Christopher Hill, Barry Reay and William Lamont – The World of the Muggletonians
Tuesday, June 26th, 2007
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Christopher Hill, Barry Reay and William Lamont – The World of the Muggletonians
[Temple Smith 1983] buy used at abebooks.co.uk If you use this link to purchase this item breviary stuff will receive 5% commission Why bother about the Muggletonians? The question not only provides the title to one of the chapters in this book: it is, in a sense, what the whole book is about. The reader will find that there are a number of very good reasons for bothering. Muggletonianism was one of the many sects that sprang up in mid-seventeenth century England. Because its members did not go out to make converts they were never more than a few hundred strong; yet, astonishingly, the sect survived, centuries after most of its rivals had vanished. The man thought to have been the last Muggletonian died in 1979. To study the Muggletonians is to obtain a special insight into the religious life and also the social history of the seventeenth century. Their central belief was that two tailors named John Reeve and Ludowick Muggleton were the Two Last Witnesses foretold in the book of Revelation who were to usher in the last days of the world. Strange as such tenets may seem to us, Christopher Hill has shown that they were group with whom Milton seemed to share more doctrines than with any other: intellectually, they were not a negligible part of the seventeenth century scene. This book follows the history of the sect and uses it also to throw light on the world of the artisans and tradespeople who provided the bulk of the membership. It is an important contribution to out knowledge of the age, which amply justifies its unexpected choice of subject. Contents
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