(atrhick;52767)
Not many Christians today know or have even heard of the “Great Lisbon Earthquake” which happened on November 1, 1755 or the Dark Day in History which occured on May 19th 1780 let alone the implication it has in regards to bible prophecy.
I have heard of them, many many years ago in fact. Yes, there is possible implication. However, it remains only as possible IMO at this time. Since it has been years since I have even thought of these until just recently I shared them with another as food for thought only. While they were indeed interesting, without some further and supporting documentation as to how widespread some of these things were, I can not accept them at this time. Further, there are too many unknown factors with regard to some of them.However, more demoninations came out of that time period than any other single time period in history that I am aware of.I will expand upon what you have already presented, perhaps it will simply mirror what you have put forth, perhaps it will embellish that which you have presented.(atrhick)
The Great Lisbon Earthquake.On November 1, 1755 at around 9:40 a massive earthquake rocked the city of Lisbon, the following tsunami and fire caused near-total destruction leaving in its wake an estimated death toll of 60,000 to 100,000 people dead. Geologists estimate today that the Lisbon earthquake would have rated 9 on the Richter scale with the epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean about 200km west southwest of the Cape St. Vincent.
"One of the most extensively felt earthquakes ever recorded occurred November 1, 1755. Extending over an area of at least four million square miles, it covered the greater part of Europe, Africa, and America. Seventy thousand people were killed. In Lisbon, Portugal violent shaking lasted for at least six minutes, destroying most of the city. The sea rose fifty feet above its ordinary level. Encyclopaedia Britannica called it 'the most famous of all earthquakes.' G. A. Eiby, in About Earthquakes, referred to it as 'the greatest earthquake on record.'"Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica (1961 ed.), Vol. 7, p. 848."Probably the most famous of all earthquakes is that which destroyed Lisbon on Nov. 1, 1755. There were three great earthquakes (the first was the largest) at 9:40 A.M., 10 A.M. and at noon. The main shock lasted six to seven minutes, an unusually long duration. Within six minutes at least 30,000 people were killed, all large public buildings and 12,000 dwellings were demolished. It was a church day, and great loss of life occurred in the churches. A fire followed which burned for six days. A marble quay at the riverside disappeared into the river bottom laden with people. Alexander von Humboldt stated that the total area shaken was four times that of Europe."Source: G. A. Eiby, About Earthquakes (New York: Harper, 1957), pp. 141, 142."By far the most spectacular earthquake of earlier times was that of Lisbon, in 1755. This has some claim to be regarded as the greatest earthquake on record. If it is possible to believe reports, the felt area, which was certainly more than 700 miles in radius, extended from the Azores to Italy, and from England to North Africa. A source of confusion in the reports of this shock, which makes it difficult to judge the real extent of the felt area, was the widespread occurrence of seiches,...wave movements in ponds and lakes...Oscillations of this kind were observed in France, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, and England, and reports of the movements even came from Norway and Sweden, at a distance of nearly 1800 miles from the epicentre. In those countries, however, the shock was certainly not felt...In 1755, the damage to Lisbon itself was very great. At that time, the city had about 230,000 inhabitants, nearly 30,000 of whom were killed, according to conservative estimates. Great numbers of people were in the churches, for it was All Saints’ Day, and the time of the first Mass. The shock was followed by a tsunami (tidal wave:) about twenty feet in height, and by fire.The disaster shocked all Europe, and the moralists and the wiseacres were not slow to make capital of it."(atrhick)
The Dark Day.On May 19th 1780; known as” The Dark Day”.History records a great darkness, that rendered the day hideously dark beyond anything anyone have ever experience in recorded history. Millions of people saw it. From evening time until after midnight, not even one ray of light could pass thugh the thick darkness.Soon after the event it was dubbed “the blackness of darkness!” one eye-witness Said "I Could not help conceiving, at the time, that if every luminous body in the universe Had been shrouded in impenetrable darkness, or struck out of existence, the darkness could not have been more complete." All of this took place on May 19th 1780, 25 years after what we know now as the “Great Lisbon Earthquake”.
"The United States had barely been born when on May 19, 1780 it witnessed what has been remembered in history as the great Dark Day. According to the Boston Gazette, 'there was the appearance of midnight at noonday.' The darkness began around 10 a.m. Candles were lighted; animals thought it was night. The Connecticut Historical Collections describes the tension in the state legislature where, 'a very general opinion prevailed, that the day of judgment was at hand.' The poet John Greenleaf Whittier called it 'a horror of great darkness.'""The Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, referring to the Dark Day, contains this record: 'The darkness of the following evening was probably as gross as ever has been observed... If every luminous body in the universe had been shrouded in impenetrable shades, or struck out of existence, the darkness could not have been more complete. A sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eyes was equally invisible with the blackest velvet... This gross darkness held ‘till about one o’clock, although the moon had fulled but the day before.'"Source: The Boston Gazette and the Country Journal, May 29, 1780, p. 4."About eleven o’clock the darkness was such as to demand our attention, and put us upon making observations. At half past eleven, in a room with three windows, 24 panes each, all open towards the south-east and south, large print could not be read by persons of good eyes. About twelve o’clock the windows being still open, a candle cast a shade so well defined on the wall, as that profiles were taken with as much ease as they could have been in the night. About one o’clock a glin of light which had continued ‘till this time in the east, shut in, and the darkness was greater than it had been for any time before, Between one and two o’clock, the wind from the west freshened a little, and a glin appeared in that quarter. We dined about two the windows all open, and two candles burning on the table. In the time of the greatest darkness some of the dunghill fowls went to their roost: Cocks crowed in answer to one another as they commonly do in the night: Woodcocks, which are night birds, whistled as they do only in the dark: Frogs peeped In short, there was the appearance of midnight at noonday."Source: Samuel Williams (a Harvard professor), Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences: to the End of the Year 1783 (Boston: Adams and Nourse, 1785), Vol. 1. pp. 234, 235.[p. 234] "People were unable to read common print determine the time of day by their [p. 235] clocks or watches dine or manage their domestic business, without the light of candles. In some places, the darkness was so great, that persons could not see to read common print in the open air, for several hours together."Source: Timothy Dwight, quoted in Connecticut Historical Collections, compiled by John Warner Barber (2d ed.; New Haven: Durrie & Peck and J. W. Barber, 1836), p. 403."The 19th of May, 1780, was a remarkable dark day. Candles were lighted in many houses; the birds were silent and disappeared, and the fouls retired to roost. The legislature of Connecticut was then in session at Hartford. A very general opinion prevailed, that the day of judgment was at hand. The House of Representatives, being unable to transact their business, adjourned. A proposal to adjourn the council was under consideration. When the opinion of Colonel [Abraham] Davenport was asked, he answered, 'I am against an adjournment. The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment: if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought.'"Source: John Greenleaf Whittier, "Abraham Davenport," in his Complete Poetical Works (Cambridge ed.; Boston: Houghton, 1894), p. 260."‘Twas on a May-day of the far old year Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell Over the bloom and sweet life of the Spring, Over the fresh earth and the heaven of noon, A horror of great darkness. Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet shatter The black sky, that the dreadful face of Christ Might look from the rent clouds, not as he looked A loving guest at Bethany, but stern As Justice and inexorable Law. Meanwhile in the old State House, dim as ghosts, Sat the lawgivers of Connecticut, Trembling beneath their legislative robes. 'It is the Lord’s Great Day! Let us adjourn,' Some said; and then, as if with one accord, All eyes were turned to Abraham Davenport. He rose, slow cleaving with his steady voice The intolerable hush. 'This well may be The Day of Judgment which the world awaits; But be it so or not, I only know My present duty, and my Lord’s command To occupy till He come. So at the post Where He hath set me in His providence, I choose, for one, to meet Him face to face, No faithless servant frightened from my task, But ready when the Lord of the harvest calls; And therefore, with all reverence, I would say, Let God do His work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles.'"Source: Discourse by eyewitness Elam Potter, delivered May 28, 1780, in Enfield, Conn., quoted in The Advent Herald, March 13, 1844, p. 46."Perhaps some, by assigning a natural cause of this, ascribing it to the thick vapor in the air, will endeavor to evade the force of its being a sign, but, the same objection will lie against earthquakes being signs which our Lord expressly mentions as such. For my part, I really consider the darkness as one of the prodigies foretold in the text; designed for our admonition, and warning."Question: How widespread was this "Dark Day"? Was it limited unto a small portion of the eastern coast of the U.S.A.?Clearly Massachusetts and Connecticut were affected, but beyond that small area, I have encountered no other records of this event. Thus my skepticism and removing this to only a possibility as opposed to a probability.(atrhick)
Now after midnight the moon could be seen as it was fully dark still but as one eye-witness said, "it had not the least effect to dispel the death-like shadows.” However the darkness disappeared after some time, and then the moon, when first visible, had the appearance of blood. The next event to take place was a meteor shower which took place on November 13, 1833 and known as “The Great Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833” which covered the sky in a wonderful array lights.
"On November 13, 1833, from 2 a.m. until daylight, the sky all over North America was aflame with meteors. One observer remarked, 'It seemed as if the whole starry heavens had congregated at one point near the zenith, and were simultaneously shooting forth, with the velocity of lightning, to every part of the horizon; and yet they were not exhausted.' Astronomer W. J. Fisher, in The Telescope, called it 'the most magnificent meteor shower on record.'"Source: Benjamin Gorton, A View of Spiritual, or Anti-typical Babylon (Troy [N.Y.]: the Author, 1808), p. 73."The second is that of the moon’s turning to blood; this I have not seen, but, from information, I have reason to believe it did take place between 2 o’clock and day break in the morning of the same night after which the sun was darkened, which was said to appear as a clotter of blood; and it is the more probable, as that night, before the moon appeared, was as dark, in proportion, as the day, and of course would give the moon an extraordinary appearance-not suffering her to give her light."Source: Denison Olmsted, "Observations on the Meteors of November 13th, 1833," The American Journal of Science and Arts, 25 ([Jan.?] 1834), 363, 365, 366, 386, 393, 394. [p. 363] "The morning of November 13th, 1833, was rendered memorable by an exhibition of the phenomenon called SHOOTING STARS, which was probably more extensive and magnificent than any similar one hitherto recorded...Probably no celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with so much admiration and delight by one class of spectators, or with so much astonishment and fear by another class...[p. 365] The reader may imagine a constant succession of fire balls, resembling sky rockets, radiating in all directions from a point in the heavens, a few degrees south-east of the zenith, and following the arch of the sky towards the horizon... The balls, as they travelled down the vault, usually left after them a vivid streak of light, and just before they disappeared, exploded, or suddenly resolved themselves into smoke. No report or noise of any kind was observed, although we listened attentively... The flashes of light, although less intense than lightning, were so bright as to awaken people in their beds. One ball that shot off in the north-west direction, and explo- [p. 366] ded a little northward of the star Capella, left, just behind the place of explosion, a phosphorescent train of peculiar beauty... [p. 386] The meteors began to attract notice by their unusual frequency or brilliancy, from nine to twelve o’clock in the evening, were most striking in their appearance, from two to five, arrived at their maximum, in many places, about four o’clock, and continued till rendered invisible by the light of day" Source: Peter M. Millman, "The Falling of the Stars," The Telescope, 7 (May-June, 1940), 57."To understand the use of the word shower in connection with shooting stars we must go back to the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 1833, when the inhabitants of this continent [of North America] were in fact treated to one of the most spectacular natural displays that the night sky has produced... For nearly four hours the sky was literally ablaze... More than a billion shooting stars appeared over the United States and Canada alone."Source: Denison Olmsted, Letters on Astronomy, Addressed to a Lady: in Which The Elements of the Science Are Familiarly Explained in Connexion With Its Literary History (1840 ed.), pp. 348, 349."The shower pervaded nearly the whole of North America, having appeared in nearly equal splendor from the British possessions on the north to the West-India Islands and Mexico on the South, and from sixty-one degrees of longitude east of the American coast, quite to the Pacific Ocean on the west. Throughout this immense region, the duration was nearly the same."Source: J. T. Buckingham, "The Meteoric Shower," The New-England Magazine, 6 (Jan.-June, 1834), 47, 48."Neither language, nor the pencil, can adequately picture the grandeur and magnificence of the scene... It may be doubted, whether any description has surpassed, in accuracy and impressiveness, that of the old negro in Virginia, who remarked 'It is awful, indeed, sir, it looked like ripe crab-apples falling from the trees, when shaking them for cider.'"Source: Garrick Mallery, "Picture-Writing of the American Indians," [U.S.] Bureau of Ethnology. Tenth Annual Report... to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1888-‘89 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1893), p. 723."The five winter counts [chronological records in picture writing naming each year (winter) by an outstanding event] next cited all undoubtedly refer to the magnificent meteoric display of the morning of November 13, 1833, which was witnessed throughout North America and which was correctly assigned to the winter corresponding with that of 1833-‘34. All of them represent stars having four points, except The-Swan, who draws a globular object followed by a linear track.Fig. 1219. It rained stars. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1833-‘34. White-Cow-Killer calls it 'Plenty-stars winter.'Fig. 1220. The stars moved around. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1833-‘34. This shows one large four-pointed star as the characterizing object and many small stars, also four-pointed.Fig. 1221. Many stars fell. The Flame’s Winter Count, 1833-‘34. The character shows six stars above the concavity of the moon.Fig. 1222. Dakotas witnessed magnificent meteoric showers; much terrified. The- Swan’s Winter Count, 1833-‘34.Battiste Good calls it 'Storm-of-stars winter,' and gives as the device a tipi with stars falling around it. This is presented in Fig. 1223."Source: Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (New York: Pathway Press, 1941), p. 117. (Original edition 1855.)"I witnessed this gorgeous spectacle, and was awe-struck. The air seemed filled with bright descending messengers from the sky. It was about daybreak when I saw this sublime scene. I was not without the suggestion, at the moment, that it might be the harbinger of the coming of the Son of Man; and in my then state of mind I was prepared to hail Him as my friend and deliverer. I had read that the 'stars shall fall from heaven,' and they were now falling."If we closely examine the data presented, we have a few 'holes' in the data represented by the 'ellipses' above. I am always leery whenever I see an ellipsis or ellipses and an immediate red flag goes up for me. More often than not I have seen an ellipsis(ses) misused. Further, references unto the moon turning to blood are poorly documented and sketchy at best.My apologies for the length, however in order to seriously consider the above, as much data as possible needs to be examined.