Muggletonian

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The Muggletonians, named after Lodowicke Muggleton, were a small Protestant Christian sect most prominent in 17th and 18th century England. They were one of a number of nonconformist dissenting groups that emerged around this time.

The movement was born in 1652 from "visions" and the "commission from God" of a tailor, John Reeve, and his cousin, Ludovic Muggleton, who his followers considered the "Voice of the last Prophet of God." After Reeve's death, Muggleton had a brief struggle for control of the group with Laurence Clarkson, a former ranter.

They emphasized the Millennium and the Second Coming of Christ and believed, among other things, that the soul was mortal, and, like the Quakers, that any external religious ceremony was not necessary. Some scholars think Muggletonian doctrine may have influenced the work of the artist and poet William Blake.

The group survived up to the twentieth century, until the last Muggletonian, Mr. Phillip Noakes of Matfield, Kent, died in 1979.