Falling Stars

More than fifty years passed before the third of the remarkable signs mentioned in connection with the sixth seal took place. Revelation 6:12, 13. Of the three omens, it appears to have been the one to receive the most comment. The background of events emphasized this sign as the climax of an unusual series. Going back as far as 1821, we find Champollion making modern Egyptology possible by the first deciphering of hieroglyphics. Leopold von Ranke laid the foundation for modern historical criticism in his historical writing in 1824. Sir Charles Lyell established the basis of modern geology in 1830-33 by presenting the results of his research in The Principles of Geology. Michael Faraday, in 1831, demonstrated the fact of electromagnetic induction, and prepared the way for numerous branches of electrical science, 1838, Matthias Jakob Schleiden, German botanist, formulated the cell theory in physiology. In 1832, Samuel F. B. Morse developed the first practical electrical telegraph, and two years later Cyrus McCormick patented the harvester.APAY 172.3

In 1833, a bill emancipating the slaves in British colonies was passed, crowning the long and tireless efforts of the abolitionists led by William Wilberforce. That same year England made progress toward the regulation of child labor, with the Factory Act. The previous year, in Italy, Giuseppe Mazzini failed in his attempt to bring about a general uprising to free his country from her rulers and to create a republic. In the Near East, a crisis arose when the Turkish army was defeated by Egyptian troops, and England and France were alarmed when Russian troops arrived on the scene.APAY 173.1

The same year, 1833, saw Andrew Jackson, representative of frontier democracy, complete his first term as President of the United States. William Lloyd Garrison was pressing his effort to liberate the slaves. Two years before, he had established The Liberator to advocate emancipation. In 1833, Oberlin College opened its doors—the first American college to adopt coeducation and admit students regardless of race. The Mormon Church had been organized by Joseph Smith. Everywhere men and nations were astir.APAY 173.2

Into the center of these stirrings, God dropped another token of the nearness of the end. “The most sublime phenomenon of shooting stars, of which the world has furnished any record, was witnessed throughout the United States on the morning of the 13th of November, 1833.” Elijah H. Burritt, The Geography of the Heavens, page 163. As was the case with the two previously mentioned signs, this one also was regarded by many who were acquainted with Bible prophecy as a fulfillment of Jesus’ prediction in Matthew 24:29 and John’s prophecy in Revelation 6:13. The many accounts of the shower of meteorites refer to the manner of their falling. Many observers remarked that they all seemed to come from a central area in the heavens and spread out in all directions. Some saw this as a fulfillment of John’s prediction, “even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” Henry Dana Ward, prominent New York Episcopalian minister, wrote a letter to the New York Journal of Commerce, which appeared November 14. He said in part: “Here is the exactness of the prophet. 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 the 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 it does break its hold, flies swiftly, strait off, descending; and in the multitude falling some cross the track of others, as they are thrown with more or less force.” (As Ward’s letter appeared in the Journal, it was unsigned, but later statements make identification clear. See Signs of the Times, Oct. 11, 1843.) Two weeks later, the Journal of Commerce of November 27, published six columns in small type quoting excerpts from letters and other newspapers, telling of observations and reactions to the falling of the stars. Elijah H. Burritt, in describing the event, says that to some it suggested “the awful grandeur of the image employed in the Apocalypse, upon the opening of the sixth seal, when ‘the stars’ of heaven fall.” The Geography of the Heavens, page 163.APAY 174.1