Editing Muggletonianism (section)

== Origins ==
[[File:Lodowicke Muggleton by William Wood.jpg|thumb|Lodowicke Muggleton, by William Wood, circa 1674]]

The movement was born on 3 February 1651 ([[Old Style and New Style dates|old style]]) when a London tailor, [[John Reeve (religious leader)|John Reeve]], claimed to receive a commission from God "to the hearing of the ear as a man speaks to a friend."{{Sfn|Reeve|Muggleton|1857|loc=Chapter 1, vv. 2–4}} Reeve was told four things:
* "I have given thee understanding of my mind in the Scriptures above all men in the world."
*"Look into thy own body, there thou shalt see the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Kingdom of Hell."
* "I have chosen thee a last messenger for a great work, unto this bloody unbelieving world. And I have given thee Lodowick Muggleton to be thy mouth."
* "I have put the two-edged sword of my spirit into thy mouth, that whoever I pronounce blessed, through thy mouth, is blessed to eternity; and whoever I pronounce cursed through thy mouth is cursed to eternity."{{Sfn|Underwood|1999|pp=142–143}}
Reeve believed that he and his cousin, [[Lodowicke Muggleton]], were the two witnesses spoken of in the third verse of the eleventh chapter of the [[Book of Revelation]]. After Reeve's death, Muggleton had a brief struggle for control of the group with [[Laurence Clarkson]], a former [[Ranters|Ranter]], and subsequently with those followers of [[John Reeve (religious leader)|John Reeve]] who did not accept Muggleton's authority.

The Muggletonians emphasized the [[Millennialism|Millennium]] and the [[Second Coming]] of Christ, and believed, among other things, that the soul is mortal; that [[Jesus]] is God (and not a member of a [[Trinity]]); that when Jesus died there was no God in Heaven, and Moses and Elijah looked after Heaven until Jesus' resurrection; that Heaven is six miles above Earth; that God is between five and six feet tall; and that any external religious ceremony is not necessary. Some scholars think that Muggletonian doctrine may have influenced the work of the artist and poet [[William Blake]].{{NoteTag|This is extensively argued in {{Harvnb|Thompson|1994}}, though the evidence has been disputed by {{Harvnb|Davies|1999}}.}}

Recent attempts have been made to locate the movement within earlier intellectual traditions, most notably the Eternal Gospel of [[Joachim of Fiore]]. However, Dr [[Marjorie Reeves]] has examined the evidence and concludes "the case for a recognisable Joachimist influence among seventeenth-century English prophets falls to the ground."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Reeves |first1=Marjorie |author1-link=Marjorie Reeves |last2=Gould |first2=Warwick |author2-link=Warwick Gould |title=Joachim of Fiore and the Myth of the Eternal Evangel |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |date=1987 |p=21 |isbn=0-19-826672-3}}</ref> There had been at least one earlier appearance of a claim about the Two Last Witnesses, which John Reeve knew about.{{NoteTag|In [[A Divine Looking-Glass]] chap 24 verse 36, John Reeve refers to Bull and Varnum as predecessors. These were Richard Farnham and John Bull, two London weavers, who came to the conclusion in 1636 that they were the Two Witnesses. They were jailed and unable to assume their roles before their deaths.}}