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The middle decades of the seventeenth century in England were marked by political and religious turmoil that included civil war, the execution of the king, the abolition of monarchy and episcopacy, and the establishment of a republican government with increased, yet limited, religious toleration. Over the past quarter century, scholars have developed particular interest in the more radical religious movements that arose in this tumultuous period, including Quakers, Seekers, Ranters, and Muggletonians. Drawing on material from a newly discovered archive, this book presents writings produced by the last group, an unusual sect founded in 1652 by John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton.

The Muggletonians are of special interest because they differ so dramatically from other religious groups of this time. Claiming that they were the last two witnesses of Revelation 11:3, Reeve and Muggleton acted as ultimate religious authorities on earth, blessing some people to eternal happiness and cursing others to everlasting damnation. Following Reeve's death in 1658, Muggleton became sole leader of the movement that eventually took his name. Muggletonians were noted for their emphasis on Reeve and Muggleton's authority (Muggleton claimed to "stand in God's place"), their conception of God as a man between five and six feet tall who reigned in heaven some six miles above the earth, and the fact that their religious services consisted not of prayers and preachings, but of eating, drinking, singing, and discussing religious views in a local alehouse or home.

Partly because they were not evangelistic, their numbers were never large, and by the twentieth century they were thought to be extinct. In the 1970s, however, Philip Noakes of Kent was identified as the "last Muggletonian" and keeper of the group's archive, which was acquired subsequently by the British Library.

In The Acts of the Witnesses, editor T. L. Underwood brings together documents, from this archive, including letters, songs treatises by the two witnesses and others, and Muggleton's autobiography. By making these rare materials readily accessible, the book invites further analysis of the group's history and thought, and commemorates the tercentenary of Muggleton's death in 1698 and the publication of his autobiography in 1699.

Contents

Abbreviations

1 Editor's Introduction

2 Lodowick Muggleton, The Acts of the Witnesses (1699)

The Epistle Dedicatory

The First Part

The Second Part

The Third Part

The Fourth Part

The Fifth Part

3 John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton, A Transcendent Spiritual Treatise (1652)

4 John Saddington, "The Articles of True Faith" (1675)

5 Thomas Tomkinson, "The White Divell Uncased" (1704)

6 Letters

1. John Reeve to Christopher Hill, 11 June 1656

2. John Reeve to Christopher Hill, 1656

3. John Reeve to Christopher Hill, no date

4. John Reeve to Alice Webb, 15 August 1656

5. Lodowick Muggleton to Mrs. Elizabeth Dickinson, 20 August 1658

6. Lodowick Muggleton to Laurence Claxton [Laurence Clarkson], 25 December 1660

7. Lodowick Muggleton to William Cleve 1665

8. Lodowick Muggleton to Mr. [John?] Martain, 19 January 1666/7

9. Lodowick Muggleton to Walter Bohanan, 23 January 1671/2

10. Lodowick Muggleton to William Penn, 23 January 1673/4

11. Lodowick Muggleton to Elizabeth Dickinson, Jun.[ior], 6 March 1674/5

12. Lodowick Muggleton to Mrs. Hampson, 11 June 1674

13. Mrs. Ellen Sudbury to Mr. Thomas Tomkinson, 10 August 1664

14. Thomas Dudson to Lodowick Muggleton, 2 March 1668/9

15. Alexander Delamain[e] to Mr. George Gamble, 14 August 1677

16. William Wood to Lodowick Muggleton, 9 February 1691/2

7 Songs and Miscellaneous

1. Song by Nathanial Powell

2. Song by William Wood

3. Song by Thomas Tomkinson

4. Song by Thomas Turner

5. Song by John Ladd

6. Song by Alexander Delamain[e]

7. Song by William Wood

8. Song by John Ladd

9. Song by William Wood

10. Song by Thomas Tomkinson

11. An Acrostic by Tobit [Tobiah] Terry

12. Expense Record, Dinner, 19 July 1682

Appendix A

Alternate Epistle Dedicatory to The Acts of the Witnesses (1699)

Appendix B

Sections in the First Edition (1656) deleted from the Second Edition (1661) of A Divine Looking Glass

Notes

Index of Persons

Index of Places

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Contents

The English Hermite, or Wonder of this AGE

Being a relation of the life of ROGER CRAB, living neer Uxbridg. taken from his own mouth, shewing his strange reserved and unparallel'd kind of life, who counteth it a sin against his body and soule to eate any sort of Flesh, Fish, or living Creature, or to drinke any Wine, Ale or Beere. He can live with three farthings a week.

His constant food is Roots and Hearbs, as Cabbage, Turneps, Carrets, Dock leaves, and Grasse; also Bread and Bran, without Butter or Cheese: His Cloathing is Sack-cloath.

He left the Army, and kept a Shop at CHESHAM, and hath now left off that, and sold a considerable Estate to give to the Poore, shewing his reasons from the Scripture, Mark. 10. 21; Jer. 35.

Wherefore if meate make my brother to offend, I will never eate flesh while the world stands, 1 Cor. 8. 13.

LONDON
Printed, and are to be sold in Popes-head Alley, and at the Exchange 1655.

Dagons-Downfall; or, The great IDOL digged up Root and Branch.

MATTH. 7.19.
Every Tree that bringeth not forth good Fruit, is hewn down and cast into the Fire.

Printed in the Yeer, 1657:

THE English HERMITES Spade AT THE Ground and root of IDOLATORY.

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In The Fifth Monarchy Men, Dr Capp places the movement in the context of the rise of millenarian thought in Europe from the Reformation and its rapid spread in England during the Civil Wars. For many radicals, the execution of King Charles cleared the way for King Jesus, and heralded the establishment of a revolutionary millennium. The apparent apostasy of the Rump Parliament and Oliver Cromwell channelled part of the wave of millenarian feeling into the formation of a specific sect. The first comprehensive study of the Fifth Monarchists movement traces its history from its origins until its disappearance in the mid-1680s, and examines its social, political, legal and religious proposals.

Although it had the support of a number of gentry and army officers, it was essentially an urban movement of artisans, apprentices, and even labourers, reaching lower down the social scale than any other contemporary radical movement, with the possible exception of the Diggers. Dr Capp discusses its regional and organizational structure, and its relationship to other revolutionary sects, notably the Levellers and Quakers. He analyses the nature of the projected millennium — the social, political, and economic programmes of the self-styled saints which, though revolutionary, were elitist rather than equalitarian. The Fifth Monarchist's militant foreign policy, he suggests, was shaped by the twofold consideration of exporting the revolution and of strengthening the position of English trade. Their much-derided call for the re-establishment of the Mosaic Code is shown to be the culmination of a long tradition of such thinking amongst Puritan and earlier writers.

Contents

Preface

1 Introduction

2 The Origins and Rise of Millenarianism to 1649

3 The Beginnings of the Fifth Monarchy Movement and the Barebones Parliament, 1649-1653

4 The Distribution and Composition of the Fifth Monarchy Men

5 The Fifth Monarchists in Opposition, 1653-60

6 The Political, Social and Economic Ideas of the Fifth Monarchy Men

7 Fifth Monarchists and the Reform of the Law

8 The Religious and Intellectual Attitudes of the Fifth Monarchists

9 The Later Years of the Fifth Monarchy Men

10 Conclusion

Appendix I: Bibliographical Appendix

Appendix II: Locations of Fifth Monarchist Congregations, Ministers and Agents

Appendix III: The Schism with John Simpson's Congregation, 1656-8

Bibliography

Index