The Signs Of Christ's Coming.

Verses 29-31: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet; and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

We have before seen that our Lord speaks in this chapter of the long period of tribulation that was to come upon his followers, and we have also seen how those days of tribulation were shortened for the elect's sake. Christ says that the sun should be darkened immediately after the tribulation of those days. Mark in his gospel, gives it as follows:—

“In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.” Mark 13:24.

This makes the time in which the sun was to be darkened more distinct and definite. The days of tribulation were the 1260 years of papal supremacy, beginning in 538 a. d. and ending with the capture of Rome and the pope by the French in 1798. But we have already seen that the “tribulation” or persecution of those days was “shortened” for the elect's sake. That is, the active persecution of the church by papal power ceased in 1773. Then, according to Mark's statement, the sun should be darkened between that date and 1798. It was fulfilled. May 19, 1780, has passed into history as “the dark day.”

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This is a fact of so general knowledge that we need not consume space in elucidating it. A few references to undoubted authorities will suffice.

Noah Webster's dictionary, in the edition for 1869, under the head of Explanatory and Pronouncing Vocabulary of Noted Names, says:—

“The dark day, May 19, 1780—so called on account of a remarkable darkness on that day extending over all New England. In some places, persons could not see to read common print in the open air for several hours together. Birds sang their evening songs, disappeared, and became silent; fowls went to roost; cattle sought the barn-yard; and candles were lighted in the houses. The obscuration began about ten o'clock in the morning, and continued till the middle of the next night, but with differences of degree and duration in different places. For several days previous, the wind had been variable, but chiefly from the south-west and the north-east. The true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known.”

From another good authority we quote:—

“A solemn gloom of unusual darkness before ten o'clock,—a still darker cloud rolling under the sable curtain from the north and west before eleven o'clock,—excluded the light so that none could see to read or write in the House, even at either window, or distinguish persons at a small distance, or perceive any distinction of dress in the circle of attendants; wherefore, at eleven o'clock adjourned the House till two in the afternoon.”—Journal of the Connecticut House of Representatives, Friday, May 19, 1780.

Herschel, the great astronomer, says:—

“The dark day in Northern America was one of those wonderful phenomena of nature which will always be read with interest, but which philosophy is at a loss to explain.”

A contemporary paper contained the following:—

“During the whole time a sickly, melancholy gloom overcast the face of nature. Nor was the darkness of the night less uncommon and terrifying than that of the day, for notwithstanding there was almost a [pg 047]full moon, no object was discernible but by the help of some artificial light, which seen from the neighboring houses and other places at a distance appeared through a kind of Egyptian darkness which seemed almost impervious to its rays. This unusual phenomenon excited the fears and apprehensions of many people.”—Mass. Spy, Correspondence, 1780.

From another good authority we take the following:—

“Almost, if not altogether alone as the most mysterious and as yet unexplained phenomenon of its kind in nature's diversified range of events during the last century, stands the dark day of May 19, 1780, a most unaccountable darkening of the whole visible heavens and atmosphere in New England, which brought intense alarm and distress to multitudes of minds, as well as dismay to the brute creation, the fowls fleeing, bewildered, to their roosts, and the birds to their nests, and the cattle returning to their stalls. Indeed thousands of the good people of that day became fully convinced that the end of all things terrestrial had come; many gave up, for the time, their secular pursuits, and betook themselves to religious devotions.”—“Our First Century.”

An extract from a sermon preached at that time will be of interest:—

“But especially I mention that wonderful darkness on the 19th of May inst. [1780]. Then, as in our text, the sun was darkened; such a darkness as probably was never known before since the crucifixion of our Lord. People left their work in the house and in the field. Travelers stopped; schools broke up at eleven o'clock; people lighted candles at noonday; and the fire shone as at night. Some people, I have been told, were in dismay, and thought whether the day of Judgment was not drawing on. A great part of the following night also was singularly dark. The moon, though in the full, gave no light, as in our text.”—From a manuscript sermon by Rev. Elam Potter, delivered May 28, 1780.

By the remarkable obscuration of the moon on the following night, the next sign, “And the moon shall not give her light,” was fulfilled. Concerning this it is only necessary to insert a few words:—

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“The night succeeding that day (May 19, 1780) was of such pitchy darkness that, in some instances, horses could not be compelled to leave the stable when wanted for service. About midnight, the clouds were dispersed, and the moon and stars appeared with unimpaired brilliancy.”—“Stone's History of Beverly.”

Mr. Tenny, of Exeter, N. H., quoted by Mr. Gage, to the Historical Society, speaking of the dark day and dark night of May 19, 1780, says:—

“The darkness of the following evening was probably as gross as has ever been observed since the Almighty first gave birth to light. I could not help conceiving at the time, that if every luminous body in the universe had been shrouded in impenetrable darkness, or struck out of existence, the darkness could not have been more complete. A sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eye was equally invisible with the blackest velvet.”

Concerning a similar phenomenon in the Old World a reliable work says:—

“Three years later, and Europe with its teeming millions went under as mysterious a cloud, which, though not so dense, yet continued longer and awoke a wonder and fear that was widely felt. A haze, for which no known cause was then assigned (though in subsequent years it has been supposed by some to have been volcanic dust), spread through the entire breadth of the atmosphere over all the continent far into Asia. It appeared in Denmark, May 29, reached France, June 14; Italy, June 16; Norway, June 22; Austria and Switzerland, June 23; Sweden, June 24; and Russia, June 25. By the close of the month it had overspread like a pall all Syria, and on July 18, had penetrated the heart of Asia to the Altai Mountains. The obscurity prevailed a greater portion of the summer, imparting to the sun an unnatural color of a dull, rusty red, and causing both the days and nights to wear a weird and gloomy aspect. The atmosphere was highly electric, and nature was greatly convulsed.

“Dr. N. Webster in his valuable ‘History of Pestilences,’ vol. ii. p. 274, testifies to the general fear. As it was in America on the occurrence of the ‘dark day,’ so the churches in Europe were crowded with alarmed multitudes supplicating mercy of Heaven. Professor Lalande, [pg 049]the astronomer of France, attempted to quiet the popular fear by ascribing the darkened heavens to exhalations arising out of the earth; but both Webster and Humboldt (Cosmos IV., p. 75) rejected this solution of the mysterious obscurity. Protestant England shared in the alarm it occasioned; and the poet Cowper sang that all the elements ‘preached the general doom.’ It was to this unaccountable obscuration of light that he refers in his ‘Task:’—

“ ‘Nature seems with dim and sickly eye

To wait the close of all.’ ”

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Great Consummation.

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