GOD , we are of opinion that this conception is not necessary to enable us to perceive that certain actions are