THE DARK DAY OF 1780
"The Sun Shall be Darkened"
We recall that in the vision of latter-day signs given to the prophet John, he saw the "great earthquake" followed by a sign in the heavens:
"The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood." Rev. 6:12.
Of this event our Saviour spoke, in giving the signs of His second coming which were to begin to appear following the cutting short of the days of persecution. We repeat His words:
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light." Matt. 24:29.
The Prophecy Fulfilled
True to the order of the prophecy, following the great earthquake of 1755 in Europe, there came, in America, the second sign of the approaching end, the wonderful darkening of the sun, known in history as "The Dark Day."
This sign appeared at the time indicated in the prophecy, "immediately after the tribulation of those days;" or as Mark has it, "in those days, after that tribulation." On May 19, 1780, the sun was darkened, and the following night the moon did not give her light. Whatever explanation men may have to offer as to the cause of the phenomenon, the fact remains that when the time of the prophecy came, the sign appeared.
The first volume of the "Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences," published in Boston in 1785, contains a paper entitled, "An Account of a Very Uncommon Darkness in the States of New England, May 19, 1780. By Samuel Williams, A.M., Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Philosophy in the University at Cambridge [Massachusetts]."