The New International Encyclopædia/Muggletonians

MUG·GLETO′NIANS. A sect that arose in London about the year 1651. The founders were two cousins, John Reeve (1608–58) and Lodowicke Muggleton (1609–98), obscure journeymen tailors, but claiming to have the spirit of prophecy. Muggleton professed to be the 'mouth' of Reeve, as Aaron was of Moses. They affirmed themselves to be the two witnesses of Revelation xi. They asserted a right to curse all who opposed them, and did not hesitate to declare eternal damnation against their adversaries. A few members of the sect still exist. They deny the doctrine of the Trinity; hold anthropomorphist opinions; and to all this add many strange doctrines of their own, as that the devil became incarnate in Eve, etc. Consult: Gordon, "The Origin of the Muggletonians," and "Ancient and Modern Muggletonians," in the Transactions of the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society for 1869–70.