The scythe an emblem of time, which cuts the brittle thread of life, and launches us into eternity. Behold! what havoc the scythe of time makes among the human race! If by chance we should escape the numerous evils incident to childhood and youth, and with health and vigour arrive to the 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. In modern iconography Time is allegorized under the figure of an old man, with white hair and beard, two large wings on his back, an hourglass in one hand and a scythe in the other. It is in this emblematic significance that the scythe appears in the Third Degree of Masonry. Life is transitory and is certain to be cut down under divine decree… — ( Job 14:2 - Psalms 90:5,6 )
Biblical References
Job 14:2
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Psalms 90:5,6
5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
~~ooOoo~~
This page is adapted from the Glossary at Phoenixmasonry — Used with permission.
