Clavis Apocalyptica
Clavis Apocalyptica (English: Key to the Apocalypse), published in 1627, is a seminal work of biblical exegesis by the Arminian[1] Anglican scholar Joseph Mede[2] (1586–1638). The work represents a systematic and influential attempt to interpret the Book of Revelation using a synchronistic method, wherein multiple prophetic visions are understood to describe the same periods of history from different perspectives. The Clavis influenced Protestant eschatology for over two centuries and established principles of prophetic interpretation that shaped later Anglican and Reformed thinking about the end times.
Historical Context
Writing as a Fellow of Christ's College,[3] Joseph Mede composed the Clavis Apocalyptica during a period of intense Protestant interest in biblical prophecy, particularly regarding the identification of Antichrist and the interpretation of apocalyptic timelines. His work appeared at a time when the Anglican Church sought to articulate its theological identity distinct from both Roman Catholicism and continental Reformed traditions, and the Clavis contributed to this project by offering a systematic approach to prophetic Scripture.
Methodology and Structure
The distinguishing feature of Mede's approach is his synchronistic interpretation of Revelation's visions. Rather than reading the book as a strictly chronological sequence of future events, Mede argued that John's various visions often recapitulate the same historical periods from different angles. This method, which Mede termed "synchronisms," allowed him to harmonize seemingly disparate prophetic sequences.
Mede divided Revelation into two principal parts: the "Prophetical Part" (chapters 4–22) and the introductory material (chapters 1–3). Within the prophetical portion, he identified multiple parallel sequences of seven (seals, trumpets, and vials), which he argued represented overlapping rather than consecutive time periods.
The work is organized around descriptions showing the relationships between different prophetic sequences. Mede employed linguistic analysis and citations from historic sources to support his interpretations.
Principal Interpretations
The Historicist Framework
Mede firmly situated himself within the historicist school of prophetic interpretation, which reads Revelation as foretelling the history of the Church from apostolic times to the consummation. He identified the opening of the seals with the early persecutions of the Church, the trumpets with successive waves of barbarian invasions that weakened the Roman Empire, and the vials with judgments upon papal Christendom and its supporters.
The Papal Antichrist
Following established Protestant interpretation, Mede identified the papal system as the fulfillment of biblical prophecies concerning Antichrist.
Conversion of the Jews
Mede posited that the Jews would be miraculously converted to Christianity before the second coming.[4]
The Millennium
Mede advocated a form of premillennialism, arguing that Christ would return before the thousand-year reign of the saints. Mede distinguished between the "first resurrection" (which he understood as the resurrection of martyrs) and the general resurrection at the end of the millennium.
Prophetic Chronology
Mede made calculations regarding prophetic time periods. Mede claimed that the Antichrist had appeared in 456, and projected the end of the world by 1716: possibly in 1654.[5]
Reception and Legacy
Among Mede's pupils at Christ's was Henry More. The poet John Milton studied at Christ's in Mede's time, and is considered to have been influenced by his ideas; but scholars have not found evidence that he was a pupil.[6] John Coffey says that millenarianism was rare in the 1630s, coming in only later as an important force.[7] William Twisse, of the Westminster Assembly, added a preface to the 1643 Key to the Revelation, a testimonial to its convincing power.[8]
The Clavis Apocalyptica later became a standard reference work in Anglican scholarship on prophecy. Its influence extended through the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, shaping how successive generations of Anglicans understood Revelation. The work's combination of intricate detail and Protestant conclusions made it particularly attractive to those who sought to defend Anglican positions.
The work was translated into English in 1643[9] (as Key of the Revelation Searched and Demonstrated), making it accessible to a broader readership during a period of intense prophetic speculation surrounding the English Civil War.
Those following Mede in part as a chronologist and interpreter included Thomas Goodwin, Pierre Jurieu, Sir Isaac Newton[10][11], and Aaron Kinne. The Clavis was frequently cited in sermons, theological treatises, and biblical commentaries throughout the Georgian era. It remained the standard work on the subject until E.B. Elliott published Horae Apocalypticae in 1844.
External Links
- Key to the Apocalypse, Discovered and Demonstarated from the Internal and Inserted Characters of the Visions. at Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Notes and References
- ↑ Nichols 1824, p. 525. Joseph Mede was a pious Arminian of the good old practical school : his humble and unobtrusive conduct on this occasion is a fine trait in his character, and affords a fair specimen of the gentleness and long-suffering of the private ministers of the Arminian persuasion during that period, of whom there were great numbers whose duty did not call them into the ranks of public defenders of the benign doctrines of General Redemption, [...]
- ↑ Joseph Meade, Joseph Mead.
- ↑ "Meade, Joseph (MD603J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ↑ Scult, Mel (1978). Millennial Expectations and Jewish Liberties: A Study of the Efforts to Convert the Jews in Britain, Up to the Mid Nineteenth Century. Brill Archive. pps. 20–21.
- ↑ Christopher Hill, Milton and the English Revolution, p. 33.
- ↑ Mede, Milton and More: Christ's College Millenarians by Sarah Hutton, in Milton and the Ends of Time, edited by Juliet Cummins.
- ↑ "The Impact of Apocalypticism during the Puritan Revolutions".
- ↑ Christopher Hill (1993), The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution, p.304.
- ↑ Hugh Trevor-Roper, Religion, the Reformation & Social Change (1956) says by the MP Richard More (p. 248); also CDNB, giving constituency Bishop's Castle, death in 1643.
- ↑ Newton developed a method for the interpretation of prophecy based on the writings of the early seventeenth-century Cambridge divine, Joseph Mede. Mede's views were widely accepted and the scheme that Newton propounded to bring consistency to the unravelling of prophetic symbolism was not in itself controversial. (PDF)
- ↑ "The Life and Work of Isaac Newton at a Glance".