The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

III. Deacon Gatchel-Dark Day Sign of Times

SAMUEL GATCHEL, ¹⁴ deacon of the Second Congregational Church in Marblehead, wrote a curious tract titled The Signs of the Times: or Some Expositions and Remarks on Sundry Texts of Scripture, relative to the remarkable Phenomenon, or Dark-Day, which appeared in New-England on the Nineteenth of May, 1780 (1781). Contending that this event was a fulfillment of Joel 3:15, concerning the darkening of the sun and moon, for which no adequate human or “second cause” was known, he sees the time of its occurrence to be related to the 2300 years of Daniel 8:14 and the 1335 years of Daniel 12:12. ¹⁵ And it occurred in New England where the woman, or church, had fled into the wilderness from the Antichrist for 1260 years. ¹⁶ (Title page reproduced on page 232.) PFF3 211.2

Without soundness of general reasoning, it appears about the first contemporary comment on the 1780 darkening of the sun and moon as a fulfillment of prophecy. The history of Marblehead notes the famous dark day of May 19, 1780, at Marblehead, with the necessity of artificial lights, and birds and beasts retiring to their places of rest. ¹⁷ Mention is also made of the fact that “by some it was thought to be a warning that the end of the world was drawing near” ¹⁸. -Gatchel obviously being one of the “some.” PFF3 212.1

In noting differences in interpretation that had developed between Dr. Nathaniel Whitaker and John Wise, Deacon Gatchel indicates his belief that while “the Pope is Anti-Christ,” in the primary application, he felt that the term Antichrist included certain Protestant likenesses to the great apostasy. The one, he contended, “doth not exclude” the other. ¹⁹ Gatchel likewise discusses the Messiah ship of Christ from the Old Testament prophecies, and His manifestation in the time of the Roman Empire in harmony with the prediction of Daniel the prophet. ²⁰ PFF3 212.2