A Wonderful Clock

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Mar 15, 1877

A Wonderful Clock.

STROLLING through the streets of Lubeck, I happened to pass by St. Mary's Church near the hour of noon, and entered to see the famous clock perform its little tricks, which it has repeated day by day for over three hundred years. This ancient piece of mechanical skill is placed near the main altar, and has a huge and bewildering complicated dial, showing the second, minute, hour, day, month, year, and relative position of moon and planets all at once. On a miniature semi-circular gallery above the dial is the figure of Christ seated on a throne. With the last stroke of twelve, melodious chimes play a verse of some hymn, and at the same time a little door on the right of the gallery opens and a figure in apostolic garb appears, advancing slowly until it reaches the throne, when it turns and bows before the Saviour and then goes on again, disappearing through a door on the left. Eleven apostles pass through in this manner, but the twelfth, who is said to be Judas, only shows his face, when the door is shut on him. I could not help pitying the poor wooden apostle, who has been subjected to this mortifying treatment for three hundred years. St. Peter comes in for his share of rebuke in the shape of a cock which makes an effort to crow three times, but though he flaps his wings as lively as ever, his voice was injured by a cold caught in the severe winter of 1724; from which he never fully recovered, and I suspect St. Peter laughs in his sleeve at the bird's attempt to remind him of his temporary defection over 1800 years ago.—Sel.