We here give an extract from an article written by Henry Dana Ward, in regard to the falling stars of Nov. 13, 1833: published in the Journal of Commerce, Nov. 15, 1833. “At the cry, look out of the window, I sprang from a deep sleep, and with wonder saw the east lighted up with the dawn and meteors. The zenith, the north, and the west also, showed the falling stars, in the very image of one thing, and only one, I ever heard of. I called to my wife to behold; and while robing, she exclaimed, ‘See how the stars fall!’ I replied, ‘That is the wonder!’ and we felt in our hearts that it was a sign of the last days. For, truly, ‘the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.’ Revelation 6:13. This language of the prophet has always been received as metaphorical. Yesterday, it was literally fulfilled. The ancients understood by aster, in Greek, and stella, in Latin, the smaller lights of heaven. The refinement of modern astronomy has made the distinction between stars and heaven and meteors of heaven. Therefore, the idea of the prophet, as it is expressed in the original Greek, was literally fulfilled in the phenomenon of yesterday. SCOC 39.2
“And how did they fall? Neither myself, nor one of the family, heard any report; and were I to hunt through nature for a simile, I could not find one so apt to illustrate the appearance of the heavens, as that which St. John uses in the prophecy before quoted.” SCOC 40.1
“The stars fell ‘even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.’ Here is the exactness of the prophet. SCOC 40.2
“The falling stars did not come as if from several trees shaken, but from one: those which appeared in the east, fell toward the east; those which appeared in the north, fell toward the north; those which appeared in the west, fell toward the west; and those which appeared in the south (for I went out of my residence into the park), fell toward the south. And they fell not as a ripe fruit falls. Far from it; but they flew, they were cast, like the unripe fruit, which at first refuses to leave the branch; and when, under a violent pressure, it does break its hold, it flies swiftly, straight off, descending; and in the multitude falling, some cross the track of others, as they are thrown with more or less force; but each one falls on its own side of the tree. Such was the appearance of the above phenomenon to the inmates of my house.” SCOC 40.3
Prof. Olmstead, of Yale College, says: “The extent of the shower of 1883 was such as to cover no inconsiderable part of the earth’s surface, from the middle of the Atlantic on the east, to the Pacific on the West; and from the northern coast of South America, to undefined regions among the British possessions on the north, the exhibition was visible, and everywhere presented nearly the same appearance. The meteors did not fly at random over all parts of the sky, but appeared to emanate from a point in the constellation Leo, near a star called Gamma Leonis, in the bend of the sickle. This is no longer to be regarded as a terrestrial, but as a celestial, phenomenon; and shooting stars are now to be no more viewed as casual productions of the upper regions of the atmosphere, but as visitants from other worlds, or from the planetary voids.” SCOC 40.4
The People’s Magazine, Boston, January, 1834, on the falling stars of Nov. 13, 1833, says: “The Rockingham (Va.) Register calls it, A rain of fire, — thousands of stars being seen at once; some said it began with considerable noise. SCOC 41.1
The Journal of Commerce informs us that ‘three hundred miles this side of Liverpool the phenomenon was as splendid there as here; and that in St. Lawrence County there was a snowstorm during the phenomenon, in which the falling stars appeared like lightning; ... that in Germantown, Pa., they seemed like showers of great hail. ’ SCOC 41.2
“The Lancaster (Pa.) Examiner says: ‘The air was filled with innumerable meteors or stars; ... hundreds of thousands of brilliant bodies might be seen falling at every moment, ... sloping their descent toward the earth, at an angle of about forty-five degrees, resembling flashes of fire. SCOC 41.3
This is important testimony as to the vast extent of the falling stars, and also as to their emanating from a single point in the heavens. It was the greatest display of celestial fire-works recorded on the pages of history. It was no atmospheric, or terrestrial phenomenon, common to the upper regions of the earth; but a display of the divine power, baffling the science of man. SCOC 41.4