Darkening of the Sun and Moon

Twenty-five years later appeared the next sign mentioned in the prophecy—the darkening of the sun and moon. The time of its fulfillment had been definitely pointed out in the Saviour's conversation with His disciples upon Olivet. “In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.” Mark 13:24. The 1260 days, or years, terminated in 1798. A quarter of a century earlier, persecution had almost wholly ceased. Following this persecution, the sun was to be darkened. On May 19, 1780, this prophecy was fulfilled.HF 190.3

An eyewitness in Massachusetts described the event as follows: “A heavy black cloud spread over the entire sky except a narrow rim at the horizon, and it was as dark as it usually is at nine o'clock on a summer evening... .”HF 190.4

“Fear, anxiety, and awe gradually filled the minds of the people. Women stood at the door, looking out upon the dark landscape; men returned from their labor in the fields; the carpenter left his tools, the blacksmith his forge, the tradesman his counter. Schools were dismissed, and tremblingly the children fled homeward. Travelers put up at the nearest farmhouse. ‘What is coming?’ queried every lip and heart. It seemed as if a hurricane was about to dash across the land, or as if it was the day of the consummation of all things.”HF 191.1

“Candles were used; and hearth fires shone as brightly as on a moonless evening in autumn. ... Fowls retired to their roosts and went to sleep, cattle gathered at the pasture bars and lowed, frogs peeped, birds sang their evening songs, and bats flew about. But the human knew that night had not come... .”HF 191.2

“Congregations came together in many ... places. The texts for the extemporaneous sermons were invariably those that seemed to indicate that the darkness was consonant with Scriptural prophecy. ... The darkness was most dense shortly after eleven o'clock.”^{4The Essex Antiquarian, April 1899, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 53, 54.}HF 191.3

“In most parts of the country it was so great in the daytime, that the people could not tell the hour by either watch or clock, nor dine, nor manage their domestic business, without the light of candles.”^{5William Gordon, History of the Rise, Progress and Establishment of the Independence of the U.S.A., vol. 3, p. 57.}HF 191.4