Vermont Watchman And State Journal

A Wonderful Comet.

There is a comet that requires 573 years to make its revolution around the sun. The first account of its appearance on record, is 1767 years before Christ. Some who lived then thought it the planet Venus changing its appearance and course. It was seen the second time 1103 years before Christ. Again, 43 B. C. This was the year after Julius Caesar, the Roman Dictator, was killed in the Senate. Some, in those dark ages, thought it conveyed the soul of Caesar to Paradise, others that it portended the glory of the ruler that should succeed the Dictator. It was seen without doubt the fifth time A. D. 530. It was the fifth year of the reign of the Roman Emperor Justinian. The account is that a Comet was seen twenty seven days in the month of September, and that for some time after the sun appeared pale. It was due again in 1105, and early in the following year one was seen. Its last appearance was 1680. An account of its remarkable appearance, with its velocity, heat, &c. is given by Newton and others.

This comet has been gone near 171 years. It will be due here again in the year 2266.

The idea of a comet going off and staying so long a time is a great one. It gives us an idea of the greatness of the Creator's works, and of the mighty operations of his hand. Where does this fiery body go, and what part of the universe does it visit?

It has been stated that the comet was seen 1767 years B. C. It must have appeared 573 years before that, which would have been 2312 B. C. which was six years after the flood in the days of Noah. Its previous visit to our system must have been 2917 B. C. Then before that, according to our Chronology, was the Creation. This lacks 67 years of the time requisite for the comet to make a complete revolution. So at the Creation, it might have been placed at a distance from the sun equal to what it would have moved in sixty three years. It probably is now making its eleventh revolution in its orbit. The creation is worthy of its Divine Author.