The Great Second Advent Movement: Its Rise and Progress

The Falling Stars

The third of these signs, the falling of these stars, was fulfilled on the 13th November, 1833. On that night, or rather from five hours previous to the day dawn, there was a meteoric shower compared by some to streams of fire coming down from heaven; by others, to sparks of fire flying off of some great piece of fire-works. This phenomenon covered all North America, from the Gulf of Mexico on the south to Hudson’s Bay on the north, and from the Sandwich Islands on the west to within a few hundred miles of Liverpool on the east. Wherever observed, it was the same continuous shower of stars, falling as thick as snowflakes in a snow-storm. GSAM 95.3

Concerning this star shower in 1833, we further quote from the Connecticut Observer of Nov. 25, 1833:— GSAM 95.4

“The editor of the Old Countryman makes a very serious matter of the ‘falling stars.’ He says, ‘We pronounce the rain of fire, which we saw on Wednesday morning last, an awful type, a sure forerunner, a merciful sign, of that great and dreadful day which the inhabitants of the earth will witness when the sixth seal shall be opened. The time is just at hand, described not only in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament; and a more correct picture of a fig-tree casting its fruit when blown by a mighty wind, it was not possible to behold.’” GSAM 95.5