The Hourglass, the Scythe and the Sprig of Acacia, by "The Hammer"

My lodge had scheduled a dinner and First Degree.

As always in life, the unexpected happened: instead of bringing a new brother to light we gathered to say goodbye to a brother, a Past Master who sat in the East for the first time at the age of 86 and passed to the Celestial Lodge at the age of 97. Cliff, in your passing you caused me to pause and reflect on our Craft.

Three of the most meaningful symbols in Freemasonry—the Hourglass, the Scythe, and the Sprig of Acacia—are often the least thought about, except at times of sorrow.

“The Hourglass is an emblem of human life. Behold how swiftly the sand runs and how rapidly our lives are drawing to a close! We cannot, without astonishment, behold the little particles in the device, how they pass almost imperceptibly, and yet, to our surprise, in the short span of an hour, they are all exhausted. Time wastes man. Today he puts forth tender leaves of hope. Tomorrow blossoms and bears his honors; the next day comes a frost which nips the shoot; and when he thinks his greatness is still aspiring, he falls like autumn leaves to enrich our mother earth.”

Our time on earth is short. We establish ourselves; we strive for success, and when we think we have everything where we want them, we fall like autumn leaves. Think of it! We enrich the earth by dying. When the Craft chooses, it can be brutally direct as it enlightens us with the honesty of its Logic.

“The Scythe is an emblem of time, which cuts the brittle thread of life and launches us into eternity.”

Our lives—our deaths, a difficult subject for us to confront, but as Freemasons, we are prepared for we know that we live our lives according to the tenets of the Craft, immortality
awaits us.

Deaths frees us towards that “clouded canopy or starry-bedecked Heaven where all good Masons hope at last to arrive” knowing that if we “have erected our spiritual building in accordance with the designs of the Supreme Architect of the Universe in that great Book of Revelation which is our Masonic trestle board,” if we have lived our lives as “true” men, a glorious immortality will be ours.

As we reflect upon the scythe we find the words very direct.

“Behold what havoc, the scythe of time makes upon the human race! If, by chance, we should escape the numerous ills incident to childhood and youth and with health and vigor attain years of manhood, yet, withal, we must soon be cut down by the all-devouring scythe of time and be gathered into the land where our fathers have gone before us.”

Reality presented in Masonic terms; words we do not enjoy hearing, but words we must reflect upon and understand if we are to complete our lives as Master Masons.

In the description of the hourglass, we fall like autumn leaves to enrich our mother earth from our graves. In the description of the scythe, we are gathered into the land into our graves. While it presents an uncomfortable reflection, the grave is a most important symbol in Freemasonry. Let’s pause for a moment and recall GMHA lying in his. Reflect upon the meaning paying special attention “to the lessons of integrity, fidelity and immortality” that are portrayed.

In the light of this, should we fear death? Absolutely not, for we know the earth is a comforting place, if we have lived our lives according to the teachings of the Craft.

“There is nothing more zealous than clay, our mother earth, for it alone of all the elements has never proved unfriendly to man and when at last we are called upon to pass through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, she once more receives us, and tenderly enfolds our remains within her bosom, thus admonishing us that, as from the earth we came, so to the earth we must surely return.”

Our mother earth has never proved unfriendly to man. She tenderly enfolds our remains within her bosom. These words are there to comfort, not scare us.

The hourglass admonishes us to make the most of our lives, not to waste a tiny particle or minute, the scythe is the symbol for the end of life, but it is the Sprig of Acacia that is the most important symbol in all Freemasonry because it is the symbol for what awaits us at the end of the successful life’s journey—immortality. The sprig of acacia reminds each of us that we have a soul which lives beyond the grave, but only if we conduct ourselves as “true” men.

The sprig of acacia is the reminder of those things we must accomplish as Masons to achieve eternal life.

“These emblems of the operative Mason’s art indicate the labors he is to perform, the dangers he is to encounter, and the preparations he is to make in the up rearing of that spiritual fabric wherein his soul shall find rest forever and forevermore.”

Everywhere we look in the Standard Work, we come upon those tenets, emblems and symbols we must fully reflect upon and understand if we are to achieve immortality.

The Logic of Freemasonry is obvious. If we perform all the duties set forth in our degrees to God, our neighbor and ourselves, if we make the most of the best in ourselves, if we divest our hearts and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life, we will then fit our minds “as living stones, for that spiritual building, that house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens.”

That’s it my brothers...the perfect definition of immortality— “that spiritual building, that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” And immortality and what we must do to achieve it is one of the basic tenets of Freemasonry. Never, ever forget: “the true man is the human image of the Mason’s God” and the Mason’s God is immortal and so are you if you become the “true” man.