“The Stars Shall Fall”

In 1833 the last of the signs appeared which were promised by the Saviour as tokens of His second advent: “The stars shall fall from heaven.” And John in the Revelation declared, “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.” Matthew 24:29; Revelation 6:13. This prophecy received a striking fulfillment in the great meteoric shower of November 13, 1833, the most extensive and wonderful display of falling stars ever recorded. “Never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell toward the earth; east, west, north, and south, it was the same. In a word, the whole heavens seemed in motion. ... From two o'clock until broad daylight, the sky being perfectly serene and cloudless, an incessant play of dazzlingly brilliant luminosities was kept up in the whole heavens.”^{6R. M. Devens, American Progress: or, The Great Events of the Greatest Century, ch. 28, pars. 1-5.} “It seemed as if the whole starry heavens had congregated at one point near the zenith, and were simultaneously shooting forth, with the velocity of lightning, to every part of the horizon; and yet they were not exhausted—thousands swiftly followed in the tracks of thousands, as if created for the occasion.”^{7F. Reed, Christian Advocate and Journal, Dec. 13, 1833.} “A more correct picture of a fig tree casting its figs when blown by a mighty wind, it was not possible to behold.”^{8“The Old Countryman,” Portland (Maine) Evening Advertiser, Nov. 26, 1833.}HF 208.2

In the New York Journal of Commerce of November 14, 1833, appeared a long article regarding this phenomenon: “No philosopher or scholar has told or recorded an event, I suppose, like that of yesterday morning. A prophet eighteen hundred years ago foretold it exactly, if we will be at the trouble of understanding stars falling to mean falling stars, ... in the only sense in which it is possible to be literally true.”HF 209.1

Thus was displayed the last of those signs of His coming, concerning which Jesus bade His disciples: “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Matthew 24:33. Many who witnessed the falling of the stars looked upon it as a herald of the coming judgment.HF 209.2

In 1840 another remarkable fulfillment of prophecy excited widespread interest. Two years before, Josiah Litch published an exposition of Revelation 9, predicting the fall of the Ottoman Empire “in A.D. 1840, sometime in the month of August.” Only a few days previous to its accomplishment he wrote: “It will end on the 11th of August, 1840, when the Ottoman power in Constantinople may be expected to be broken.”^{9Josiah Litch, Signs of the Times, August 1, 1840.v}HF 209.3