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    WONDERS IN THE HEAVENS

    and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke [Septuagint, “pillars of smoky vapor”]. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.” 12Joel 2:28-31.LDT 17.2

    It appears from the order of events here introduced, that before the signs in the sun and moon, there were to be “wonders in the heavens,” and such, too, as would have the appearance of “blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.”LDT 17.3

    About the middle of the sixteenth century there appeared a wonder in the heavens that finally, in the fore part of the eighteenth century, assumed the exact appearance of that predicted by the prophet Joel. It is the aurora borealis, first seen in a fiery display in Great Britain in 1716, and in America for the first time, three years later, in 1719. From the middle of the sixteenth century there have been witnessed, from time to time, in increasing magnitude, “spears of red light in the heavens,” and “shooting stars;” but up to A. D. 1716 no fiery display is recorded.LDT 18.1

    As the first authority for these statements, a quotation is given from the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, published about the year 1804. From that work we quote the following paragraphs:—LDT 18.2

    “The most unaccountable of all the circumstances respecting the aurora borealis is that it is not much more than a century since this phenomenon has been observed with any degree of frequency in our latitudes. We find, indeed, atmospheric phenomena recorded by the ancients, which may be regarded as examples of this meteor; but, with trifling exceptions, the whole of antiquity is absolutely silent on this subject.LDT 18.3

    “Dr. Halley, of London, England, informs us that he had begun to despair of witnessing this beautiful phenomenon, when the remarkable aurora of 1716 made its appearance. This philosopher has given us a historical detail of the several observations of this meteor, in which he says the first of it on record in an English work is a book entitled ‘A Description of Meteors,’ by W. F., D. D., reprinted at London, in 1654, which speaks of burning spears being seen Jan. 30, 1560. He says, in this book, that the next appearance of a like kind is recorded by Stow, and occurred on Oct. 7, 1564. In 1574, according to Stow and Camden, an aurora was seen for two successive nights, viz., the 14th and 15th of November. The same phenomenon was twice seen in Brabant, in 1575, on the 13th of February and the 28th of September, and the circumstances accompanying it were described by Cornelius Gemma, who compares them to spears, fortified cities, and armies fighting in the air. In 1580 and 1581, this phenomenon was repeatedly observed at Backrang, in the county of Wurtemburg, in Germany. But from this till 1621, we have no such phenomenon on record, when it was seen all over France on September 2, and is particularly described by Gassendi, in his ‘Physics,’ under the title of ‘Aurora Borealis.’LDT 18.4

    “In November, 1623, another was seen all over Germany, and is particularly described by Kepler. Since that time, for more than eighty years, we have no account of any such phenomenon being observed. In 1707, Mr. Neve observed one of short continuance in Ireland, and in the same year a similar appearance was seen by Romer at Copenhagen, while during an interval of eighteen months, in the years 1707 and 1708, this sort of light had been seen no less than five times.LDT 19.1

    “The aurora of 1716, which Dr. Halley particularly describes, was remarkably brilliant. It was also visible over a prodigious tract of country, being seen from the west of Ireland to the confines of Prussia and the east of Poland, extending nearly thirty degrees of longitude [about 1,800 miles east and west] and from the fiftieth degree of north latitude, over almost all the north of Europe [about 800 miles north and south], and in all places, exhibiting, at the same time, appearances similar to those observed in London.LDT 20.1

    “It appears then to be certainly established that the aurora was of rare occurrence in our latitude till about a century ago; for it can not be supposed that so beautiful and striking a phenomenon would have passed unnoticed and unrecorded during the two preceding centuries, while men of science, and particularly astronomers, were so busily employed in examining every remarkable appearance of the heavens, or that the philosophers of Greece and Rome would have remained silent concerning so beautiful a meteor, had it been in any degree familiarly known to them. It is in vain to account for their silence by saying that they inhabited latitudes which are scarcely ever visited by these appearances, for the Romans not only visited, but long resided, in the north of Germany and Britain, where the aurora is now frequently seen in great splendor.”LDT 20.2

    The above details from the encyclopedia show that the aurora, especially in its crimson and fiery display, is of modern date.LDT 21.1

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