CONCERNING THE PRODIGIOUS AP-

PARITIONS OF CHASMS

terrible, which were observed partly before, partly after the appearance of the Comet, in the years
1580 and 1581.

CHAPTER I.

A woodcut depicts the decorative drop cap letter S, embellished with floral and scrollwork patterns.IF AT ANY TIME unusual omens have been seen in the heavens by mortals, I hardly believe, nor has it been recorded in any monuments of the ancients, that so great a quantity and frequency of them ever appeared as in these few past years, in which not common, but greatest and most sorrowful things have been observed everywhere. So much so that if one were to record both old and new events from the annals, their memory would scarcely exist, due to the extreme multitude and magnitude of these current ones. But it is not fitting for the pious to find these things new, since our Savior long ago predicted that these things would happen in these, our own centuries, when He said: "There will be signs in the Sun and Moon and stars, the powers of the heavens will be shaken, the Sun will be darkened, and the Stars will fall from the sky, etc." Luke 21:25-26; Matthew 24:29 By these things, He does not merely wish to rouse us so that, having shaken off our lethargy, we might take care lest the glorious day of His final coming overwhelm us while we are careless and drowsy; but He also exhorts us to repentance, lest we remain partakers in the sins of the unfaithful and the impious, unless we wish to experience, together with them, that same punishment which He is compelled to inflict upon the wicked for their extreme malice, not only afterward, but even before that great day shines forth. No sane and pious person can doubt that this prophecy of our Savior has certainly been fulfilled more than sufficiently.