The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

II. Cluster of Star Showers at Time Expected

Just as many were pointing out definite events in nature as evident heralds of the sixth seal and of the “time of the end,” and were expectantly awaiting further developments; and just as a great revival in the study of prophecy was definitely under way at this very time the unparalleled shower of “Leonid” meteors burst over North America on November 13, 1833. These came at the peak of a series of lesser but spectacular November showers in Europe and West Asia (1831-1839), ¹⁵ and came to be interpreted by many as a fulfillment in the prophetic sequence. ¹⁶ Thrice in less than a century (1799-1868) the great Leonid stream of meteors swung its dense swarm of cosmic particles athwart earth’s path in an unparalleled series of great meteoric showers, giving different parts of the globe outstanding displays of celestial fireworks. But one of those displays so far surpassed the others as to go down in history as the great star shower, that of 1833 and in popular reminiscence merely as “the falling of the stars.” ¹⁷ PFF4 293.1