Just as the period from James II's accession to the resolution of the Revolution of 1688–1689 saw contention over political and religious issues that remained from Charles II's reign, the events of these years also engaged the apocalyptic concerns from the Restoration period. Response to the crisis of authority and jurisdiction that developed in James's reign, and to the settlement achieved during the first years of William and Mary's rule, was expressed in prophetic terms that had endured over the previous three decades. Anti-Roman Catholic sentiment, expressions of nonconformity, endorsement of the established Church of England, and attitudes toward royal government all found an outlet within the apocalyptic discourse. The ability and willingness of commentators to apply apocalyptic prophecy to the circumstances at the end of the 1680s demonstrate that such beliefs were just as viable as a means of communicating ecclesiastical and political convictions in the late seventeenth century as they had been over the previous hundred years.

There has been some important recognition of the presence of apocalyptic thought in the years surrounding the Revolution: Ernestine van der Wall has pronounced the arguments justifying William's invasion ‘a perfect example of this late-seventeenth-century political eschatology’, and Kenneth Newport asserts that the prophetic exegesis which appeared in response to the Revolution must be understood within a long and vigorous tradition of English apocalyptic thought. Despite this acknowledgement of its importance, however, a complete analysis of the breadth of apocalyptic material published during that period has not been undertaken.