#88 A WOMAN'S BRIEFS -- MUGGLETONIANS

Let me begin with his name: Lodowicke Muggleton. Imagine carrying that name into the third grade. Imagine what third-grade boys can do with “Lodo” or “Muggle.”

LODOWICKE MUGGLETON

 The name Lodowicke traveled from the early German, Hludwig, to Ludwig, to the French who spiffed it up to Louis, then the English who calmed it down to Lewys, and somehow by the 17th century blew it to pieces with Lodowicke.

The name Muggleton comes from the Old English; “Ton” meaning farm, enclosure, or village. “Mugga” was a pre-Norman family name of Christianized, Old English speaking Anglo-Saxon people holding down their ton, their “settlement, farm, enclosure, or village” long before the brutal Norman Conquest in1066CE. Using scorched-earth tactics and the resulting famine, it is estimated that the Norman invasion caused 75,000 to 100,000 deaths. But, hey, some Muggletons survived. Lodowicke Muggleton was born in London, July 1609 and baptized at the Church of England, St. Botolph’s, Bishopsgate parish.

I wouldn’t be writing about Lodowicke Muggleton had he, as an adult, tended more to his London tailoring shop, and less to a visitation of God to his cousin, John Reeve. In 1651, Reeve said (and who’s to question) God engaged him in conversation. He was given “understanding of Scripture, and understanding of God’s mind, above all others” (and who’s to question).  

“I have chosen thee a last messenger for a great work, unto this bloody unbelieving world. And I have given thee Lodowicke Muggleton to be thy mouth.” Do you suppose the word God used, “bloody,” was British profanity or a literal description?

These two men were, said God to John Reeve, the last two prophets described in the Bible’s book of Revelation. No new revelation would ever follow these appointed two. Muggleton bought in. It was a revelation, and then a following. The guys were wrong about a lot of things (if one checks the Bible), but people bought in.

As leaders of the Muggletonians, the cousins redesigned God, who was, they said, only material in being. God was, by way of their incorruptible knowledge, between five and six feet tall. They redesigned Heaven (six miles above earth) and Hell. They had a great story about a reprobate angel who before he perished, impregnated Eve with her son, Cain (If you should wonder about a devil). The Bible got creatively worked over resulting in some fantastic theologies. Existing churches were condemned as corrupt and unnecessary.

John and Lodowicke did accept their roles as prophets but didn’t wear the sackcloth described for them in the Bible. But come on, they were tailors.

They didn’t, as the Bible required of these last prophets, kill enemies by fire from their mouths, or inflict plagues; they weren’t murdered with their bodies left in the street for three days before rising back to life. They didn’t use the Bible verse that says, “Come, let us reason together.” Reason, they said, stems from faulty desire. It’s a means to selfish ends. The cousins took seriously the God-given authority to bless and curse “to eternity.” That’s serious authority, don’t you think? Reasonable? Wait. Reason was not to be trusted. People bought in.

You are reading all this because recently I ran upon the term, “Muggletonians.” I played with the sound of the word. I was entertained. I wanted to write about it, and I have, as you see. But not too far into my research, I realized that Lodowicke Muggleton thoroughly embraced the message that entertained me. Twice, he spent time in London’s cruel stone Newgate prison because of it. Read about that place and you will wonder at the power of conviction.

I’ve always been curious about the word belief. How it differs from words like conviction, fact, or faith. Now I’m curious about Authority, about people who hold it, who believe they have it, who used it, as Reeve and Muggleton did; and about people who unquestioning accept it. The Muggletonian movement, with its leaders creative in heterodoxy, lasted until the mid-nineteenth century when the last curse fell upon the novelist, Sir Walter Scott who made some degrading remarks about the sect in his novel, Woodstock.

There are movements in our world today toward political and religious authoritarianism. Scores of people willingly abandon reason and accept the blessings and curses of Authoritarianism. Holy books of every sort are used to justify the trend. I’m curious about this. I’m curious about people like Muggletonians, lured to alternative facts, enamored of spectacular claims. It’s easy to buy in. I’m checking my own pulse. I can easily be distracted. I love the sound of the word, Muggletonians. It’s fun to say.