THE GREAT COMET
The Lord his signs makes to appear,
To call us to repentance:
A monstrous comet standeth there
That we our sins shall flee from,
But we, alas! scarce give it a thought
For each one thinks it cometh not,
The punishment and danger.
The winter winds had swept o'er the grave of our dear sister not a
month, and hardly had our little camp on the Cocalico been restored to
its usual evenness of temper after the wordy warfare Brother Hildebrand
and I, under the leadership of Brother Beissel, had waged against our
ancient foes, the Moravians at Bethlehem--for they believed not in
celibacy--when we were again roused to a high pitch of excitement by
that which was no less than a second comet which, following closely upon
the one that flashed so suddenly upon us the preceding February, left
no longer any doubts even in the minds of the most skeptical and
unbelieving, that we were within the portent of some great crisis.
It was on the evening of Christmas a number of the Brotherhood, among
them the Eckerlings and Brother Weiser--for though he had gone back to
the world he oft revisited us--our superintendent and Sonnlein and I,
were gathered on the highest point of Mount Sinai, nigh to the Brother
woods. The sun had hardly sunk from view and the twilight begun to
deepen over the unbroken expanse of forest and upon the slopes of the
distant hills to the west, when suddenly Brother Jephune, our
astronomer, clutched Brother Weiser by the arm, and exclaimed in
awe-struck tones, "See, look, the comet!" as he pointed all in a tremble
to where the sun had just disappeared.
Startled by his voice and his intense gaze, we turned sharply. I could
see naught but a single small star, shining dimly, but I held my peace.
Brother Weiser was the first to break the strain in a cold, calm,
judge-like tone, "I see naught but a small star; Brother Jephune, thou
seest ever visions."
"It were better for thee, our Brother Enoch, didst thou see more visions
instead of having thine eyes stubbornly sealed against the mysteries of
God," quietly interrupted Brother Onesimus.
"Brother Jephune, mine eyes are yet strong. I see naught but a star, nor
do our brethren see thy comet," said our leader.
Brother Jephune apparently heard not his critics, for he still stood
motionless and gazed most intensely upon what appeared to us an innocent
star.
Suddenly he turned to us again and whispered, "'Tis the very comet of
last winter. I told ye the sun had swallowed it and now the sun hath
spit out again the fiery monster," and then he wailed, "Woe, woe, be
unto all the ungodly who shall be destroyed by this fiery serpent!"
Because I did not always agree with the many foolish and unscriptural
speculations of the Eckerlings, they oft accused me of irreverence and
lacking in spirituality. Be that as it may, and although I knew many
comets had appeared to the eyes of men since the creation without any
apparent change in the rules and order of the universe, yet I felt the
same awe that enveloped our little group. Calling Sonnlein to me I said
to him as we all clustered about him, "I have taught thee somewhat of
the stars; thine are the youngest eyes here. Look thou carefully. Is
that yonder pale star such as thou seest at night?"
And then with our awe reflected in his childish face he gazed steadily
at the star, and then turning as in doubt, he said to me as though the
others were not present, "'Tis a star, _Vaterchen_."
"What knoweth such a child?" exclaimed our astrologer peevishly.
"Have patience, my good brother; look again, my son; make a funnel of
thy hands; thou knowest how I taught thee to," I said gently to
Sonnlein, who in loving obedience put his hand rounded like a spyglass
to his eye, and again he looked steadily at the apparition. Then my boy
turned again to me and said simply, "It is but a little star,
_Vaterchen_," and as if it were of no importance he added, "There is
something like smoke behind it."
"Smoke! What nonsense is this?" cried Brother Enoch in disgust.
"Smoke," shouted Brother Jephune, "the child seeth that which I tell ye
I see, ye blind scoffers. Was the smoke like a tail or a bundle of
switches--had it shape?" he cried eagerly.
"Like a tail," said Sonnlein timidly.
"Oh, wondrous sight of innocent childhood," murmured the astrologer, "to
see what world-blinded eyes cannot see!"
And indeed a comet it was, for it rapidly increased to great size and
brilliancy, and for two months from early evening until after midnight
flamed fiercely across the northwestern sky, a fearful, awesome sight,
even to the least superstitious among us.
Brother Jephune, and many with him, accepted the star, since it had
appeared on the twenty-fifth day of the month, as the one prophesied in
the Zohar, which was to hang in the heavens for seventy days, to be seen
of all men as a warning, at the end of which time there would arise a
great tumult and confusion upon the earth, to be followed by the
universal peace of God's kingdom. The settlers in the country round
about us relying upon Num. 24 : 17, 18, fully believed this was the
"Star out of Jacob," and that a sceptre should arise to smite the evil
in the earth; that the millennium was nigh, and Brother Beissel taught
with his usual fiery zeal that when the fulfillment of the prophecy
finally came, our Mount Sinai would be the center of the New Jerusalem
in this evening land; that the Brotherhood of Zion would be chosen as
the Priests of the Temple, and many there were who though hitherto they
had hardened their hearts against our preaching and our charity, now
through fear and superstition hastened to be gathered under the
protecting wings of our community.
In this perturbed state we were for over two months, when on an evening
a number of the Solitary Brethren were again gathered at almost the same
elevated spot on Mount Sinai, hard by the Brother woods that we had
occupied the evening Brother Jephune and Sonnlein had been the first to
see the comet.
We had been standing in utter silence for a long while, when Brother
Gabriel turned to Brother Weiser, and said as though in reproof, "And
still thou believest this strange vision in the sky foretelleth naught?"
"It speaketh to me of the wondrous power and majesty of God," replied
Brother Enoch reverently, "naught else."
"And yet thou knowest in 1680 there appeared a comet in the
_Vaterland_--oft have I heard my father tell of it--not so great as
this, nor with so long a tail. After that comet there followed a long
and weary war, from which our beloved _Vaterland_ hath never recovered.
Dost thou not fear this fiery star, so much greater than the other,
portendeth war and famine and pestilence to this New World?"
"Nay," I heard Brother Enoch say, "the holy word promiseth all such dire
calamities because of man's wickedness, not because of comets."
"But comets may be the sign of His displeasure, as the rainbow is the
sign of his covenant with Noah," persisted Brother Gabriel.
"I only know the holy book sayeth naught of comets."
"The comet is the fiery sword of the Lord whereby he shall cut down all
the scoffers and the ungodly," interrupted Brother Jephune warningly. "I
tell thee there will be much sickness and death, and as the comet will
disappear in Pisces, so I read its course, it presages misfortune to all
the fish within the waters, and in this our Brother Christopher Sauer,
of Germantown, agreeth."
"And yet, Brother Jephune," rejoined Brother Weiser with a faint smile,
"the innocent fish have not sinned."
"Brother Sauer also reporteth," continued our astronomer, unheeding the
mockery in Brother Weiser's voice, "the good people in New England take
it seriously to heart that God is threatening a great judgment upon the
evil ones of earth."
"And heed thou, Brother Weiser," enjoined Brother Gabriel, "thou sittest
not in the seat of the scornful when the judgment cometh."
"Nor thou with the sorcerers and those who practise enchantments!"
retorted Brother Enoch.
"What else doth our Brother Christopher say of this glaring visitant?"
asked Brother Beissel in the hope of pouring oil upon the troubled
waters.
"The printer sayeth that while the star first appeared in Aries, the
habitation of Mars, and set in Pisces there shall come great changes,
disturbances, wrath, confusion, and disorder, upon the nations of the
earth. This cometh from Mars. As Pisces is the dwelling-place of Jupiter
it foreshadoweth equal disturbances in spiritual things; there will be
many changes and great confusion followed by dreadful quick-coming
judgments. As the star latterly hath so rapid a course, and burns like
unto a great flaming torch with a long, fiery tail, he holdeth that the
destruction of the religious Babylonian order is near at hand."
"Sayeth he no more--what cometh after all this destruction of evil?
Surely light must follow darkness!" inquired our leader eagerly.
"Even so; for our learned Christopher sayeth, and I agree with him, that
a newer, better order will follow. The comet seemeth again to be moving
toward the sun as if to effect conjunction with it in the middle line.
This foretelleth that the comet, the evil, shall be swallowed up by the
sun, the source of light and life. Thus the darkness of sin shall
disappear from the face of the earth and the light of His grace, and
mercy shall shine forever from the hearts of men."
"Even so, Lord, let it be," said our leader most solemnly, "let thy
kingdom come quickly."
To which we all responded in equal solemnity, "Amen."
And then just as we were about to take our way back to our _Kammers_,
there arose without the slightest warning such a savage, blood-freezing,
wailing cry from the woods hard by us, that by one accord each gripped
the other by the arm as if in the presence of some awful, common danger,
my poor Sonnlein rushing into mine arms almost speechless with terror.
In truth, each for the time was paralyzed with that cry that sounded
like the wail of a soul in the torments of the damned. Finally, Brother
Gabriel whispered, his teeth chattering so that he could scarcely utter
a word, "'Twas the Evil One, he knoweth his end is nigh."
"Doth not Revelation say Satan is to be bound and thrust into the
bottomless pit?" gasped Brother Beissel.
"Heard ye not the clanking of the chains?" whispered Brother Onesimus.
"What was't, _Vaterchen_?" whispered Sonnlein, who was still shivering
in my embrace.
"Some wild beast that hath strayed nigh;" for in my hermit days I had
more than once heard the panther's terrifying howl, in the darkness of
the night.
"Was't an Indian, _Vaterchen_?"
"Nay, my son," replied Brother Enoch for me, "the Indians are at peace
with us. 'Twas no human voice."
"Was't some wild beast, thinkest thou?" asked Brother Gabriel.
"Nay, it sounded not so to me; I know not what it was. It is a great
mystery to me," replied Brother Enoch slowly, which was a great deal for
our clear-headed brother to admit.
"'Twas the cry of the Evil One, naught else," declared Brother Jephune.
"And in this I agree with thee," solemnly spake our leader; "great and
gracious is our Lord to show us these marvelous signs of his coming. Let
us go to our rest in peace and gladness, and await the dawn of his
kingdom in the earth."
And so we went full of such devout hopes to our narrow cells; but
somehow I could not shake from my mind that the cry came from our old
enemy, the witch.