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Article A DISSERTATION ON THE K AND F DEGREE. Page 1 of 3 →
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A Dissertation On The K And F Degree.
A DISSERTATION ON THE K AND P DEGREE .
" Our Offices have been oppressed With riotous feeders /'—Timon of Athens . It is no rarity to find that which is most talked of , least done . "We are prone to discourse of high matters , to practise which would
reverse our whole lives ; yet , paradoxical as it may seem , to do so is a necessity of our being ; the latent good in us striving to rise above the mass of frailty which clogs it down , continually bears showy flowers , mere theories and dreams ; some few of these ripening into real action produce whatever tends to elevate and adorn our race .
If there be one subject more than another on which Freemasons are thus virtuously loquacious , it is the savoury topic of the present paper . "We refer them back to volume after volume of our Magazine , and guarantee that , in every one , they shall find piles of protest against this carnal weakness of the Fraternity . Seeing that ^ after all
the talk , the evil is still in full play , and judging from the nature of the case , that this habit of enjoying a feast , and protesting against it afterwards , is likely to last , we wish to bring the matter fairly to book , and to draw something like reason out of a state of things apparently so absurd .
Be it remembered then that Masons are men—faulty creatures like their neighbours . Some folks are angry , because , by becoming Freemasons , we do not sink our imperfections , and rise up angels . " We meekly admit how distant we are from that dignified state at present . Leaving it for optimists to dream about , we rest content if , perchance , Masonry , from its storehouse of ancient wisdom , supply us with motives and means to become better and wiser beings than
we are . Human nature we know is all awry . It is lame , blind , sick , and sore ; angry , envious , vicious . It is , moreover , continually hungry . There is a merciful provision , by which we contrive to make the best of our miseries . Those who do not suffer find a
questionable sort of satisfaction in their own immunity , by thinking that others do ; and every afflicted individual finds some way artificially to alleviate the hardship of his lot . So with the last of the above-mentioned blots—hunger , or rather appetite—an universal malady , common to all mankind , and , therefore , the most overlaid with trickery to hide its true character ; so much so , that what is evidently a human weakness , has been turned into a source of pleasure , and the ministry thereunto is dignified into an art .
No doubt it is pleasant , —very pleasant ; but it is a pleasure that the pigs share with us ; only they are not blessed with our capacity for refining and elevating it . We cannot live without nourishment . Who { e Can cloy the hungry edge of appetite By bare imagination of a Feast { "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Dissertation On The K And F Degree.
A DISSERTATION ON THE K AND P DEGREE .
" Our Offices have been oppressed With riotous feeders /'—Timon of Athens . It is no rarity to find that which is most talked of , least done . "We are prone to discourse of high matters , to practise which would
reverse our whole lives ; yet , paradoxical as it may seem , to do so is a necessity of our being ; the latent good in us striving to rise above the mass of frailty which clogs it down , continually bears showy flowers , mere theories and dreams ; some few of these ripening into real action produce whatever tends to elevate and adorn our race .
If there be one subject more than another on which Freemasons are thus virtuously loquacious , it is the savoury topic of the present paper . "We refer them back to volume after volume of our Magazine , and guarantee that , in every one , they shall find piles of protest against this carnal weakness of the Fraternity . Seeing that ^ after all
the talk , the evil is still in full play , and judging from the nature of the case , that this habit of enjoying a feast , and protesting against it afterwards , is likely to last , we wish to bring the matter fairly to book , and to draw something like reason out of a state of things apparently so absurd .
Be it remembered then that Masons are men—faulty creatures like their neighbours . Some folks are angry , because , by becoming Freemasons , we do not sink our imperfections , and rise up angels . " We meekly admit how distant we are from that dignified state at present . Leaving it for optimists to dream about , we rest content if , perchance , Masonry , from its storehouse of ancient wisdom , supply us with motives and means to become better and wiser beings than
we are . Human nature we know is all awry . It is lame , blind , sick , and sore ; angry , envious , vicious . It is , moreover , continually hungry . There is a merciful provision , by which we contrive to make the best of our miseries . Those who do not suffer find a
questionable sort of satisfaction in their own immunity , by thinking that others do ; and every afflicted individual finds some way artificially to alleviate the hardship of his lot . So with the last of the above-mentioned blots—hunger , or rather appetite—an universal malady , common to all mankind , and , therefore , the most overlaid with trickery to hide its true character ; so much so , that what is evidently a human weakness , has been turned into a source of pleasure , and the ministry thereunto is dignified into an art .
No doubt it is pleasant , —very pleasant ; but it is a pleasure that the pigs share with us ; only they are not blessed with our capacity for refining and elevating it . We cannot live without nourishment . Who { e Can cloy the hungry edge of appetite By bare imagination of a Feast { "