The Sun will surely rise and set to-morrow.
Just so surely must a Comet flare forth in our Heavens this Spring.
Star gazers, astronomers and learned men have been waiting for this
Comet all over the earth—in America, in Europe, in far China.
They have known for certain that this Comet would come; and they knew
just when and where in the Heavens the Comet would first show itself to
the naked eye—down to the very night.
All this has been known so surely because this same Comet has been seen
by the people of this earth before.
It came and went seventy-four years ago. Seventy-six years before that,
it came and went. And seventy-six years before that, the Comet had come
and gone.
As long as human beings have lived on this earth—for thousands and
thousands of years—human eyes have beheld this same Comet every
seventy-six years or so.
The longest time between the Comet’s coming has been seventy-nine
years. The shortest interval of all—74½ years—was this time.
For thousands of years in the past, wise men have written down records
of this Comet.
Long, long ago, when white men were still savages who dwelt in caves,
patient star gazers in China and Chaldea studied the motions of this
Comet.
Farther back than that, in the hoary days before the art of writing
was known, ancient bards sang of this Star and its hairy tail. Some of
their words are still remembered.
Artists have drawn pictures of this Comet. Their pictures are still
shown.
Women have stitched images of this Comet into their handiwork. Some of
this handiwork can still be seen.
Coiners have stamped designs of this comet on their coins and medals.
Those coins are still shown in museums.
Priests, Popes and great Divines have preached about this Comet. Their
sermons are still preserved in the records of the Church.
Learned men have written in their books what happened when the Comet
came. Those books are read to-day.
The coming of this Comet in olden times has been fixed in lasting
records, which he who runs may read.
Nothing in all History is more certain than the story of this Comet.