Matthew Chapter 24

VERSE 29 continued, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

Here we would like to provide some more evidence of the literal fulfillment of the darkening of the sun and the moon which took place immediately following the tribulation of those days, viz. the days in which the true church suffered tribulation at the hands of Papal Rome for 1260 years ending in A.D. 1799.

Webster’s Dictionary, 1869 edition, under the head of 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 of duration in different places.”

The Connecticut Legislature was in session that day and adjourned. The Journal of the House notes the matter as follows:

“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 short 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.” Friday, May 19, 1780.

“A particularly famous scene unfolded in the Connecticut Governor’s Council. Shaken by the preternatural darkness, some of the politicians suggested ending their meeting early. Councilman Abraham Davenport, a Connecticut militia colonel, would have none of it. “I am against adjournment,” he said. “The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause of an adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought.” Stirred by these words, the council agreed to continue the session by candlelight. The writer John Greenleaf Whittier would later immortalize Davenport’s courage in an 1866 poem.” (Remembering New England’s “Dark Day”)

A minister of that time, and an eye-witness, Rev. Elam Potter, preaching on the 28 inst., nine days after it, is reported to have used the following language:

“But especially I mention that wonderful darkness on the 19th of May, inst. Then, as in our text, the sun was darkened; such a darkness as was probably 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 noon-day; and the fire shone as at night. Some people, I am 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.”

Tract No. 379, published by the American Tract Society —The Life of Edward Lee, says:

“In the month of May, 1780, there was a very terrific dark day when all faces seemed to gather blackness, and the people were filled with fear. There was great distress in the village where Edward Lee lived; men’s hearts failed them for fear that the Judgment Day was at hand; and the neighbors all flocked around the holy man, for his lamp was trimmed and shining brighter than ever amidst the unnatural darkness. Happy and joyful in God, he pointed them to the only refuge from the wrath to come, and spent the gloomy hours in earnest prayer for the distressed multitudes.” (D585-586)

We quote as follows from Judge R. M. Devins, in “Our First Century“:

“Almost, if not altogether alone, as the most mysterious and as yet unexplained phenomena 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 cattle 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. It was a wonderful dark day.”

“For much of the god-fearing population of New England, the sudden blackout seemed positively biblical. “A very general opinion prevailed that the Day of Judgment was at hand,” wrote clergyman Timothy Dwight. People rushed to the nearest church to confess their sins and say a prayer. Some even hunted down their local parson and demanded an impromptu sermon. When asked for a spiritual explanation for what was happening, one sardonic reverend supposedly quipped that he “was in the dark about the matter just as you are.” (Remembering New England’s “Dark Day”)

Judge Samuel Tenney, LL.D., wrote of this “dark day” to the Historical Society in 1785, saying:

“Several gentlemen of literary ability have endeavored to solve the phenomenon, yet I believe you will agree with me, that no satisfactory solution has yet appeared.”

Noah Webster, LL.D., wrote in 1843, in the New Haven Herald, concerning this dark day, and said, “I stood and viewed the phenomenon. No satisfactory cause has yet been assigned.”

Rev. Edward Bass, D.D., First Episcopal Bishop of Vermont, in his diary for May 19, 1780, wrote: “This day is the most remarkable in the memory of man for darkness.”

The darkening of the moon at its full the night following seems to have been little less remarkable than this darkening of the sun; a witness, Judge Tenney, of Exeter, N. H., is quoted as follows:

“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.”

This unaccountable day, except as a sign from the Lord, is reckoned to have extended over 320,000 square miles—an area about twenty-five times the size of Palestine, to which the signs of the first advent were limited. Indeed, the fact that these signs were chiefly confined to the New England and Middle States need not surprise us, when we remember that the first movement amongst the “Virgins” (Matt. 25:1-5) was chiefly in the same locality. And that God should use the “land of liberty” for sending the message of these signs to the world, is no more wonderful than that he has been pleased to send from the same quarter many of the modern blessings and inventions and lessons, recognized by the whole world, and aptly emblemized by the gift of the great French artist, Bartholdi, to New York harbor—the statue of “Liberty Enlightening the World.” (D586-588)

“Witnesses in some locales had noted that the Dark Day was accompanied by “thick, dark and sooty” rain and the smell of burnt leaves. Could the shadow have been a cloud of ash and smoke from distant wildfires?” More recent investigation points to this being the most reasonable cause.

Some may question why it was not positively proven at the time, but we must remember that at the time the range of European expansion into the new world only extended about 200 miles into the new continent. Later investigation would reveal that there was indeed a large forest fire in southern Canada about the time of this event, as proven by the ring cycles on trees in the area.

In our next post we will take a look at the next literal event which took place not soon after the tribulation of those days, the stars falling from heaven.