For a few
short days they would not believe an assertion which their
intellect, so long employed among worldly considerations, could not in
any manner grasp. But the truth of a vitally important fact soon makes
its way into the understanding of even the most stolid. Finally, all
men saw that astronomical knowledge lied not, and they awaited the
comet. Its approach was not, at first, seemingly rapid; nor was its
appearance of very unusual character. It was of a dull red, and had
little perceptible train. For seven or eight days we saw no material
increase in its apparent diameter, and but a partial alteration in its
color. Meantime the ordinary affairs of men were discarded, and all
interests absorbed in a growing discussion, instituted by the
philosophic, in respect to the cometary nature. Even the grossly
ignorant aroused their sluggish capacities to such considerations. The
learned now gave their intellect- their soul- to no such points as the
allaying of fear, or to the sustenance of loved theory. They sought-
they panted for right views. They groaned for perfected knowledge.
Truth arose in the purity of her strength and exceeding majesty, and
the wise bowed down and adored.
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