“In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.” Mark 13:24.
This makes the time in which the sun was to be darkened more distinct and definite. The days of tribulation were the 1260 years of papal supremacy, beginning in 538 a. d. and ending with the capture of Rome and the pope by the French in 1798. But we have already seen that the “tribulation” or persecution of those days was “shortened” for the elect's sake. That is, the active persecution of the church by papal power ceased in 1773. Then, according to Mark's statement, the sun should be darkened between that date and 1798. It was fulfilled. May 19, 1780, has passed into history as “the dark day.”
This is a fact of so general knowledge that we need not consume space in elucidating it. A few references to undoubted authorities will suffice.
Noah Webster's dictionary, in the edition for 1869, under the head of Explanatory and Pronouncing Vocabulary of Noted Names, says:—
“The dark day, May 19, 1780—so called on account of a remarkable darkness on that day extending over all New England. In some places, persons could not see to read common print in the open air for several hours together. Birds sang their evening songs, disappeared, and became silent; fowls went to roost; cattle sought the barn-yard; and candles were lighted in the houses. The obscuration began about ten o'clock in the morning, and continued till the middle of the next night, but with differences of degree and duration in different places. For several days previous, the wind had been variable, but chiefly from the south-west and the north-east. The true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known.”
From another good authority we quote:—
“A solemn gloom of unusual darkness before ten o'clock,—a still darker cloud rolling under the sable curtain from the north and west before eleven o'clock,—excluded the light so that none could see to read or write in the House, even at either window, or distinguish persons at a small distance, or perceive any distinction of dress in the circle of attendants; wherefore, at eleven o'clock adjourned the House till two in the afternoon.”—Journal of the Connecticut House of Representatives, Friday, May 19, 1780.
Herschel, the great astronomer, says:—
“The dark day in Northern America was one of those wonderful phenomena of nature which will always be read with interest, but which philosophy is at a loss to explain.”
A contemporary paper contained the following:—