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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 13, 1879

Our Contributors.

Perihelia of the Great Planets, Indicating Coming Peril.

An article on the subject presented below, and containing the substance of it, was given some time since in the Review. But such is the attention this subject is commanding at the present time through the public prints, and such the interest manifested in it by the people, that another reference to it may not be out of place. The word of God has predicted great judgments upon the last generation; and if they should be brought about by the means here indicated, it would not alter the fact that they were subjects of prophecy. The writer does not seem to wish to have any one think that these things, should they occur, indicate the nearness of the end, and hence says, “The time for the earth’s destruction will not occur in the present generation.” And no doubt multitudes will feel so assured in this respect, that whatever judgments may herald its speedy coming, the day of the Lord will still overtake them as a thief. Unbelief will find some pretext upon which to base the cry of peace and safety; but the child of God will regard the warnings of prophecy, and earnestly prepare for whatever may come. The article is from the Providence Journal, copied by the Maine State Press of Jan. 23, 1879.

It seems unnecessary to have incurred the expense and trouble of a commission to investigate the causes of the pestilence that raged during the last summer in the Southern States, when astronomers tell us that the yellow fever was only a premonition of the dire calamities to be expected from physical disturbances shortly to be inflicted. The four great planets of our solar system, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, have a mighty influence in the solar economy, even though they revolve at immense distances from the center of the scheme. When one or more of these planets are at their nearest point to the sun, great disturbances are sure to take place from the increased attraction of the masses upon each other. Agitation on the solar surface is reflected to the system’s remotest bounds, and our planet bears witness to the solar outburst in terrific storms on land and sea, long-continued drought, failure of crops, and consequent disaster, and pestilence in myriad forms. Jupiter, being the largest and nearest of the giant brotherhood, produces the greatest disturbances. So well is this fact established, that the sun’s maximum year for spots and general commotions is coincident with Jupiter’s nearest approach to his surface. Many observers will remember the last recurrence of this period about 1869, when brilliant auroras illuminated the heavens, rosy protuberances flashed from the sun’s photosphere, and huge spots dotted his disc; while evidences of intense excitement were visible on the Jovian surface, and terrestrial tempests, hurricanes, and all manner of physical ills, bore evidence to the malignity of the celestial conjunction.

It takes Jupiter less than twelve years to complete a revolution around the sun, Saturn a little less than thirty years, Uranus about eighty-four years, and Neptune about one hundred and sixty years. The year of maximum sun-spots coincident with Jupiter’s perihelion is looked upon as an epoch when all manner of evils afflicting humanity may be anticipated, and this direful period is near at hand. A much more lamentable period is also near at hand; one of those eras that occur at intervals counted by thousands of years is about to take place. The four great planets reach their perihelia very nearly together, and the mighty planetary quartette will pull upon the sun with one accord. They will be at their nearest approach in the year 1880, or soon after, and the influence of their unwelcome union may continue for several years. Such a conjunction of forces has not occurred since the Christian era. What will the sun do, with his blazing surface tossed into such fiery commotion? What will the earth do as she responds to every troubled pulsation of the great luminary? There is a fearful prospect ahead, and it may be that the pestilence of last summer was but the shadow of events to follow in its train. There is nothing for poor mortals to do but to take wise precautions, and await results. Seed time and harvest have not yet failed, and the time for the earth’s destruction will not occur in the present generation.

A careful observer announces that the perihelia of three of the great planets took place at the same time in the sixth and also in the sixteenth century, and that the epochs were marked by the occurrence of the most pestilential periods on record. Every sensible person will understand that when Jupiter, a planet whose volume is thirteen hundred times that of the earth, reaches its perihelion, being then forty-six millions of miles nearer the sun than when in aphelion, the increased attraction must create a commotion in the sun’s seething mass, as well as in the chaotic elements of the planet. It is just as certain that our atmosphere and temperature will be disturbed, and that the disturbance will be unfavorable to health and prosperity. In the same way it will be seen that the coincident perihelia of the four great planets will vastly increase the untoward influence. This period we shall enter upon before another year closes, and we can only trust that science and observation will do their best to avert the calamities threatened by the malignant influence of the sun and the four remotest members of the system.