COMMENTARY

ON THE

REVELATION OF ST. JOHN,

OR TIIE

APOCALYPSE.
BY

AN HUMBLE FOLLOWER
OF THE

PIOUS AND PROFOUNDLY LEARNED JOSEPH MEOE, 8.0.

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u ..a,oCIOO'IGIHI, l(Q' ' .i:olloVTff 1'0lit &'(011(' Tiit trpofr,Ttiat, ""' Tr,poiivrn

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" Ble11ed !1 be that readetb, and they that bear the word or tbla Prophecy, and ki>
thoae things whkh are written therein, for the time la at hand."-Chap. i. rtr. 3.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. G. & F. RIVINGTON,
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARP,
AND WATt;RLOO PLACE, PALL MALL.

1833.

COMMENTARY
ON THE

REVELATION OF ST. JOHN.

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COMMENTARY
ON THE

REVELATION OF ST ..JOHN,
OR THE

APOCALYPSE.

INTRODUCTION.

SooN after the commencement of the French

revolution, which engaged the attention of all
ranks and conditjorts, of" men in this country, as
well as in the otheJ:' 'provinces of Europe, my
mind was first awakened t<> a consideration of
the book of the RY-elation .of St. John, by the
remark of a friend,
very well versed in Scrip
ture, that the circumstances of the revolution
which had just taken place, the change of poli
tical systems, the overthrow of kings and no
bility, and the exaltation of the lower ranks of
society, were, (as he had heard it asserted,) all
predicted in that book. This remark induced
me to refer to it for the first time, as an object
of study. I read it with great attention, and I
may say that I never found the eyes of my un
derstanding more opened, nor my mind more

not

INTRODUCTIQN.

illumined, than by the devout perusal of this

holy book.
I soon discovered that my friend had been
quite misinformed in the supposition that the
French revolution, and the changes it effected in
government, formed any prominent part of that
comprehensive prophecy, though it might be in
cluded under the various events predicted to
happen in the latter days.
I read this prophecy in the first place with
Clark's Commentary, with which, though I do
not entirely concur at the present time, yet I
must fully acknowledge, that the interpretation
of the great apostasy, so manifestly applicable to
the Roman Catholic corruption of Christianity,
was thoroughly satisfactory to my mind, and
earned with it complete conviction. But I soon
after met with Mede, and, with gratitude to God,
let me confess, that in his clear and indubitable.
elucidation of the whole scheme of this last pro
phecy, vouchsafed to the beloved disciple of
Christ for .the benefit of his Church, I felt as if
I was endued with a new sense, which enabled
me to discover, through the telescope of this
wonderful man, the object and meaning of the
prophetic visions, and the succession of events
affecting the empires of the world, and the fates
of the Church, even to the final termination of
all things.

INTRODUCTION.

I read over and over again his " Key to the

Apocal ypse," and I do not hesitate to pro
nounce him the father of the interpretation of
prophecy.
When I considered what he says, of the bless
ing attached, in the 3rd verse of the first chapter,
" to him that readeth, and to them that hear
the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
that are written therein," I lamented that this
interpretation was still locked up in a dead lan
guage, but I thanked the Almighty Father,
through his Son Jesus Christ, to whom this re
velation was given " to show unto his servants"
that he had been pleased to make known these
.mysteries to an English Divine by his Holy
Spirit, and grateful for the light communicated
to one unworthy of so great a blessing, I deter
mined, after a time, to translate this work into
English for the benefit of my countrymen. For
though in the Dissertation of Newton and other
authors we have nearly the same system laid
down as was first adopted by Mede, yet, as his
mode of arriving at the truth by synchronisms,
has not been clearly developed, nor have suffi
cient acknowledgments been made to the source
from whence modern writers drew their mate
rials, while I lament to say that many of them
have run into wild and fanciful schemes, by de
viating from this admirable original, and applying
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