Horae Apocalypticae

Horae Apocalypticae is an escatological study written by Edward Bishop Elliott. The work, as the book explains is, "A commentary on the apocalypse, critical and historical; including also an examination of the chief prophecies of Daniel illustrated by an apocalyptic chart, and engravings from medals and other extant monuments of antiquity with appendices, containing, besides other matter, a sketch of the history of apocalyptic interpretation, the chief apocalyptic counter-schemes and indices."

"Horae Apocalypticae (Hours with the Apocalypse) is doubtless the most elaborate work ever produced on the Apocalypse. Without an equal in exhaustive research in its field, it was occasioned by the (Futurism).attack on the Historical School of interpretation. Begun in 1837, its 2,500 pages are buttressed by some 10,000 invaluable references to ancient andmodern works. It ran through five editions (1844, 1846, 1847, 1851 and 1862)." [Le Roy Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Review and Herald, Washington, DC,1946, Vol. 3, p. 716]

Historicism and Revelation

Preterism was popular in the 18th century just as Futurism become popular in the 20th century. But in the 19th century Historicism was dominant. Charles Spurgeon wrote in 1876, the year after Elliott died, that Horae was "the standard work on the subject." [C.H. Spurgeon, Commentating on Commenataries, Passmore and Alabaster, London, 1876,p. 199] And on certain sections of Revelation it is still the standard. His work on the trumpet judgments of Revelation has never been improved upon and is frequently cited by Historicists to this day.

The Seven Trumpets - Revelation Chapters 8 and 9

"His views on the trumpet judgments were sharp, clear and standard. The firstfour effected the Western Empire’s downfall, starting with Alaric and his Goths,then Genseric and his Vandals, next Atilla and his Huns and finally the extinctionof the West by Odacer and his Heruli. " p 71

“The fifth and sixth trumpets cover the destruction of the Eastern Empire, the fifthTrumpet indicating the Islamic Saracens and the sixth the Osmanli Turks.” [Le Roy Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Vol 3. 719]

The Seven Seals

Elliott believed the seven seals of Revelation chapter 6 signified the declineof the Roman Empire. He used coins from the British Museum to demonstrate theappropriateness of his interpretation of apocalyptic symbols. Here is a Romancoin from Horae where he shows that in Rome the white horse was a symbol forvictory and hence the white horse of the first seal.

References