From the book
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry
R. Swinburne Clymer · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordMoral law is the universal ethical order the quoted account considers discoverable through reason.
- In Ancient Mystic Oriental MasonryThe discussion argues that no one sect's scripture could serve as the whole common code of a fraternity crossing religions.
- In this editionLex Naturae is retained.
- A place to readS.12: … “"is obliged by his tenure to obey the moral law." Now, this moral law is not” …
Meaning
Moral law is the universal ethical order the quoted account considers discoverable through reason. Lex Naturae is its Latin designation as law of nature.
Use in the book
The discussion argues that no one sect's scripture could serve as the whole common code of a fraternity crossing religions. Moral law is therefore proposed as a shared basis. The regulations translate its universal aspiration into duties of charity, fidelity, restraint, and respect.
Places to read
- Masonic Symbolism · Block 12… “"is obliged by his tenure to obey the moral law." Now, this moral law is not to be considered as confined to the decalogue of Moses, within which narrow limits these” …
- Masonic Symbolism · Block 13… “the teachings of his Zeud Avesta. The universal law of nature, which the authors of the old Charges have properly called the moral law, because it is, as Conybeare remarks, '” …
- Rules and Regulations · Block 4“2. The real object of Mystic Masonry can be summed up in these words: To efface from among men the prejudice of caste, the conventional distinctions of color, origin, opinion, nationality;” …
In this edition
Lex Naturae is retained. Moral law is not modernized into civil law or a scientific law.
Reading the argument
Law of nature here is a moral expression, not a physical equation. The passage's assertion of universality can be understood as its proposed basis for cooperation without treating every later rule of Clymer's institution as necessarily universal.
Related texts
Charge I of Anderson's 1723 Constitutions joins obedience to moral law with cooperation across differing persuasions. It supplies a primary constitutional comparison for the quoted principle.5
moral law
“moral law” — 4 occurrences in 2 text blocks: S.12–13.
Lex Naturae
“Lex Naturae” — 1 occurrence in 1 text block: S.12.
law of nature
“law of nature” — 3 occurrences in 2 text blocks: S.12–13.
Source note
Anderson: primary constitutional comparison. James Anderson, The Constitutions of the Free-Masons (1723), Charge I, “Concerning God and Religion,” in the transcription hosted by Universal Co-Masonry. Consulted for the relation of moral law, religion, and differing persuasions. The cited passage complicates Clymer's description of the eighteenth-century reform as atheistic. https://www.universalfreemasonry.org/en/library/anderson-constitutions-of-the-freemasons