728 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the stars ; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity ; the 

 sea and the waves roaring." As to what comets are, he cites a multi- 

 tude of ancient philosophers, and, finding that they differ among them- 

 selves, he uses a form of argument very common from that day to this, 

 declaring that this difference of opinion proves that there is no solu- 

 tion of the problem save in revelation, and insisting that they are 

 "signs especially sent by the Almighty to warn the earth." An addi- 

 tional proof of this he finds in the forms of comets. One, he says, 

 took the form of a trumpet ; another, of a spear ; another, of a goat ; 

 another, of a torch ; another, of a sword ; another, of an arrow ; an- 

 other, of a saber ; still another, of a bare arm ; and so on. From 

 these forms of comets he inf ers that we may divine their purpose. As 

 to their creation, he quotes John of Damascus and other great church 

 authorities in behalf of the idea that each comet is a star newly created 

 at the divine command out of nothing, and that it indicates the wrath 

 and punishment of God. As to their purpose, having quoted largely 

 from the Bible and from Luther, he winds up by insisting that, as God 

 can make nothing in vain, comets must have some distinct object : 

 tfien from Isaiah and Joel among the prophets, from Matthew, Mark, 

 and Luke among the Evangelists, from Origen and St. John Chrysos- 

 tom among the fathers, from Luther and Melanchthon among the Re- 

 formers, he draws various texts more or less conclusive to prove that 

 comets indicate evil and only evil, and he cites Luther's Advent ser- 

 mon, to the effect that, though comets may arise in the course of nature, 

 they are still signs of evil to mankind. 



In answer to the theory of certain naturalists, that comets are 

 made up of " a certain fiery, warm, sulphurous, saltpetery, sticky fog," 

 he declares, " Our sins, our sins ! they are the fiery heated vapors, the 

 thick, sticky, sulphurous clouds which rise from the earth toward 

 heaven before God." 



Throughout the sermon contempt was poured over all men who 

 simply investigated comets as natural objects, and special attention was 

 called to the fact that a comet then in the heavens resembled a long 

 broom or bundle of rods ; and Dieterich declared that he and his 

 hearers would only consider it rightly " when we see standing before us 

 our Lord God in heaven as an angry father with a rod for his chil- 

 dren." 



In answer to the question, what comets signify, he commits him- 

 self entirely to the idea that they indicate the wrath of God, and there- 

 fore calamities of every sort. Page after page is filled with the 

 record of evils following comets. Beginning with the creation of the 

 world, he insists that the first comet brought on the deluge of Noah. 

 He cites a mass of authorities ranging from Moses and Isaiah to Al- 

 bert the Great and Melanchthon, in support of the view that comets 

 precede earthquakes, famines, wars, pestilences, and every form of 

 evil. Page after page is filled with this sort of historical proof. He 



